Hashtag Publics: The Power and Politics of Discursive Networks

306 Pages·2015·2.115 MB·English

by  Nathan Rambukkana

103
This collection investigates the publics of
the hashtag. Taking cues from critical public
sphere theory, contributors are interested in
H
publics that break beyond the mainstream—
in other publics. They are interested in the
A
kinds of publics that do politics in a way that
S
is rough and emergent, fl awed and messy,
and ones in which new forms of collective H
power are being forged on the fl y and in the
T
shadow of loftier mainstream spheres.
A
Hashtags are deictic, indexical—yet what
G
they point to is themselves, their own dual
role in ongoing discourse. Focusing on
P
hashtags used for topics from Ferguson,
U
Missouri, to Australian politics, from online
“Confronting the sociotechnical-communicative
quilting communities to labour protests, B
phenomena of hashtags is a worthy goal and one
from feminist outrage to drag pop culture,
that this book accomplishes excellently. Hashtag L
this collection follows hashtag publics as
Publics covers the theories, politics, and popular
they trend beyond Twitter into other spaces I
culture of hashtags through four sections and twenty
C
of social networking such as Facebook,
chapters. The authors deeply engage their topics,
providing…insight into prior uses of hashtags, [and] Instagram, and Tumblr as well as other S
also open[ing] up new possibilities. This text is a media spaces such as television, print, and

must-read for anyone engaging hashtags in our graffi ti.
cultural, social, communicative, and political worlds.” R
NATHAN RAMBUKKANA (Ph.D., Concordia A
—Jeremy Hunsinger, Assistant Professor,
M
Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University; University) is Assistant Professor in B
Co-editor of The International Handbook of Internet Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier U
K
Research and The Social Media Handbook University. His work centers on the study of
K
discourse, politics, and identities, and his A
“Rambukkana’s edited collection captivates with N
research addresses topics such as hashtag A
its myriad chapters exploring hashtag deployment
,
publics, digital intimacies, intimate privilege,
for public awareness, political engagement, E
and non/monogamy in the public sphere. D
protest, performance, and the creation of new .
publics. Showcasing innovative digital methods,
Hashtag Publics is an excellent and timely scholarly
www.peterlang.com
P
assemblage on the socio-cultural and political logics E
T
of Twitter and its uses for social change.” ER
L
—Leslie Regan Shade, Associate Professor, A
N
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto; G
Editor of Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian
Communication, Fourth Edition
103
This collection investigates the publics of
the hashtag. Taking cues from critical public
sphere theory, contributors are interested in
H
publics that break beyond the mainstream—
in other publics. They are interested in the
A
kinds of publics that do politics in a way that
S
is rough and emergent, fl awed and messy,
and ones in which new forms of collective H
power are being forged on the fl y and in the
T
shadow of loftier mainstream spheres.
A
Hashtags are deictic, indexical—yet what
G
they point to is themselves, their own dual
role in ongoing discourse. Focusing on
P
hashtags used for topics from Ferguson,
U
Missouri, to Australian politics, from online
“Confronting the sociotechnical-communicative
quilting communities to labour protests, B
phenomena of hashtags is a worthy goal and one
from feminist outrage to drag pop culture,
that this book accomplishes excellently. Hashtag L
this collection follows hashtag publics as
Publics covers the theories, politics, and popular
they trend beyond Twitter into other spaces I
culture of hashtags through four sections and twenty
C
of social networking such as Facebook,
chapters. The authors deeply engage their topics,
providing…insight into prior uses of hashtags, [and] Instagram, and Tumblr as well as other S
also open[ing] up new possibilities. This text is a media spaces such as television, print, and
must-read for anyone engaging hashtags in our graffi ti.
cultural, social, communicative, and political worlds.” R
NATHAN RAMBUKKANA (Ph.D., Concordia A
—Jeremy Hunsinger, Assistant Professor,
M
Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University; University) is Assistant Professor in B
Co-editor of The International Handbook of Internet Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier U
K
Research and The Social Media Handbook University. His work centers on the study of
K
discourse, politics, and identities, and his A
“Rambukkana’s edited collection captivates with N
research addresses topics such as hashtag A
its myriad chapters exploring hashtag deployment
,
publics, digital intimacies, intimate privilege,
for public awareness, political engagement, E
and non/monogamy in the public sphere. D
protest, performance, and the creation of new .
publics. Showcasing innovative digital methods,
Hashtag Publics is an excellent and timely scholarly
www.peterlang.com
P
assemblage on the socio-cultural and political logics E
T
of Twitter and its uses for social change.” ER
L
—Leslie Regan Shade, Associate Professor, A
N
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto; G
Editor of Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian
Communication, Fourth Edition
HASHTAGPUBLICS
Steve Jones
General Editor

Vol. 103

The Digital Formations series is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
HASHTAGPUBLICS

The Power and Politics
of Discursive Networks

Edited by Nathan Rambukkana

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hashtag publics: the power and politics of discursive networks /
edited by Nathan Rambukkana.
pages cm. — (Digital formations; vol. 103)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Online social networks—Political aspects. 2. Information technology—Political aspects.
3.Political participation—Technological innovations. I. Rambukkana, Nathan.
HM742.H3834 302.30285—dc23 2015021776
ISBN 978-1-4331-2899-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4331-2898-1 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4539-1672-8 (e-book)
ISSN 1526-3169
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
Front cover photo: Alina Murad
Back cover: Lois Warwick, 42 Hashtags quilt, as seen on The Quilt Works, Inc.,
based on a pattern from Fons & Porter’s Scrap Quilts magazine, spring 2014.
© 2015 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
T able of Contents
#Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
#Introduction: Hashtags as Technosocial Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Nathan Rambukkana
Theorizing Hashtag Publics
Chapter One: Twitter Hashtags from Ad Hoc to Calculated Publics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Axel Bruns and Jean Burgess
Chapter Two: From #RaceFail to #Ferguson: The Digital Intimacies
of Race-Activist Hashtag Publics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Nathan Rambukkana
Chapter Three: #auspol: The Hashtag as Community, Event, and
Material Object for Engaging with Australian Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Theresa Sauter and Axel Bruns
Chapter Four: Hashtag as Hybrid Forum: The Case of #agchatoz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Jean Burgess, Anne Galloway, and Theresa Sauter
Chapter Five: #Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Daniel Faltesek
vi | table of contents
Hashtags and Activist Publics
Chapter Six: Come Together, Right Now: Retweeting in the
Social Model of Protest Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Aaron S . Veenstra, Narayanan Iyer, Wenjing Xie,
Benjamin A . Lyons, Chang Sup Park, and Yang Feng
Chapter Seven: Hashtagging the Invisible: Bringing Private
Experiences into Public Debate : An #outcry against
Sexism in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Anna Antonakis-Nashif
Chapter Eight: Hashtags as Intermedia Agency Resources before
FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Carlos D’Andréa, Geane Alzamora, and Joana Ziller
Chapter Nine: #FuckProp8: How Temporary Virtual Communities around
Politics and Sexuality Pop Up, Come Out,
Provide Support, and Taper Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Jenny Ungbha Korn
Chapter Ten: More than Words: Technical Activist Actions in #CISPA . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Stacy Blasiola, Yoonmo Sang, and Weiai Wayne Xu
Art, Craft, and Pop Culture Hashtag Publics
Chapter Eleven: Realism against #Realness: Wu Tsang,
#Realness, and RuPaul’s Drag Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Andy Campbell
Chapter Twelve: Living the #Quilt Life: Talking about
Quiltmaking on Tumblr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
Amanda Grace Sikarskie
Chapter Thirteen: Jokin’ in the First World: Appropriate Incongruity and
the #firstworldproblems Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Andrew Peck
Chapter Fourteen: #RaiderNation: The Digital and Material Identity
and Values of a Superdiverse Fan Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
Anthony Santoro
table of contents | vii
Hashtags in Communities, Polities, and Politics
Chapter Fifteen: Black Twitter: Building Connection
through Cultural Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Meredith Clark
Chapter Sixteen: #BlackTwitter: Making Waves as a Social Media Subculture . . . 219
Nia I . Cantey and Cara Robinson
Chapter Seventeen: The 1x1 Common: The Role of Instagram’s Hashtag
in the Development and Maintenance of Feminist Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Magdalena Olszanowski
Chapter Eighteen: Meta-Hashtag and Tag Co-occurrence: From
Organization to Politics in the French Canadian Twittersphere . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Sylvain Rocheleau and Mélanie Millette
Chapter Nineteen: The Twitter Citizen: Problematizing Traditional Media
Dominance in an Online Political Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255
Brett Bergie and Jaigris Hodson
Chapter Twenty: Hashtagging #HigherEd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Sava Saheli Singh
#Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287