Instagramming feminism in Colombia: a critical discourse analysis of @LasIgualadas

Absztrakt (kivonat)

The first recognized historical records of feminist movements date back to the 18th century when small, organized, and collective protests began in some parts of the world (Rycroft, 2017). In Colombia, the first big step when women claimed their autonomy occurred with the right to vote in 1954 (Forero, 2008). Despite being characterized as a movement that seeks gender equality, feminism has been framed by media in ways that can distort its perspective in society (Beck, 1998). Some of the feminists’ most significant obstacles are overcoming the stereotypes, misconceptions and extremisms associated with this term, which seem to have broken the authentic aim of the movement. In the last decades, the rise of the Internet-enabled issues of social interest have become topics for online discussions (Kingston Mann, 2014; Looft, 2017). In this regard, social media platforms have been helping feminist movements to get in the spotlight, allowing users to organize, reach, and disseminate information (Eslen-Ziya, 2013; Crossley, 2015). Within this online sphere, ranking among the most popular social media applications and with a strong approach to visualities (Highfield and Leaver, 2016), Instagram has also become a rich field for feminists to dispute the narratives around the movement (Mahoney, 2020; Crepax, 2020; Savolainen et al., 2022). Considering the possibilities brought by new media and the Internet, this study addresses the question: how are the discourses about feminism constructed on Instagram in Colombia? Hence, the paper seeks to analyze the characteristics of the discussions carried out on the Instagram comments on the most important feminist account in Colombia, Las Igualadas. Firstly, the work covers the main theories regarding gender studies, feminism, and new media from a communication science perspective. The empirical part of the thesis will consist of explorative research relying on the method of Netnography (Kozinets, 2020), followed by the Critical Discourse Analysis model (Fairclough, 2010). The research findings led to a further discussion considering that the use of Instagram could help create a less stereotypical perspective on the movement, generate more knowledge on how it works, and raise awareness about violation of rights that could lend to broader policy-making discussions in society.