Twitter as a Pedagogical Platform

2019 ◽  
pp. 100-124
Author(s):  
Kaitlynn Mendes ◽  
Jessica Ringrose ◽  
Jessalynn Keller
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Rape Culture ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Feminist Activism ◽  
Sexually Aggressive ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Global Reach

This chapter shows how feminists are using not only Twitter but a diverse interconnected range of social media platforms to engage in their digital activism. Drawing on a survey of 46 self-defined Twitter feminists, and a subsample of email, Skype, and in-person interviews with 21 of these respondents we explore how participants challenge rape culture and engage in feminist activism creating social media counter-publics. Twitter affords feminists connectivity, speed, immediacy, and global reach to share and debate: important pedagogical processes for raising awareness and visibility around issues such as rape culture. Despite the widely understood benefits of social media, participants recounted challenges of participating in digital activism on Twitter, including instances of hostile anti-feminism and episodes of sexually aggressive trolling. We outline participants’ emergent strategies for coping with technologically mediated misogyny and illuminate the significant role Twitter is playing in activating networked feminism.

Raising Awareness About Public Archives in East and Southern Africa Through Social Media

2019 ◽  
pp. 160-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nampombe Saurombe
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Civic Duty ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Public Archives ◽  
Southern Regional

Archives serve as society's collective memory because they provide evidence of the past as well as promoting accountability and transparency of past actions. Appreciation of the archives should therefore result in citizens linking these records with their identity, history, civic duty and cultural heritage. However, research in east and southern Africa seems to indicate that very few citizens are aware of and use the archives. Social media platforms have been utilized to raise awareness about the archival institutions elsewhere. This study sought to find out whether the National Archives in east and southern Africa used social media to raise awareness about archives. The study involved 12 national archives affiliated to the East and Southern Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA) using a multi-method research strategy. The findings indicated that social media platforms were not a preferred option in outreach strategies, even though they were recognized as useful means to reach online information seekers.

Outro

Renegades ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
Trevor Boffone
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
New Music ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Revolution

The Outro explores how the Renegades throughout this book used their social media platforms and clout to further social justice messages during the height of the renewed Black Lives Matter movement following the murder of George Floyd in summer 2020. Renegade Zoomers played a significant role in celebrating Blackness and made many of these “moves” on social media. Whether it was through attending marches, creating viral dance challenges, or producing new music, Renegades positioned their creativity, joy, and labor as central to the movement for Black lives. Their work forced onlookers, moreover, to recognize the labor of Black girls in our social movements. Renegades reveal, ultimately, that the revolution will be digital.

scholarly journals “Oh, She’s a Tumblr Feminist”: Exploring the Platform Vernacular of Girls’ Social Media Feminisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630511986744
Author(s):  
Jessalynn Keller
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Youth Engagement ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Feminist Activism ◽  
Teenage Girls ◽  
Team Research ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Online Activism ◽  
Technological Affordances

As avid social media users, it is perhaps unsurprising that feminist teenage girls use their favorite platforms to engage in various forms of feminist activism. Yet, existing research has not explored how a growing number of social media platforms and their technological affordances uniquely shape how girls engage in online activism. I address this oversight by asking the following: Why are girls using particular platforms for feminist activism? How do certain platforms facilitate distinctive opportunities for youth engagement with feminist politics? and How might this shape the types of feminist issues and politics both made possible and foreclosed by some social media platforms? To answer these questions, I draw on ethnographic data gathered from a group of American, Canadian, and British teenage girls involved in various forms of online feminist activism on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. These data were collected as part of two UK-based team research projects. Using the concept of “platform vernacular,” I analyze how these girls do feminism across these different platforms, based on discursive textual analysis of their social media postings and interview reflections. I argue that teenage girls strategically choose how to engage with feminist politics online, carefully weighing issues like privacy, community, and peer support as determining factors in which platform they choose to engage. These decisions are often related to distinctive platform vernaculars, in which the girls have a keen understanding. Nonetheless, these strategic choices shape the kinds of feminisms we see across various social media platforms, a result that necessitates some attention and critical reflection from social media scholars.

scholarly journals “These Women are Making a Statement Against Rape and yet the only Thing Y'All can Focus on is ‘Eww They're Naked’”: Exploring Rape Culture on Facebook in South Africa

Gender Issues ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaida Orth ◽  
Michelle Andipatin ◽  
Brian van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Victim Blaming ◽  
Rape Culture ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Aggressive Male ◽  
Public Reaction

Abstract Sexual assault on campuses has been identified as a pervasive public health problem. In April 2016, students across South African universities launched the #Endrapeculture campaign to express their frustration against university policies which served to perpetuate a rape culture. The use of hashtag activism during the protest served to spark online public debates and mobilize support for the protests. This article describes the public reactions to the South African #Endrapeculture protests on the Facebook social media platform. Data was collected through natural observations of comment threads on news articles and public posts on the student protests, and subjected to content analysis. The findings suggest that the #nakedprotest was successful in initiating public conversations concerning the issue of rape culture. However, the reactions towards the #nakedprotest were divided with some perpetuating a mainstream public discourse which perpetuates rape culture, and others (re)presenting a counter-public that challenged current dominant views about rape culture. Two related main themes emerged: Victim-blaming and Trivialising Rape Culture. Victim-blaming narratives emerged from the commenters and suggested that the protesters were increasing their chances of being sexually assaulted by marching topless. This discourse seems to perpetuate the notion of the aggressive male sexual desire and places the onus on women to protect themselves. Other commenters criticised the #nakedprotest method through demeaning comments which served to derail the conversation and trivialise the message behind the protest. The public reaction to the #nakedprotest demonstrated that rape culture is pervasive in society and continues to be re(produced) through discourse on social media platforms. However, social media also offers individuals the opportunity to draw from and participate in multiple counter-publics which challenge these mainstream rape culture discourses.

Hashtag Feminism in Romania: #MeToo and Its Effects on Cyberspace Behavior

Transilvania ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
Andreea Voina ◽  
Anișoara Pavelea ◽  
Lorina Culic
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Feminist Activism ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Culture Of Gender

In the recent years, cyberspace has become an incubator for feminist activism. Cyberfeminism has gained momentum through various online platforms, campaigns, movements, and galvanized women (and – to a certain extent – men) to “move beyond the hashtag” and engage in actions meant to drive socio-political change. The Women’s March on Washington in January 2016, for instance, was triggered by a Facebook post, and turned into an unprecedented women’s activism action, replicating across the globe. A more recent movement, #MeToo, has emerged into cyberspace and raised issues of credibility, as it tapped into a culture of gender inequality and power relations that created and fostered an environment of intimidation and silence. The unprecedented wave of sexual harassment allegations brought to surface countless confessions from regular women and celebrities who have been pivotal in raising awareness on this issue. However, this cyberfeminist movement also intensified the cyberbullying phenomenon, as the mechanisms of storytelling engaged in #MeToo have not only generated a wave of gendered solidarity, but also one of trivializing – even bashing – such stories, and the individuals who reported previous incidents on social media. This paper analyzes the emergence and development of the #MeToo movement in Romania in the fall of 2017, focusing on storytelling mechanisms employed on Facebook and effects on user behavior, an assessment of social media users’ navigation of the phenomenon, in terms of solidarity networks and bullying generated by Romanian women’s tackling of a cultural taboo.

Redefining #YourAverageMuslim woman: Muslim female digital activism on social media

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inaash Islam
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Muslim Woman ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Women In Art ◽  
Controlling Images ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Orientalist discourses have largely shaped how Muslim women have come to be represented in western visual media as oppressed, subjugated or foreign. However, with the advent of social media platforms, Muslim women are utilizing social media spaces to rearticulate the controlling images promulgated through orientalist narratives. This article examines the complex relationship visual media shares with Muslim women and demonstrates that the lens of orientalism continues to structure the imaginaries that shape visual representations of Muslim women in art, news and film. This article addresses how visual platforms and social media spaces such as YouTube are being utilized by Muslim women to undertake digital activism that seeks to subvert essentialist narratives. At the centre of this discussion is YouTuber Dina Tokio’s (2017) documentary, titled ‘#YourAverageMuslim’, which tackles western preconceived notions, and instead offers a redefined version of the ‘Muslim woman’ predicated on resisting three narratives: (1) Muslim-Woman-As-Oppressed, (2) Muslim-Woman-As-Subjugated and (3) Muslim-Woman-As-Foreign-Other. This documentary clearly demonstrates how Muslim women are using social media platforms in specific ways to shape the discourses around Muslim women. In doing so they are demonstrating their agentic capabilities, taking control of their representations, and speaking for themselves instead of being spoken for by others.

scholarly journals #YELLOWPERILSUPPORTSBLACKPOWER: MEMORY WORK FOR INTERRACIAL SOLIDARITY

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yena Kang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Black Community ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Memory Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Justice Movements

As various racial justice movements emerged under the “Black Lives Matter” slogan after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, Monyee Chau posted some artwork on Instagram with the slogan, #YellowPerilSupportsBlackPower. The artwork—symbolizing Asians with a yellow tiger and African Americans with a black panther—ignited Asians’ activism in support of African Americans and became circulated via multiple social media platforms. In this study, I view the #YellowPerilSupportsBlackPower movement (YPSBP) as digital activism, and I analyze how Asian Americans project their “Asianness” to advocate for the Black community. In particular, I focus on memory work among Asian participants when they demonstrate their solidarity with the Black community. By analyzing mediated memory work on Instagram, I identify the three types of memory work in which Asian participants engage. I conclude that this memory work plays a key role in legitimatizing a process through which Asian Americans can produce affective ties with the Black community that build a multiracial identity extending beyond color lines. This exploration of interracial solidarity enriches both the social movement and digital activism scholarship by illustrating how memory work mediates and amplifies affective solidarity.

scholarly journals Social Media Activism. Water as a Common Good

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Cernison
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
Geographical Scale ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Online Activism ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
Movement Organizations

<div>What happens when hundreds of social movement organizations give life to a diffused online campaign? Focusing on the referendums against water privatization in Italy, this book explores how the activists colonized social media thanks to a very wide set of communication practices that convinced 27 million citizens to vote.</div><div><br></div><div>This book focuses on the referendums against water privatisation in Italy and explores how activists took to social media, ultimately convincing twenty-seven million citizens to vote. Investigating the relationship between social movements and internet-related activism during complex campaigns, this book examines how a technological evolution-the increased relevance of social media platforms-affected in very different ways organisations with divergent characteristics, promoting at the same time decentralised communication practices, and new ways of coordinating dispersed communities of people.</div><div>Matteo Cernison combines and adapts a wide set of methods, from social network analysis to digital ethnography, in order to explore in detail how digital activism and face-to-face initiatives interact and overlap. He argues that the geographical scale of actions, the role played by external media professionals, and the activists' perceptions of digital technologies are key elements that contribute in a significant way to shape the very different communication practices often described as online activism.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

Rise and Fall of Digital Activism in Mexico From 2000-2019

2020 ◽  
pp. 264-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Classification Framework ◽  
Privacy Laws ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Over Time

Political activism is more alive than ever. After the scandal of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, online social media platforms restricted the distribution of content to privacy laws. But populism disruption in many countries fosters political discontent. Online protests and everyday claims are rising. Add to this context environmental problems and an absence of an ideological framework. All these conditions foster the use of digital activism. But this field of research has studied single cases, losing connections with societies and history. The aim of this chapter is to explain the evolution of digital activism in a long period of time. To achieve such purpose, the author analyzes 11 Mexican events that took place from 2000 to 2019 and provide a classification framework to understand how digital activism transforms over time.

“It took me quite a long time to develop a voice”: Examining feminist digital activism in the Indian #MeToo movement

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482094484
Author(s):  
Paromita Pain
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Digital Activism ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Social Media Platforms

As my analysis of the tweets and interviews with participants and activists of the resurgent #MeTooIndia movement in 2018 show, the work of elite activists and the risks they took were critical for the success of the campaign; however, there was an exclusion of suburban voices and experiences. The onerous and taxing nature of digital labors are an unrecognized feature of women’s activism online, especially in the Indian context, adding more work to women’s already rarely acknowledged and undervalued burdens of labor. Online action here may have been supplemented by offline action, but participants found little support otherwise. Compounding issues, as the interviews reveal, are social media platforms that by nature are sexist and this has negative consequences for online feminist advocacy.

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