Decoding Black Feminist Hashtags as Becoming

Posting Back: Exploring Platformed Black Feminist Communities on Twitter and Instagram

“…While Black Feminist Thought is a formalization of Black women's knowledge, Black feminist knowledge production occurs in the everyday material realities of Black women (Collins, 2019). Today, one of the most important Black feminist knowledge production sites are social media platforms, specifically through hashtags that prompt Black women to engage in knowledge production through public discussion (M. Clark, 2014;Conley, 2017;Jones, 2019).…”

“…Today, one of the most important Black feminist knowledge production sites are social media platforms, specifically through hashtags that prompt Black women to engage in knowledge production through public discussion (M. Clark, 2014; Conley, 2017; Jones, 2019).…”

“…While previous studies have examined the Black women, femmes, and queer folks use of hashtags to discuss specific topics from a Black feminist perspective (e.g., M. Clark, 2014; Conley, 2017; Jackson et al, 2020), no study has examined these interactions as a whole, across a range of hashtag discussions, from a user perspective. I build on previous research by investigating platform usage and experience patterns across several Black feminist hashtags to examine how the affordances of social media have broadly impacted Black feminist intellectual production online.…”

Tweeting Back: Exploring Black Feminist Hashtag Communities on Twitter and Instagram

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Hashtag discussions have become a key site of intellectual production for Black feminist theorizing; however, the nuances of these hashtag networks remain underexplored (Conley, 2017;Jones, 2019). Black feminist theory is a line of intellectual thought developed from Black women's unique lived experiences at the varying intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class, privileging the link between lived experience and theorizing (Collins, 2000).

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“…Black feminist theory is a line of intellectual thought developed from Black women's unique lived experiences at the varying intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class, privileging the link between lived experience and theorizing (Collins, 2000). While scholars have previously explored the use of hashtags by Black women to talk about their lived experiences within the larger context of Black Twitter (Clark, 2014), and theorized Black feminist hashtags through content analysis of social media posts (Conley, 2017;Jackson, Bailey, & Welles, 2020), these studies have not accounted for the experiences and motivations of social media users who engage specifically in Black feminist conversations. This study aimed to deepen this previous research by speaking with those who participate in these networked conversations to understand the distinct nuances of their engagement experiences.…”