Race, racism and mnemonic freedom in the digital afterlife.
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| Title: | Race, racism and mnemonic freedom in the digital afterlife. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Recuber, Timothy1 (AUTHOR) trecuber@smith.edu |
| Source: | Information, Communication & Society. Apr2021, Vol. 24 Issue 5, p684-699. 16p. |
| Subjects: | Digital technology, Police brutality, Afterlife, Racism, Black Lives Matter movement |
| Abstract: | American public discourse is increasingly populated by the names of Black men and women killed by police, often because their deaths were caught on camera and footage of their deaths has circulated virally online. In this way they are doubly victimized, losing not only their lives but also the agency to define themselves and the ways they'd like to be remembered. At the same time, the lives of many Black victims of police violence have been commemorated using digital platforms, especially hashtags on Twitter. So what exactly does it mean to be remembered online in these contexts? To help answer this question, this article is built around a discourse analysis of 990 tweets from two such hashtags: #IfTheyGunnedMeDown and #IfIDieInPoliceCustody. In addition to pushing back against racist stereotypes and state violence, I argue that these two hashtags collect the digital claims to mnemonic freedom of thousands of Black people. The term mnemonic freedom, as I use it here, refers to the ability to ensure that the stories we tell about ourselves, and the morals and meanings of our lives, get remembered by others in the ways that we want. But more than simply that, these hashtags show how mnemonic freedom might be achieved collectively rather than individually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Information, Communication & Society is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Engineering Source |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: egs DbLabel: Engineering Source An: 149729508 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Race, racism and mnemonic freedom in the digital afterlife. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Recuber%2C+Timothy%22">Recuber, Timothy</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> trecuber@smith.edu</i> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Information%2C+Communication+%26+Society%22">Information, Communication & Society</searchLink>. Apr2021, Vol. 24 Issue 5, p684-699. 16p. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Digital+technology%22">Digital technology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Police+brutality%22">Police brutality</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Afterlife%22">Afterlife</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Racism%22">Racism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Black+Lives+Matter+movement%22">Black Lives Matter movement</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: American public discourse is increasingly populated by the names of Black men and women killed by police, often because their deaths were caught on camera and footage of their deaths has circulated virally online. In this way they are doubly victimized, losing not only their lives but also the agency to define themselves and the ways they'd like to be remembered. At the same time, the lives of many Black victims of police violence have been commemorated using digital platforms, especially hashtags on Twitter. So what exactly does it mean to be remembered online in these contexts? To help answer this question, this article is built around a discourse analysis of 990 tweets from two such hashtags: #IfTheyGunnedMeDown and #IfIDieInPoliceCustody. In addition to pushing back against racist stereotypes and state violence, I argue that these two hashtags collect the digital claims to mnemonic freedom of thousands of Black people. The term mnemonic freedom, as I use it here, refers to the ability to ensure that the stories we tell about ourselves, and the morals and meanings of our lives, get remembered by others in the ways that we want. But more than simply that, these hashtags show how mnemonic freedom might be achieved collectively rather than individually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Information, Communication & Society is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1080/1369118X.2021.1874474 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 16 StartPage: 684 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Digital technology Type: general – SubjectFull: Police brutality Type: general – SubjectFull: Afterlife Type: general – SubjectFull: Racism Type: general – SubjectFull: Black Lives Matter movement Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Race, racism and mnemonic freedom in the digital afterlife. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Recuber, Timothy IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 04 Text: Apr2021 Type: published Y: 2021 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 1369118X Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 24 – Type: issue Value: 5 Titles: – TitleFull: Information, Communication & Society Type: main |
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