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 from the right to vote in 1954, during the first wave of feminism in the country (Forero 2008). Despite being characterized as a movement that seeks gender equality, feminism has been framed by traditional 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 to 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 in 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 nethnography (Kozinets 2020), followed by the critical discourse analysis model (Fairclough 2010). This will lead to a further discussion in hopes of finding what are the factors that make Colombian Instagram users have a positive or negative perspective on feminism and how the platform influences this phenomenon; considering that the use of Instagram could help to 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 policymaking discussions in society are.