ERIC Number: EJ1180145
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Jun
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1938-8926
EISSN: N/A
Collegians Creating (Counter)Space Online: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the I, Too, Am Social Media Movement
George Mwangi, Chrystal A.; Bettencourt, Genia M.; Malaney, Victoria K.
Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, v11 n2 p146-163 Jun 2018
In 2014, an online student activist movement--"I, Too, Am"--exposed everyday racism Black collegians experience. The movement began at Harvard University and spread to universities throughout the U.S. and abroad. Student activism maintains a strong social media presence, but there is little empirical scholarship on the subject. This study mitigates the literature gap by investigating the "I, Too, Am Harvard" and "I, Too, Am Oxford" campaigns. While in a broad sense Black college enrollment grows in the United States and the England, these students face multiple forms of oppression including negative campus racial climate and microaggressions (Kimura, 2014; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000). We use critical discourse analysis as well as counterspaces as a theoretical framework to examine the "I, Too, Am" campaigns. Counterspaces provide a way for Students of Color to counter the institutional hegemony and racism they experience on their campuses by coming together to affirm and validate their racial identity and racialized experiences (Carter, 2007; Solórzano et al., 2000). Findings discuss (a) how British and American Students of Color are narrating and navigating their experiences with campus racism through social media, (b) I, Too Am as an avenue for exposing the transnational pervasiveness of institutionalized campus racism, and (c) social media as a means of promoting solidarity and counterspace among Students of Color across the Atlantic.
Descriptors: College Students, Computer Mediated Communication, Racial Identification, Self Concept, Activism, Social Media, Blacks, African American Students, Power Structure, Aggression, Racial Bias, Minority Group Students, Student Attitudes, Critical Theory, Race, Discourse Analysis, Foreign Countries
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts; United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A