Black Lives Matter goes global: Connective action meets cultural hybridity in Brazil, India, and Japan

Abstract

This study examines the global diffusion of Black Lives Matter (BLM) as digitally networked connective action. Combining social network analysis with qualitative textual analysis, we show that BLM was hybridized in different ways to give voice to local struggles for social justice in Brazil, India, and Japan. However, BLM’s hybridization stirred right-wing backlash within these countries that not only targeted local movements but BLM too. Theoretically, we argue that both transnational contiguities and intra-cultural tensions shape the construction of meanings—or “action frames”—as connective action crosses cultural borders. Resonant frames, which are in harmony with the values of the movement, amplify the features of the global movement that resonate with local concerns or hybridize it with a local struggle. Reactionary frames, which are hostile to movement values, may also target the global movement or its hybridization. We theorize the different roles of global and local crowd-enabled elites in transnational connective action.

Affective Polarization of a Protest and a Counterprotest: Million MAGA March v. Million Moron March

“…Subsequently, all accounts within each network (protest and counterprotest) were ordered by weighted indegree and the top 10 accounts from each network were distinguished as crowd-enabled elites —or accounts that were most likely to be retweeted in the two networks, respectively (see also, Shahin et al, 2021). All original tweets posted by these 20 accounts were identified and studied manually for a close understanding of the kinds of posts that were likely to make accounts influential in the protest and the counterprotest network, respectively.…”

“…Empirical evidence, however, does not always support these suppositions about digitally networked action. Digital networks tend to be scale-free networks —a small number of “hubs” bring the network together and have many more connections than the rest of the “nodes” (Barabási, 2009; Shahin et al, 2021). This makes networks centralized and hierarchical—with hubs being highly powerful and influential across the network.…”

“…They argue that the construction of collective identity is more important than ephemeral “connectivity” in helping digital movements succeed. Indeed, collective identity—racial, gendered—has been vital to the success of movements such as Black Lives Matter (Shahin et al, 2021) and #MeToo (Zeng, 2020), which emerged and spread mainly through digital technologies and especially Twitter. Bennett and Segerberg’s (2013) conception of identity as idiosyncratic is itself problematic: a sense of identity is impossible to achieve without reference to a social group or collective within which the individual “self” is located—and which in turn is differentiated from other groups or collectives (Jenkins, 2008; Tajfel, 1981).…”

#Aboriginallivesmatter: Mapping Black Lives Matter discourse in Australia

“…We study #AboriginalLivesMatter as a hybrid organisationally-enabled connective action that emerges through behind-the-scenes coordination by networks of organisations that ‘cast a broader public engagement net using interactive digital media and easy-to-personalise action themes’ (Bennett and Segerberg, 2013: 22), although this categorisation is complicated by the participation of many celebrities and organisations that helped to coordinate the spread of these personalised action frames and may be understood as ‘crowd enabled elites’ who disproportionately influence networked discourse as ‘a consequence of the networking practices of the crowd’ (Shahin et al, 2021: 6). We consider #AboriginalLivesMatter to be a unique case study for evaluating the formation, spread and impact of connective action across national boundaries, and the efficacy of connective action in incorporating allies into race-based social justice movements.…”

Decolonial Māori memes in Aotearoa

“…The recent political hashtag movements #blacklivesmatter and #landback marked a digitally significant moment for Black and Indigenous People of Color, raising awareness of the ongoing violence they endure. While Māori have been careful not to co-opt these international struggles as their own, such movements have provided a boost to Māori seeking to speak out about the continuing violence of colonization and its racist results, giving voice, as elsewhere in the world, to local struggles for social justice (Shahin et al, 2021). Rangatahi (Māori young people) are enmeshed in web 2.0 and its new technologies: memes are one such phenomenon, and the localization of Indigenous memes addressing decolonization represents a flourishing discursive genre.…”