Talk to Explore Mommy Bloggers
Felicia Song, Westmont associate professor of sociology, discusses women who seek to reconstruct their social identities online in a lecture, “More than a Mommy Blogger: Renegotiating Identity in Motherhood and Social Media,” on Tuesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge at Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. The talk, organized by Westmont’s chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society, is free and open to the public. For more information, please call Professor Paul Delaney at (805) 5656079.
“Seeking to create a legitimate space of expanded public discourse, mommy bloggers have used blogging and social media conferences as a means for achieving personal and collective empowerment,” Song says. “This lecture will explore how face-to-face social media conferences function as a key mechanism for creating solidarity and status for a largely online industry. I will also examine the double-edged nature of commercial empowerment for women and mothers seeking meaningful forms of cultural legitimacy.”
Deborah Dunn, Westmont professor of communication studies, and Wayne Iba, Westmont professor of computer science, will respond to the lecture.
Song is a sociologist whose research areas include new media and technology, culture, consumerism and public life. She graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in history before earning a master’s degree in communication studies from Northwestern University and a doctorate from the University of Virginia. She taught at Louisiana State University before arriving at Westmont in 2013.
Her first book, “Virtual Communities: Bowling Alone, Online Together,” explores Internet communities and democracy. She has written on how expectant women use online information for health and consumer purposes. She is currently examining the emergence of women in social media while chairing the Westmont Sociology and Anthropology Department.