Social Activism in the Postmodern Age

12:04 PM A Student's Perspective 0 Comments

Social campaigns are grown and molded by the culture and technology of their specific age. Civil rights activist would use traditional media to reach the masses, showcase their movement and hopefully bring about a change in society. Martin Luther King for instance utilized the television to broadcast his message and ideals.


Today’s social movement scene is created and spread in an entirely different, and in my belief, more effective method.

The BlackLivesMatter movement was first conceived in 2013 following the shooting of Trayvon Martin. The means to which it started? A single hashtag on Twitter. It has since grown into one of the greatest social media movements which at first was solely created and driven by the spread of thoughts through social media. Hence this movement and its success is entirely the result of the postmodern age and the technology it provides (e.g. Web 2.0).

As Cullors-Brignac, a leader of the BLM movement states, "because of social media we reach people in the smallest corners of America… there is a network and a hashtag to gather around.

Mckesson also builds on this emphasizing that “the tools that we have to organize and to resist are fundamentally different than anything that’s existed before in black struggle.”

BLM found a means to building the campaign through the medium of social media. The benefits of this medium include the rapid spread of information, the ability to bring about a participatory culture for the cause and the means to exponentially increasing the campaign’s audience. The postmodern age also allows for Transmedia Storytelling. This concept revolves around depicting a story across multiple media formats. BLM succeeded heavily in this as their ideal was started in Twitter, spread throughout social media and participation and collaboration was achieved with petitions being made and strikes being organized online.



Benkler depicts this rapid escalation by conveying that relatively small communities online can reach regional and often international ones through such means. Poster builds on this stating that such virtual communities allow for intense experiences that build identity in the user and furthers the cause to more audiences.

This very interaction brought about by the postmodern age is entirely decentralized. As Cullors-Brignac states, “you can't kill the movement by killing the leader because there are many. But decentralization does not mean disorganization.” BLM has managed to create an incredible participatory culture around a single ideal through Transmedia Storytelling.

In fact this was so successful that the movement appeared in a Law & Order episode, a Scandal episode, a documentary called Bars4Justice and even a Macklemore song called White Privilege.


It is clear just how great a campaign can become through the use of technology in the postmodern age.


Joseph Badaan

0 comments:

A First Perspective: Black Lives Matter

5:27 PM A Student's Perspective 0 Comments


 A Student’s Perspective is a blog written by myself, Garrick Johnson and Joseph Badaan, both students currently attending Colorado State University. We plan to examine the #BlackLivesMatter social movement through online resources such as social media. We were both drawn to this topic because it has been such a polarizing social movement for the past few years. It has also come at a time whereby social movements can grow exponentially due to the power of virtual communication and culture. This allows us to further understand just how digital mediums can effect, mold and escalate such a cause.

Another reason both Joseph and I were interested in the #BlackLivesMatter movement is because we are able to give a unique and unbiased perspective on the whole issue. Joseph being from Australia will give an international perspective, one which is aware of the origin yet not affected by the media which has brought this matter to light so effectively throughout America. On the other hand I hope to give a different perspective as someone who has been 'outside looking in'.

As the movement has grown over the years we hope to give our readers an intelligent and unbiased analysis of the powerful social movement that is Black Lives Matter.

For our readers who may not know much about the Black Lives Matter movement, we hope this quick introduction catches you up to speed. The movement began in 2013 when the twitter hashtag #BlackLivesMatter blew into the online social sphere. This social media wildfire was sparked by the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman cases. Since these occurrences few more African American deaths transpired leading to great outcries throughout social media.

The movement was founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi who have successfully grown this issue into a significant social media powerhouse. The BLM movement continues to operate strongly online whilst demonstrations and protests occur on the streets. But has it been successful? As Blow (2015) states, the issue may have been raised but it has not been resolved.

In our following blog posts we will begin to dive deeper into the power of digital communications, their effect on social movements (particularly that of #BlackLivesMatter) and whether they can truly make a movement successful.

PS: Connect online to our social media pages to stay constantly updated! Also be sure to check out the ‘quick links’ tab for further info on the matter

0 comments:

Welcome

12:39 PM A Student's Perspective 0 Comments


Welcome to our new blog: 'A Student's Perspective' !

Throughout this blog we hope to bring to light the famous and recent social movement #BlackLivesMatter. This particular movement has grown significantly and exponentially over the past few years making it one of the more interesting movements to examine.

We shall be updating this blog weekly so be sure to connect and share our social media to know when the latest post is created and to build a large community where all can discuss our insights.

0 comments:

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)