"Are you me?": understanding the political potential of feminist identity spaces on Reddit during the COVID-19 pandemic
Communication Culture & Critique
; 2023.
Article
in English
| Web of Science | ID: covidwho-2309469
ABSTRACT
In this study we performed a critical discourse analysis of the r/workingmoms subreddit during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic (March-May 2020). Using this data we argue that Reddit's platform can facilitate what we schematize as feminist "identity spaces." We use the heuristic of "spaces" rather than "networks" or "online communities" and connect this theorization to our understanding of the discursive work on the subreddit which facilitates in-group communication and situated structural critique. However, we also interrogate the political possibilities of identity spaces and understand them as a symptom of what Angela McRobbie has called "the cultural politics of disarticulation." Ultimately, we argue that the same platform affordances that allow for identity spaces to thrive also limit their political potency and we frame this within Lauren Berlant's theorization of "cruel optimism."
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Web of Science
Language:
English
Journal:
Communication Culture & Critique
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
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