Aesthetics of Otherness: Representation of #migrantcaravan and #caravanamigrante on Instagram

Abstract

This article examines the representation of the migrant caravan on Instagram showing how an aesthetics of otherness has prevailed in this representation. Aesthetics of otherness is the result of the interaction between platform users’ selections and platform affordances that creates a gap between the marginalized other and the user. Based on a qualitative content analysis of posts with the hashtags #caravanamigrante and #migrantcaravan, this research reveals that the two hashtags form parallel, although not alike, communicative spaces where migrant caravan representation is mostly mediated by professionals and organizations interested in promoting their own work and not by the migrants themselves. Despite this trend, users posting with #caravanamigrante were less likely to hijack the intent of the public, more likely to reference reasons for migration, and overall less likely to employ the aesthetics of otherness, which point to the possibility of circumventing the role of the platform in shaping the representation of marginalized people and social justice movements.

“My Way or No Way”: Political Polarization and Disagreement Among Immigrant Influencers and Their Followers

“…Instagram has become a space of visual (self)representation and very specific aesthetics and templates that generated unique digital cultures (Leaver et al, 2020). In the political realm, specifically related to immigration, studies have focused on the multimodal characteristics of #MigrantCaravan posts on Instagram (Jaramillo-Dent & Pérez-Rodríguez, 2021;Rosa & Soto-Vásquez, 2022).…”

Stories of Afghanistan Beyond the War: Visual Mobile Communication Via @everydayafg on Instagram

“…This research focuses on Instagram as a platform for visual mobile communication and how it enables new narratives to be disputed by local actors in contrast with traditional media narratives, mostly Western perspectives. For example, previous research (Rosa -Soto-Vásquez 2022) demonstrated that the portrayal of migrants on Instagram was mostly shaped by non-migrants (people who sympathise with the cause), which creates an "aesthetics of otherness". The study analysed two hashtags (#caravanamigrante and #migrantcaravan) and found out that, when migrants do dispute their depiction, they focus on showing their reasons for migrating, justifying it with the hashtag in their language (#caravanamigrante).…”

“…Simultaneously, throughout these years, Afghanistan has been depicted in traditional Western media as a violent region due to the war declared by the United States and NATO allies (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) against the Taliban regime, which was accused of hosting al-Qaeda terrorists -post September 11, 2001, attacks in the USA (Zelizer 2005;Wilson 2014;Campbell 2017). However, the popularisation of visual mobile social media, such as Instagram, can contribute to changing the depiction of a group, event, or geographical location (Serafinelli -Villi 2017;Rosa -Soto-Vásquez 2022;Béni -Veloso 2022). By way of illustration, an international and collective initiative of visual storytellers called The Everyday Projects has been working with Filológia.hu • 2023/1-4.…”