BLM Movement Frames Among the Muted Voices: Actor-Generated Infographics on Instagram During #BlackoutTuesday

Authors

  • Kirsten M. Weber Central Michigan University
  • Holly A. V. Smith Central Michigan University
  • Bradley Madsen Central Michigan University
  • Tisha Dejmanee University of Technology Sydney
  • Zulfia Zaher Central Michigan University

Keywords:

#BLM, #Blacklivesmatter, Black Lives Matter, infographics, digital activism, Instagram, #BlackoutTuesday, social movement

Abstract

Within the context of social movements, movement frames define social or political problems and guide movement participants to address those issues. As a decentralized movement, #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) invited audiences to appropriate the hashtag and use it to illuminate numerous issues that affect Black Americans. This article focuses on the infographics that were generated and circulated in association with #BlackoutTuesday on Instagram to understand user-generated movement frames for the #BLM movement. Our theme analysis yielded four themes representative of user-generated movement frames, including (a) sharing antiracist information (e.g., information about police brutality, statistics illustrating racial disparities, portrayals of systemic racism, refutations of oppositional arguments, and defining and clarifying antiracist vocabulary), (b) amplifying Black voices, (c) tips for performing allyship, and (d) calls to action. We discuss how user-generated themes on Instagram work within the BLM movement and how visual texts support movements on social media more generally.

Author Biographies

Kirsten M. Weber, Central Michigan University

Full Professor989-774-7890

Holly A. V. Smith, Central Michigan University

Undergraduate989-774-7890

Bradley Madsen, Central Michigan University

Graduate student989-774-7890

Tisha Dejmanee, University of Technology Sydney

Assistant professor61 2 9514 9681

Zulfia Zaher, Central Michigan University

Assistant professor989-774-3196

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Published

2022-10-29

Issue

Section

Articles