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Cited by 111Ethics and Social Impacts of AICybernetics and Technology in SocietyBioethics and Human Rights Issues

Amazon Echo and the Aesthetics of Whiteness

Open access
Thao Phan·2019·Catalyst Feminism Theory Technoscience
DOI 10.28968/cftt.v5i1.29586
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Abstract

This article examines the figuration of the home automation device Amazon Echo and its digital assistant Alexa. While most readings of gender and digital assistants choose to foreground the figure of the housewife, I argue that Alexa is instead figured on domestic servants. I examine commercials, Amazon customer reviews, and reviews from tech commentators to make the case that the Echo is modeled on an idealized image of domestic service. It is my contention that this vision functions in various ways to reproduce a relation between device/user that mimics the relation between servant/master in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American homes. Significantly, however, the Echo departs from this historical parallel through its aesthetic coding as a native-speaking, educated, white woman. This aestheticization is problematic insofar as it decontextualizes and depoliticizes the historic reality of domestic service. Further, this figuration misrepresents the direction of power between user and devices in a way that makes contending with issues such as surveillance and digital labor increasingly difficult.

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  • If left unaddressed, these blindnesses auger a future where the integration of AI into every nook and cranny of our societies will cement white supremacy into the core operating system(s) of the world.

    “cement white supremacy into the core operating system(s) of the world (Cave and Dihal 2020;Katz 2020;Phan 2019).”

    From Abundant intelligences: placing AI within Indigenous knowledge frameworks (2025) · cites this paper as Phan 2019

    In “Race, Voice, and Figurative Narratives” (page unavailable), Phan argues that Alexa’s white-speaking persona erases histories of racialized exploitation and that such figurations can shape attitudes to power. The Conclusion (page unavailable) also describes how Alexa obscures exploited, predominantly racialized labor. The paper does not establish the broader prediction that AI throughout society will cement white supremacy into the world’s core systems. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Authors
Phan, T.
Affiliations
Deakin University (AU)
Corresponding author
Thao Phan
ORCID
Thao Phan
Venue
Catalyst Feminism Theory Technoscience
Publisher
University of Toronto Libraries - UOTL
Published
2019-04-01
Volume
5
Issue
1
Pages
1-38
ISSN
2380-3312 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.28968/cftt.v5i1.29586
OpenAlex
W2943964375
Cited by
111
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 1
FWCI
13.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Catalyst Feminism Theory Technoscience (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
Australian Government
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Bioethics and Human Rights Issues
Keywords
Amazon Echo, Amazon Alexa, domestic service, domestic servants, whiteness, aesthetics, gender representation, housewives, master-slave relations, domestic work, surveillance, digital labor, voice assistants, depoliticization

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