Post-colonialism - Social media and black identity

MM58: Social Media and Black Identity

Open up MM58 from our Media Magazine archive. Go to page 66 and read Social Media and Black Identity then complete the following tasks:

1) List three theorists discussed in the article and what they believe regarding black identity.

• Aisha Waris: She believes that social media plays a huge role in terms of creating negative black identities. In her perspective, she thinks that the rise of social media has led to the culture of black to be the victim of "memefication" where she gives an example of "Sweet Brown" where it was a black woman in an interview, saying "Ain't nobody got time for that" which went viral. 
• Giddens: In contrast to the belief of Aisha Waris, Giddens believes that the social media is a great platform for the construction of positive black identities. An example of this would be "The Blackout", which is a campaign occurring and originated from the social media where it involved a systematic "re-imagining" and celebration of blackness. 
• Henry Jenkins: He believes that social media is an "arena wherein participatory cultures can be established: online, interest-driven networks that allow members to creatively channels the skills they gain online into political activism and the voicing of marginalised viewpoints". 

2) In your opinion, is social media a positive or negative force when it comes to issues of black identity? 

In my opinion, I believe both ways in the sense that the rise of social media does play a positive role and a negative role in construction of black identities. 

• In terms of positive ways, social media platforms such as "Twitter" allows users to freely express their thoughts through tweets. As with this, the death of Eric Garner led to a huge protest which originated from social media again. It essentially constructs the black identity to be very innocent against the police officers; they are targeted and attacked. Through this, it convinces the consumers to think how black people are being targeted for no reason, which leads them to have sympathy and empathy for the black culture. 
• However, the social media does play a negative role in the sense that it does make most of black people to be victims of "memes". The "sweet brown" meme essentially went viral within social media platforms which many of the consumers started to re-tweet on Twitter and etc. Although it may be funny for the consumers, it essentially creates a negative identity of black people to be foolish, silly and uneducated. 

3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the issue of social media and black identity?

I can apply post-colonial theories with the issue of social media and black identity. 

In terms of Alvarado's theory, social media can be the problem for the negative impact of the black identity through the repeated showing of violence which mainly involve black people. According to Alvarado, due to social media, black people can be seen as dangerous. An example of this would be the 

A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media

Now turn to page 6 and read A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media. When you have read the article, complete the following tasks:

1) What examples of different representations of refugees in the media are offered in the article?

Refugees are often referred to as migrants and are then dehumanised as the media calls them derogatory terms like animals for example when Katie Hopkins called them 'feral' and 'cockroaches.' 

2) In your opinion, is the documentary genre more or less biased than the news media? What examples can you provide from the article to support your view?

Through the article which mentions the TV series Exodus, we can see that the documentary genre is quite biased compared to the news media. The idea that we are unable to see the bigger picture in terms of documentaries reveals a less complex idea that doesn't focus on important aspects, therefore it makes it negative for audiences as they do not have the full information. Here we can apply the hypodermic needle theory in which audiences are passive to everything that is being said. 

3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the representation of refugees in the media?


Said's Orientalism can be applied through the notion that as through the media, we see a generally negative representation of migrants. It shows the clear dichotomy between the East and the West, reinforcing the idea of 'them and us.'