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Article published In: Journal of Argumentation in Context
Vol. 11:3 (2022) ► pp.329–349

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Crafting multimodal argumentative meshworks

Li Ziqi’s “Mushroom at the End of the World”

 | University of Southern California
Published online: 23 February 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.21010.lv
Abstract
Short videos depicting rural China have gained popularity on social media domestically and internationally. Among the genre’s creators, Li Ziqi stands out for her unique style of culinary craft, starting from the most basic materials. I interpret Li Ziqi’s mushroom videos as multimodal “argumentative meshworks” casting a counterstatement to the “involuted” urban life and nature/culture division. To unfold the analyses, I first place videos in the context of urban ills. Built on previous studies of multimodal argumentation and entanglement anthropology, I define “argumentative meshworks” in three aspects: a human-nonhuman entanglement, a simplicity-complexity harmony, and a production-audience interaction. Then I select three mushroom videos as artefacts to unpack the multimodal meshworks. Following the empirical call argumentation studies, I use viewers’ comments to support my points throughout the whole piece. This inquiry explores multimodal argumentation’s new possibility to not only stress things out but create space for harmony and peace of mind.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The problems of urban involution and precarities
  • 3.Multimodal argumentative meshworks
    • 3.1An entanglement of humans and nonhumans
    • 3.2A harmony of simplicity and complexity
    • 3.3An interaction of craft production and audiences engagement
  • 4.Li ziqi’s “mushroom at the end of the world”
    • 4.1Crafting multimodal argumentative meshworks
    • 4.2The hybridity of craftsmanship
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
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