Entanglements:
Journal of Posthumanities
E-ISSN: 3107-488X

(Article) ‐ Volume 2, Issue 2 (Open Issue)
Matters of the Metaverse: Dematerialization, Performativity and the Crisis of Identity
Authored By — Neha Soi

Abstract

In the contemporary age of digital revolution, there is a growing global aspiration to inhabit the virtual space as completely as possible, and to replicate or substitute human actions, transactions and existence with digital counterparts. The state of material embodiment, which was hitherto seen as pivotal for performativity, has been supplanted with a strong rejection of materiality. The idea of presence, which was a crucial aspect of agency, stands displaced by that of simulated presence. A dematerialization of the self is increasingly pursued, and presented as a desirable state of being. While often celebrated as liberatory, such dematerialization is neither neutral nor transcendental. Instead, it is embedded within techno-capitalist structures that commodify identity and experience (Zuboff 9). The veracity of the claims towards freedom, empowerment and equality, so often associated with the metaverse, then needs to be ascertained. This paper critically examines the cultural and ontological implications of this shift, arguing that the metaverse reconfigures agency, embodiment and representation in ways that demand skepticism rather than celebration. Drawing upon theorists such as Judith Butler and Jean Baudrillard among others, the paper situates virtual identity within broader debates on simulation, performativity and posthuman subjectivity.

Keywords

Identity, Metaverse, Materiality, Performativity, Cultural Politics.

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