YouTube Video Essays as Self-Reflexive Form of Audiovisual Science Communication in the Humanities

Abstract

This article explores how the video essay on YouTube works as science communication for the humanities. Although its modes of expressions are delimited by platform affordances, the cultivation of YouTube’s audiovisual platform vernaculars have shaped the video essay to popularize the findings of the humanities and social sciences, both on the level of editing and performance. The appropriation and showing of footage oftentimes happen in self-reflexive ways that emphasize the mediality of the analyzed material and the argumentative research process. The analysis focuses on two exemplary video essay channels on YouTube: Pop Culture Detective by Jonathan McIntosh and What’s so Great About That by Grace Lee.