“Reason to Hope?”: The White Savior Myth and Progress in “Post-Racial” America

Maurantonio, Nicole

doi:10.1177/1077699017691248

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In addition, many of the memes focus on Biden's antics and Obama's response, placing Biden in a more agentic position. This makes the memes more palatable to White consumers and supports more recent iterations of the “White savior” trope in media (Maurantonio, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

A Presidential Bromance: How Meme Culture Upsets Race, Gender, and Political Power Dynamics

Erlichman

Pluretti

2021

Journal of Communication Inquiry

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The fictional interactions created between Obama and Biden in the BROTUS internet memes, a collection of memes highlighting a imagined bromance between President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, may be entertaining, but academic literature on internet memes contends that they also serve as a form of political rhetoric. Internet users create memes to communicate political discourse in the form of visual enthymemes. This article takes a qualitative analysis approach to break down internet user's rhetoric in the BROTUS memes to understand the implications of fictional portrayals of the presidential pair and other political figures. The BROTUS memes in this study exemplified humorous fictional narratives crafted by internet users that shaped the duo to be bromantic, heroic, and even familial. These narrative themes help internet users expresses their approval of an inversion of preexisting political and social power structures.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

A Presidential Bromance: How Meme Culture Upsets Race, Gender, and Political Power Dynamics

Erlichman

Pluretti

2021

Journal of Communication Inquiry

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“…Therefore, said qualities and traits must be taught to racial minority populations, such as Blacks, with the help of those with higher socio-economic status, which is a population historically dominated by Whites (Do et al, 2017). We argue that USA Swimming’s portrayal of swimmers of color as innately less-than great reifies a contemporary form of liquified racism and perpetuates the myth of Blacks being in need of the White savior (Maurantonio, 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Reifying Contemporary Versions of Liquified Racism: Black Representation in Competitive Swimming

Peavy

Shearer

2021

Journal of Sport and Social Issues

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Throughout history, water as a tool for racialized oppression has been in constant evolution. From utilizing water as a passage to transport slaves, to using fire hoses as a form of punishment toward Black people, liquified racism is a concept we coined to represent past and present racial discrimination through the use of water. In this paper, we conducted a critical content analysis of the USA swim team and the swim team pages of the top ten Division I men’s and women’s college swimming programs to uncover how liquified racism is prominent within these contexts. Findings suggest that Blackness is racialized, tokenized, and perpetually silenced on swimming websites. We argue that Black individuals lacking representation in this sport, along with discourse surrounding competitive swimming, ultimately promotes whiteness, racial hierarchies, and an illusion of postracism.

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“…Schultz (2014) further elaborates, "White saviors, as the term suggests, are those characters who rescue people of color from dire circumstances because, for whatever reason, they cannot seem to do it of their own accord" (206). Even if the intent is to "interrogate systems of oppression" and the actions avoid overt racist action, racist assumptions may still spur the need to step in (Maurantonio 2017). Recent theorizing points out that "saviors" do not need to be white.…”

Section: Problematizing the Construction Of Motherhood: Intersections...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Refiguring Motherhood Beyond Biology

Cole¹,

Renegar²

2023

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This book unpacks and interrogates dominant constructions of mothering, making use of interdisciplinary, ideological and theoretical perspectives to investigate how new rhetorics of mothering can expand the realm of maternal care-givers beyond the biological definitions of motherhood.This diverse collection is at the cutting-edge of rhetoric, feminism, and motherhood studies, and the chapters challenge the confines of biological parenting as heteronormative within the neo-liberal nuclear family. The contributors examine, how despite the diversity of parental relationships, many are excluded by the understanding of mothers biologically tied to their children. The volume seeks to expose the underpinnings of biological primacy and argues that 21st-century families and familial circumstances are ill-served by biological ideology. Topics include Re-Imagining Queer Black Motherhood, Chicana Feminist approaches to reproductive justice, the commercialization and medicalization of infertility, and ableism and motherhood.This is a unique and fascinating book suitable for students and scholars in gender studies, sexuality studies, communication studies, sociology, and cultural studies.

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“Reason to Hope?”: The White Savior Myth and Progress in “Post-Racial” America

Cited by 9 publications

References 17 publications

A Presidential Bromance: How Meme Culture Upsets Race, Gender, and Political Power Dynamics

A Presidential Bromance: How Meme Culture Upsets Race, Gender, and Political Power Dynamics

Reifying Contemporary Versions of Liquified Racism: Black Representation in Competitive Swimming

Refiguring Motherhood Beyond Biology

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