Jan 29, 2025–Jan 29, 2025 from 4:00pm–5:00pm
We often frame drama and conflict online in terms of its negative impacts, such as harassment and bullying. While these aspects of drama are important to consider, drama can also be a productive discursive space through which communities negotiate norms, boundaries, and the limits of acceptable behavior. In this presentation, I apply this latter approach to examining online drama by drawing on Victor Turner’s (1980, 1988) concept of ‘social drama’ – dramatic social events marked by conflict, antagonism, and competition through which communities articulate social norms – to examine how TikTok users engage in drama to negotiate the intersecting race, gender, and sexual power dynamics. Through an analysis of two U.S.-based TikTok social dramas, I demonstrate how the technological affordances of the platform shape how users respond to drama and argue TikTok’s predominantly younger use- base utilizes the platform to discuss, negotiate, and put in place socially progressive norms around racism, sexism, and homophobia. I further argue that these dramas create opportunities for Black and of color women, femme, and queer TikTok users to engage in digital Black feminism by drawing on their lived experiences and using platform affordances to comment on the situation and educate other users. The talk concludes with a broader discussion of the role of digital platforms and online drama in bringing both opportunities and harm to marginalized users.
Jan 29, 2025–Jan 29, 2025
from 4:00pm–5:00pm
Design & Innovation Building, Room 208
Registration for this event is required
by .
Visit the registration page for details.
Free
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