Your privilege is trending: confronting whiteness on social media
Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Social media activism provides an important space for dialogue and consciousness-raising. Racism, privilege, and inequalities have received considerable attention in social media discussions. #WhiteProverbs was one attempt to confront this issue, focusing particularly on White privilege. The tweets show how social media is a site where "serious games" are played, as agents are constrained by the "rules" but still able to make choices and push boundaries. This article explores the #WhiteProverbs tweets that came from Australian users to better understand how Australian social media users understand and confront whiteness. Through the use of humor, specifically irony and sarcasm, Twitter users identify a number of key ways that White privilege is reproduced, including justifications for racial inequality, questioning claims to racial differences, and constructing an exclusively White national identity.
Journal
Social Media and Society
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Volume
3
ISBN/ISSN
2056-3051
Edition
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Issue
2
Pages Count
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Location
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Publisher
Sage
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Publisher Location
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Publish Date
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Date
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EISSN
N/A
DOI
10.1177/2056305117706783