The Representation of Meghan Markle in Facebook Posts: A Discourse Historical Approach (DHA)

Abstract

Following the royal wedding of American actress and feminist Meghan Markle to Prince Harry who is sixth in line to the British throne in May 2018, Markle has been going viral on social media. Not only did the wedding spur a wave of mixed reactions, but the new Duchess of Sussex has also become a controversial figure as apparent from participants' comments which range from admiration and fascination to outright criticism and racism. Drawing upon Wodak's (2001) Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) as a theoretical framework with specific reference to its application on Computer-mediated Discourse (CMD) as discussed by Reisigl and Wodak (2008), the present study attempts to examine the representation of Markle in Facebook posts following the royal wedding. A manageable sample comprising eighty status posts about Markle was gathered randomly using the Facebook search option. The study aims at examining the linguistic features that contribute to the construction of a positive or negative image of Markle in the selected posts with specific focus on nomination and predication strategies. The findings point out that the two groups, pro-and anti-Markle employed various nomination and predication strategies in the Facebook posts they wrote following the royal wedding to create a positive or negative representation for this public figure respectively.

Taiwan as ghost island? Ambivalent articulation of marginalized identities in computer-mediated discourses

“…In this study, we apply DHA to computer-mediated discourse which by nature is more interactive and user-centered than traditional media (Mahfouz, 2018). The aim is to examine how Taiwanese netizens perceive their status quo and future in Taiwan and which social realities (including threats and hopes) are reflected through their online discourses when referring to the term ‘ghost island’.…”

When Harry met Meghan (got married, had a baby, and “Megxited”): Intergroup anxiety, ingroup norms, and racialized categorization as predictors of receptivity to interracial romances

“…For example, the wedding was the first‐ever interracial marriage involving a Senior British Royal and generated a significant amount of media coverage, with an estimated 1.9 billion people—a quarter of the world's population—watching it (Reddin, 2022). Furthermore, this coverage often referred to the interracial nature of the Duke and Duchess's relationship, as well as Meghan's and Archie's biracial heritage (BBC, 2017) and elicited strong reactions, both positive and negative, on social media (Mahfouz, 2018). Coupled with the recent finding that exposure to celebrities can impact intergroup attitudes on a large scale (Alrababa'h et al, 2021), the events, along with the media's near obsession with the couple (Hyde, 2023), is likely to have made interracial romantic relationships highly salient and thus attitudes toward such romances more accessible in such contexts.…”

Brand Royal: Meghan Markle, feuding families, and disruptive duchessing in Brexit era Britain

“…The social media response on Facebook was equally divided. While Markle "spurred pride in African American British citizens" and among women, a vociferous anti-Markle contingent disparaged the Duchess-apparent as a "divorced opportunist unworthy of royal status because of her biracial and American middle class background" (Iman M. Mahfouz 2018).…”

“…Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was hailed as Britain's "first [B]lack princess" (Iman M. Mahfouz 2018) and proclaimed the nation's second "mixed race royal" (DeNeen L. Brown 2017). Already famous when she met Prince Henry of Wales in 2016 because of her starring role on Suits (2011-17), Markle catapulted into the global celebrity elite during their courtship and acquired royal status when they married in 2018.…”