Afro-Brazilian women YouTubers’ Black Feminism in Digital Social Justice Activism

Abstract

This article examines how Afro-Brazilian women YouTubers employ the strategy of challenging racism, sexism and colorism through their own articulations of Black Brazilian feminism. They are not a part of feminist organizations but are a new form of activists as they are digital social activists. Their strategies are educating their audiences and challenging their audiences to change the way they think about and treat Black women so that viewers do not produce racism and sexism while empowering Afro-Brazilian women and girls. I argue these YouTubers are engaged in black feminist digital activism. These women draw on media from Brazil and the USA thus engaging how oppression works in both countries with a focus on Brazil. YouTube is another platform that scholars should consider when thinking about digital activism.

Satirical Antiracism: Digital Protest Images in Afro‐Brazilian Media

“…In particular, subaltern communities have utilized cinema and videos as a critical locus through which to maintain their cultural practices and protest threats to their ways of life (Ginsburg 1991; Turner 1992). Afro‐Brazilians have turned to their own media production in the form of film (Dennison 2020; Gillam 2017; Heise 2012; Souza 2011), television (Gillam 2013), and social media (Mitchell‐Walthour 2018; Perrine 2019) to excavate other possibilities for Black representation beyond mainstream media. Looking strictly at the discourses within the parodies of commercials that Is That OK With You?…”

mulher negra no circuito da cultura

“…Identificamos artigos que abordam o ciberativismo realizado por mulheres negras, por vezes numa perspectiva mais geral e com exemplificações de diferentes plataformas, por vezes com apresentação de estudos de caso, semelhante à proposta da presente pesquisa, mas com diferentes abordagens teórico-metodológicas. Nesse universo, observamos duas preocupações centrais: 1) publicações direcionadas a dar visibilidade ao fenômeno do ciberativismo em si e discutir como novos discursos do feminismo negro ganham forma nos ambientes digitais (MALTA; MITCHELL-WALTHOUR, 2018;SILVA, 2019;WESCHENFELDER;FABRIS, 2019).…”