An (in)visible universe of grief: Performative disidentifications with white motherhood in the We are not Trayvon Martin blog |
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| Authors: | Stephanie Hartzell |
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| Institution: | Department of Communication, University of Colorado Boulder, CO, USA |
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| Abstract: | This essay offers a critical rhetorical analysis of social media discourse of white mothers protesting the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer. I argue that through affectively charged performative disidentifications, white mothers contributing to the We are not Trayvon Martin blog worked within and against norms of ideal motherhood to challenge dominant formations of whiteness in ways that exposed the privileged status of U.S. American white motherhood and reconceptualized motherhood as an affective orientation toward antiracism. Unpacking affectively charged performative disidentifications with privileged racial identities is important for enhancing understandings of white antiracist rhetoric and fostering formations of white antiracist consciousness. |
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| Keywords: | Antiracism whiteness motherhood disidentification affect |
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