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This paper explores some of the perils to American democracy in the age of the Internet, social media, and the filtered bubbles that its citizens inhabit. I open my analysis by revisiting the myth of the Tower of Babel in order to reflect on the insights that can be gleaned for the present state of disinformation. Then I turn to an examination of the notions of polarization and structural stupidity, while tying them to the distinction that C. Thi Nguyen makes between epistemic bubbles and echo chambers. I then argue that the insights of the myth of the Tower of Babel can take us only so far and that an adequate understanding of the current state of affairs in the United States needs to consider the crisis in the authority of knowledge. I base my argument on some insights of philosophers Walter Lippmann and José Ortega y Gasset, who were both concerned about the role of private citizens and the public in the life of a democracy. I conclude this paper by discussing various positions that philosophers of education can take in the age of Babel, while advocating for the need to adopt a probing stance.

Is isolation capable of creating captivating stories? How a depressed state of mind generates shared knowledge through performative-autoethnography? This article presents the author's journal, evoking her personal perception of the COVID-19 pandemic. Poems, paintings and a short film featuring testimonies of her friends, filmed on a mobile phone, complete the narrative setting. The work adopts a colloquial style aiming to challenge the conventions of academic writing. The pandemic period was full of disruptions that aligned with this type of creative performative writing. In this story, fiction (a crab is among the protagonists) and reality blend together to spark imagination and leave room for unpredictability and contingency. An immigrant woman, who finds herself far from her family, tells us about her lack of hope and solitude while the gates of the borders are closed. Her invisible existence within the walls of her apartment becomes visible through the performative autoethnography.

Keywords: Autoethnographie, coronavirus, autofiction, performativité, recherche postqualitative, Autoethnography, coronavirus, autofiction, performativity, postqualitative research

In the Algerian context, certain public speeches have sparked strong controversies, particularly those directed against the Amazigh heritage. These statements fuel identity tensions and contribute to the construction of stigmatizing representations. The present article proposes an analysis of a corpus of political statements of a hateful nature, disseminated mainly on digital media and social networks, by mobilizing the tools of discourse analysis from a praxematic perspective. It examines the discursive strategies used to designate the Amazighs as a threatening otherness and shows how digital virality contributes to the trivialization and legitimization of this type of discourse.

Keywords: discours de haine, hate speech, discurso de odio, médias, media, medios de comunicación, análisis del discurso, discourse analysis, analyse du discours, Amazighs, Amazighs, Amazighs

Referring to Paul Ricoeur’s work on narrativity, this article addresses digital subjectivity and the influence of algorithms.

Keywords: Digital subjectivity, Subjectivité numérique, Je numérique, Digital I, Fiction, Fiction, Liminality, Liminalité, Algorithms, Algorithmes, Body, Corps

In this study, we aim to explore and compare the frequency of attendance and the reasons for non-attendance to cultural activities between natives and first-generation immigrants in thirteen European countries. The empirical analysis relies on data from the special module on cultural participation in the European Union-Income and Living Conditions Survey (EU-SILC) in 2015. We apply the Probit and multinomial Probit models. This study contributes to the literature by exploring the determinants of cultural participation and comparing the frequency of participation in cultural activities between natives and first-generation immigrants. Furthermore, the study explores the reasons for non-participation in cultural activities, highlighting potential differences between countries and between the European Union (EU) and non-EU migrants. The results highlight that social interactions depend on several factors related mainly to the country of destination and employment opportunities and individual factors related to the migrant, including demographic and economic characteristics and the length of residence in the host country. The findings show that the length of residence of immigrants in the host countries is positively correlated with a higher frequency of attendance, indicating that cultural participation can be, by its nature, a long-term process or “experienced” activity. The findings also show that in most cases, migrants do not attend the cultural activities we explore because of financial constraints and not due to lack of interest. Thus, this highlights that the economic integration of migrants could be the primary driver of cultural participation and integration.

Keywords: Cultural Integration, Discrete Choice Models, First-Generation Immigrants, International Migration, Integration, Multiculturalism

Merging sound studies, performance studies, and jotería studies, this essay documents sonic moments and memories of 1990s Los Angeles at Arena, a nightclub frequented by queer Latinx youth. Building on Alexandra Vasquez's "listening in detail" and Karen Tongson's "queerly listening," the author argues that jotería listening is an auditory practice and methodology employed by queer Latinx communities engaged in world-making strategies. Through jotería listening, we are able to hear sonic memories of Arena, which map moments of collectivity, community building, experimentation and resistance against hostilities encountered by jotería youth in LA in the 1990s. Highlighting three soundmarks or recognizable sounds—whistles, foot-stomping, and clapping—and their meanings, this essay maps corporeal and embodied performances of self and community as it documents critical moments in jotería histories of nightlife in Los Angeles.