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Abstract

The hand icon apparent on desktop and laptop computer screens is shown to manifest an unexpected cultural history. What may have been taken for granted in the implementation of graphical user interfaces and their associated iconography, is subjected to a semiotic analysis that reveals a basis in blackface minstrelsy. Theories of human interactivity with computers help to explain how this heritage has remained relatively hidden.

Keywords

interactivity hand icon blackface minstrelsy extranoematic

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A white right hand

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