Pub Date : 2023-11-08DOI: 10.1177/20570473231209077
Abdullateef Mohammed, Lateef A. Adelakun
The suspension of the micro-blogging platform, Twitter, by the federal government of Nigeria on 5 June 2021 for ‘consistent non-removal of inciting and divisive contents’, undoubtedly generated mixed feelings among social media users in and outside the country. Hinging on Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur’s Media Systems Dependency theory, this study adopts a combination of text mining, sentiment analysis and survey approaches to make evident social media users’ reactions to the Twitter ban in 2021. Of the 3885 social posts that were sampled across three platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Nairaland) between 5 June and 16 July 2021, 73% decry while just 27% extol the Twitter ban action. The Nvivo word frequency results showed that the top five keywords used across the sampled posts were: ‘end’, ‘#twitterban’, ‘unlawful’, ‘suspension’ and ‘Nigeria’ ( n = 11,925; 24%), suggesting that majority of users were unhappy with the shutdown. The complementary opinion sampling conducted on students of Nile University of Nigeria revealed that the majority of the 319 sampled respondents (264; 83%) responded to VPNs to access and use Twitter despite the ban. Among the daily Twitter habits of the respondents most affected by the shutdown were Trending Topics Search (22%), Social Engagement (20%), Daily News Search (20%), Product Search (13%), Product Marketing (10%), Customer Relations (9%), Jobs Search (4%) and others (2%). The study recommends the consideration of better sanctioning means for erring social media companies that will not stifle the exchange of ideas online in this democratic age.
{"title":"The 2021 Nigerian Twitter ban: A text-analytics and survey insight into public reactions and outcomes in the early weeks of the ban","authors":"Abdullateef Mohammed, Lateef A. Adelakun","doi":"10.1177/20570473231209077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231209077","url":null,"abstract":"The suspension of the micro-blogging platform, Twitter, by the federal government of Nigeria on 5 June 2021 for ‘consistent non-removal of inciting and divisive contents’, undoubtedly generated mixed feelings among social media users in and outside the country. Hinging on Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur’s Media Systems Dependency theory, this study adopts a combination of text mining, sentiment analysis and survey approaches to make evident social media users’ reactions to the Twitter ban in 2021. Of the 3885 social posts that were sampled across three platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Nairaland) between 5 June and 16 July 2021, 73% decry while just 27% extol the Twitter ban action. The Nvivo word frequency results showed that the top five keywords used across the sampled posts were: ‘end’, ‘#twitterban’, ‘unlawful’, ‘suspension’ and ‘Nigeria’ ( n = 11,925; 24%), suggesting that majority of users were unhappy with the shutdown. The complementary opinion sampling conducted on students of Nile University of Nigeria revealed that the majority of the 319 sampled respondents (264; 83%) responded to VPNs to access and use Twitter despite the ban. Among the daily Twitter habits of the respondents most affected by the shutdown were Trending Topics Search (22%), Social Engagement (20%), Daily News Search (20%), Product Search (13%), Product Marketing (10%), Customer Relations (9%), Jobs Search (4%) and others (2%). The study recommends the consideration of better sanctioning means for erring social media companies that will not stifle the exchange of ideas online in this democratic age.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135343499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-08DOI: 10.1177/20570473231209075
Rebecca K Britt, Courtny L Franco, Naiyan Jones
There is a growing body of health communication literature addressing health-related discourse across user-generated platforms. Specifically, Reddit, the 19th most visited website in the world, serves as a promising venue for understanding communication surrounding health concerns. Such studies apply a variety of theories and methodological approaches, analyze large corpora, and build predictive and descriptive models for public health communication. The current study investigates health communication literature in the context of Reddit, identifying major topics, theories, and methods employed across studies, as well as how health communication topics have evolved over time. We identify future research directions, proposing theoretical and methodological considerations as well as issues and practices to employ when researching health phenomena via social platforms.
{"title":"Trends and challenges within Reddit and health communication research: A systematic review","authors":"Rebecca K Britt, Courtny L Franco, Naiyan Jones","doi":"10.1177/20570473231209075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231209075","url":null,"abstract":"There is a growing body of health communication literature addressing health-related discourse across user-generated platforms. Specifically, Reddit, the 19th most visited website in the world, serves as a promising venue for understanding communication surrounding health concerns. Such studies apply a variety of theories and methodological approaches, analyze large corpora, and build predictive and descriptive models for public health communication. The current study investigates health communication literature in the context of Reddit, identifying major topics, theories, and methods employed across studies, as well as how health communication topics have evolved over time. We identify future research directions, proposing theoretical and methodological considerations as well as issues and practices to employ when researching health phenomena via social platforms.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135390285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-31DOI: 10.1177/20570473231203081
Patrick Ferrucci, Toby Hopp
In light of concerns over the spread of so-called “fake news” on social media, organizations, and policymakers have increasingly sought to identify tools that can be used to stem the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation. Some evidence suggests that brief media literacy interventions might serve as an important means of helping social media users discern between “real” and “fake” news headlines. However, empirical research indicates that these effects tend to be relatively modest in magnitude. To that end, this study explored the degree to which epistemic self-efficacy beliefs may be able to positively “boost” media literacy interventions. Specifically, we used a series of 2 × 2 experiments to test the contention that the combinatory effects of epistemic self-efficacy and media literacy interventions will better equip users with the resources necessary to discern between disinformation and objectively produced news content. The results failed to indicate the presence of combinatory effects. We did, however, find initial evidence that epistemic self-efficacy beliefs may be importantly associated with the ability to properly classify both fake and mainstream news content.
{"title":"Let’s intervene: How platforms can combine media literacy and self-efficacy to fight fake news","authors":"Patrick Ferrucci, Toby Hopp","doi":"10.1177/20570473231203081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231203081","url":null,"abstract":"In light of concerns over the spread of so-called “fake news” on social media, organizations, and policymakers have increasingly sought to identify tools that can be used to stem the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation. Some evidence suggests that brief media literacy interventions might serve as an important means of helping social media users discern between “real” and “fake” news headlines. However, empirical research indicates that these effects tend to be relatively modest in magnitude. To that end, this study explored the degree to which epistemic self-efficacy beliefs may be able to positively “boost” media literacy interventions. Specifically, we used a series of 2 × 2 experiments to test the contention that the combinatory effects of epistemic self-efficacy and media literacy interventions will better equip users with the resources necessary to discern between disinformation and objectively produced news content. The results failed to indicate the presence of combinatory effects. We did, however, find initial evidence that epistemic self-efficacy beliefs may be importantly associated with the ability to properly classify both fake and mainstream news content.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135871216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-25DOI: 10.1177/20570473231202072
Sibo Chen
Recent research indicates that the economic downturn brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has bolstered a “climate delay” discourse. This has led environmental scholars and policymakers to express concern over how the relationship between economic recovery and decarbonization is being framed in current public discussions about post-pandemic economic recovery. To better understand how the climate delay discourse is mediated by local media and its potential impact on public support for green transformation, this article examines relevant coverage published by popular Toronto local media throughout 2020. A qualitative thematic analysis reveals a rising public demand for decarbonizing the Canadian economy. However, this demand has also been challenged by a counter storyline that seeks to divert public attention from the severe structural crisis underlying the fossil fuel sector. The study concludes by cautioning against “climate delay” narratives’ potential suppression of public support for green economic recovery.
{"title":"Public narratives of the relationship between post-pandemic economic recovery and decarbonization: A case study of Toronto’s media sphere","authors":"Sibo Chen","doi":"10.1177/20570473231202072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231202072","url":null,"abstract":"Recent research indicates that the economic downturn brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has bolstered a “climate delay” discourse. This has led environmental scholars and policymakers to express concern over how the relationship between economic recovery and decarbonization is being framed in current public discussions about post-pandemic economic recovery. To better understand how the climate delay discourse is mediated by local media and its potential impact on public support for green transformation, this article examines relevant coverage published by popular Toronto local media throughout 2020. A qualitative thematic analysis reveals a rising public demand for decarbonizing the Canadian economy. However, this demand has also been challenged by a counter storyline that seeks to divert public attention from the severe structural crisis underlying the fossil fuel sector. The study concludes by cautioning against “climate delay” narratives’ potential suppression of public support for green economic recovery.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135864090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-22DOI: 10.1177/20570473231197297
Lijiang Shen, Michelle L Acevedo Callejas
Individuals and society as a whole seem to be particularly fearful of cancer. A web-based study with data collected from Qualtrics panels in the United States ( N = 810) was conducted to investigate the antecedents, consequences, and correlates of fear of cancer. Comparisons were made across four cancers (lung, thyroid, pancreas, and melanoma) that varied in prevalence and death rate, and three non-cancer diseases (heart attack, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS). Individuals were indeed particularly scared of cancer. Their fear was influenced by threat appraisals related to both disease and treatment side effects. Risk estimates for diseases were influenced jointly by emotion and threat appraisal.
{"title":"Fear of cancer, its antecedents, correlates, and disease risk estimates","authors":"Lijiang Shen, Michelle L Acevedo Callejas","doi":"10.1177/20570473231197297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231197297","url":null,"abstract":"Individuals and society as a whole seem to be particularly fearful of cancer. A web-based study with data collected from Qualtrics panels in the United States ( N = 810) was conducted to investigate the antecedents, consequences, and correlates of fear of cancer. Comparisons were made across four cancers (lung, thyroid, pancreas, and melanoma) that varied in prevalence and death rate, and three non-cancer diseases (heart attack, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS). Individuals were indeed particularly scared of cancer. Their fear was influenced by threat appraisals related to both disease and treatment side effects. Risk estimates for diseases were influenced jointly by emotion and threat appraisal.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-31DOI: 10.1177/20570473231195919
G. E. Sikanku
This article takes a reflective turn by investigating Afrocentric representations in selected speeches of former US President Barack Obama through the framing analytic lens. While past research has yielded knowledge on the role of race in American politics and Obama’s identity construction, there is limited work on such representations within an Afrocentric perspective. It focuses on how Obama used his ethnic African heritage to frame his identity and politics. To be specific the study examined the presence of Afrocentric frames and predominant narratives present in selected Obama speeches. Most of Barack Obama’s communication can be viewed as a project of identity construction and dissemination. Four Afrocentric frames were unearthed. These include: (a) exceptionalism and African origins, (b) heritage and memories of a father, (c) communalism and (d) Africa and democracy. The current study contributes to research applications of the framing theory, identity construction and political image-making within the Afrocentric paradigm.
{"title":"The Obama creed in retrospect: Communicative frames and representations from an Afrocentric perspective","authors":"G. E. Sikanku","doi":"10.1177/20570473231195919","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231195919","url":null,"abstract":"This article takes a reflective turn by investigating Afrocentric representations in selected speeches of former US President Barack Obama through the framing analytic lens. While past research has yielded knowledge on the role of race in American politics and Obama’s identity construction, there is limited work on such representations within an Afrocentric perspective. It focuses on how Obama used his ethnic African heritage to frame his identity and politics. To be specific the study examined the presence of Afrocentric frames and predominant narratives present in selected Obama speeches. Most of Barack Obama’s communication can be viewed as a project of identity construction and dissemination. Four Afrocentric frames were unearthed. These include: (a) exceptionalism and African origins, (b) heritage and memories of a father, (c) communalism and (d) Africa and democracy. The current study contributes to research applications of the framing theory, identity construction and political image-making within the Afrocentric paradigm.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47142285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-14DOI: 10.1177/20570473231194217
Wanning Sun, Jian Xu
In the dialogue, Professor Wanning Sun, an internationally renowned scholar on media and communication in the Chinese diaspora, first introduces her new book co-authored with Professor Haiqing Yu titled Digital Transnationalism: Chinese-language Media in Australia (Brill, 2023). Professor Sun then responds to a few misconceptions that have been dominant in public discourses in the global West on the diasporic Chinese media. She argues that diasporic Chinese people’s transnational citizenship practices will become increasingly bound up with geopolitics that has significantly impacted the operation, regulation and use of Chinese social media platforms in the West. She points out that future research in ‘digital transnationalism’ of the Chinese diaspora could further explore the changing relations between Chinese digital/social media and the formation of a new kind of transnational Chinese subjectivities with a comparative approach.
{"title":"Digital transnationalism in the era of China’s rise: WeChat, Chinese diaspora, misconceptions and future research","authors":"Wanning Sun, Jian Xu","doi":"10.1177/20570473231194217","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231194217","url":null,"abstract":"In the dialogue, Professor Wanning Sun, an internationally renowned scholar on media and communication in the Chinese diaspora, first introduces her new book co-authored with Professor Haiqing Yu titled Digital Transnationalism: Chinese-language Media in Australia (Brill, 2023). Professor Sun then responds to a few misconceptions that have been dominant in public discourses in the global West on the diasporic Chinese media. She argues that diasporic Chinese people’s transnational citizenship practices will become increasingly bound up with geopolitics that has significantly impacted the operation, regulation and use of Chinese social media platforms in the West. She points out that future research in ‘digital transnationalism’ of the Chinese diaspora could further explore the changing relations between Chinese digital/social media and the formation of a new kind of transnational Chinese subjectivities with a comparative approach.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46806828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-29DOI: 10.1177/20570473231189898
J. Oktavianus, Brenna Davidson
This study scrutinizes the nature of online citizen-driven collective actions aimed at countering terrorism following bombing attacks in Indonesia. In particular, this study illuminates the framing processes, public sentiments, and actors involved in the movement. An analysis of 10,000 tweets bearing the hashtag #KamiTidakTakut (we are not afraid) showed that the participants predominantly employed motivational frames to encourage others to engage in anti-terrorism efforts and defy terror by bolstering collective identity. Moreover, while the tweets were mainly conveyed in a positive tone, a considerable number of tweets voiced negative sentiments, including criticism of the movement. In addition, most tweets came from citizens, and some were from media outlets, civil society organizations, government agencies, and public figures. The study enriches the literature on online collective actions in the context of terrorism and offers practical insights into the design of public anti-terrorism campaigns.
{"title":"Countering terrorism on social media: An analysis of online anti-terrorism movement in Indonesia","authors":"J. Oktavianus, Brenna Davidson","doi":"10.1177/20570473231189898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231189898","url":null,"abstract":"This study scrutinizes the nature of online citizen-driven collective actions aimed at countering terrorism following bombing attacks in Indonesia. In particular, this study illuminates the framing processes, public sentiments, and actors involved in the movement. An analysis of 10,000 tweets bearing the hashtag #KamiTidakTakut (we are not afraid) showed that the participants predominantly employed motivational frames to encourage others to engage in anti-terrorism efforts and defy terror by bolstering collective identity. Moreover, while the tweets were mainly conveyed in a positive tone, a considerable number of tweets voiced negative sentiments, including criticism of the movement. In addition, most tweets came from citizens, and some were from media outlets, civil society organizations, government agencies, and public figures. The study enriches the literature on online collective actions in the context of terrorism and offers practical insights into the design of public anti-terrorism campaigns.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44479569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-25DOI: 10.1177/20570473231186475
Andrey V. Ivanov, Zhanna Nikonova, N. Frolova, I. Muratbayeva
The purpose of the study is to investigate the features of the vocabulary of COVID-19 in English, which is an international language of borrowings. The secondary objective is to obtain new data on the emergence of a new vocabulary during the global problem of the COVID-19 pandemic. The method of lexical semantics analysis was used; 77 lexical units within the framework of the socio-political discourse have been considered in the course of the discursive text analysis. The most relevant categories of neologisms associated with COVID-19 were identified, and their word-formation models were analyzed. The active borrowing of COVID-19 vocabulary began from the English language. Based on the changes in the lifestyle, daily routine, and statuses of citizens, five categories and four groups of neologisms have been identified. The results of this study can be used for further analysis of the vocabulary of the COVID-19 period as new lexical units constantly appear and require their consideration within the framework of the linguistic potential and vocabulary of the languages found in the world. The study is important for replenishing the theoretical and practical base in the field of lexicology (processes of neologization, lexical borrowings, semantic features of new lexical units and their functions), media linguistics, journalism, and sociology as it takes into account socio-political factors.
{"title":"Linguistic potential of COVID-19 neologisms in the metaphoric language of socio-political discourse","authors":"Andrey V. Ivanov, Zhanna Nikonova, N. Frolova, I. Muratbayeva","doi":"10.1177/20570473231186475","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231186475","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of the study is to investigate the features of the vocabulary of COVID-19 in English, which is an international language of borrowings. The secondary objective is to obtain new data on the emergence of a new vocabulary during the global problem of the COVID-19 pandemic. The method of lexical semantics analysis was used; 77 lexical units within the framework of the socio-political discourse have been considered in the course of the discursive text analysis. The most relevant categories of neologisms associated with COVID-19 were identified, and their word-formation models were analyzed. The active borrowing of COVID-19 vocabulary began from the English language. Based on the changes in the lifestyle, daily routine, and statuses of citizens, five categories and four groups of neologisms have been identified. The results of this study can be used for further analysis of the vocabulary of the COVID-19 period as new lexical units constantly appear and require their consideration within the framework of the linguistic potential and vocabulary of the languages found in the world. The study is important for replenishing the theoretical and practical base in the field of lexicology (processes of neologization, lexical borrowings, semantic features of new lexical units and their functions), media linguistics, journalism, and sociology as it takes into account socio-political factors.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43527921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-22DOI: 10.1177/20570473231186839
Kelly E Jensen
This essay examines the dynamics of diverse youth public formation through analysis of the 20 student speeches delivered at the 2018 March For Our Lives rally. I argue that the collective identification as youth survivors of gun violence trauma functions to constitute this diverse youth public. I trace how the speakers’ shared gun violence trauma enabled them to form a racially integrated coalition while not discrediting their differently positioned identities and disparate gun violence experiences. In doing so, I forward a conceptualization of how youth publics negotiate gun violence trauma, asserting that youth publics are characterized by both present constraints and a future-oriented agency, members of youth publics must account for tensions across racial differences in their gun violence prevention advocacy, and gun violence trauma functions as a shared basis for political participation. My analysis of the students’ gun violence prevention discourse complicates this framework to reveal how gun violence trauma as a shared basis for youth public membership threatens their source of empowerment: ownership over their futures. Contributing to scholarship on the formation of publics, this essay demonstrates the significance of youth publics at the intersections of race, trauma, and gun violence.
{"title":"“Our Pain Makes Us Family”: March For Our Lives and the constitutive role of gun violence trauma in youth publics","authors":"Kelly E Jensen","doi":"10.1177/20570473231186839","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473231186839","url":null,"abstract":"This essay examines the dynamics of diverse youth public formation through analysis of the 20 student speeches delivered at the 2018 March For Our Lives rally. I argue that the collective identification as youth survivors of gun violence trauma functions to constitute this diverse youth public. I trace how the speakers’ shared gun violence trauma enabled them to form a racially integrated coalition while not discrediting their differently positioned identities and disparate gun violence experiences. In doing so, I forward a conceptualization of how youth publics negotiate gun violence trauma, asserting that youth publics are characterized by both present constraints and a future-oriented agency, members of youth publics must account for tensions across racial differences in their gun violence prevention advocacy, and gun violence trauma functions as a shared basis for political participation. My analysis of the students’ gun violence prevention discourse complicates this framework to reveal how gun violence trauma as a shared basis for youth public membership threatens their source of empowerment: ownership over their futures. Contributing to scholarship on the formation of publics, this essay demonstrates the significance of youth publics at the intersections of race, trauma, and gun violence.","PeriodicalId":44233,"journal":{"name":"Communication and the Public","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45229783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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