On Mask-Ocracy

Abstract

The title of the article is On Mask-Ocracy and follows-on from two shorter pieces (http://thirdtext.org/OKane-carnival & http://www.thirdtext.org/okane-maskocracy) that I recently published in Third Text Online. This new, longer article draws on a wide range of references, from carnival and the carnivalesque to recent protests in Hong Kong, from Australian wildfires to the worldwide pandemic, all on the way to speculating that the growing prevalence of masks in contemporary society brings new (and renewed) attention to and implications for, our current, modern understanding of identity, political representation, and democracy. ‘Mask-Ocracy’ is a neologism introduced as an intellectual gambit that this writing seeks to justify and render useful to current and emerging political and social debates.