The growing trend of performative activism - MyLaTrobe

Performative activism is an expression that has been thrown around a lot lately, as social justice issues such as the Black Lives Matter ... Studyskills ASSCCollege Firstyear LearningSupport SHECollege Studytips Studentlife ClubsandSocieties International StudentStories StudentWellbeing UniversityNews Career&futurestudy Alumni Careers FutureStudy StudyAbroad WorkIntegratedLearning AcademicUpdates Academic AcademicCalendar ASKLaTrobe Graduations Search MyLaTrobe Studyskills AllASSCCollegeFirstyearLearningSupportSHECollegeStudytips Academic Wanttoimproveyourassignmentsandgetbettergrades?TheLibrary… Academic TheBigLeap LearningSupport Studyspacesavailableatyourcampus Academic TheseLibraryLearningServicesworkshopsareyourultimateguidetostudy… Studentlife AllClubsandSocietiesInternationalStudentStoriesStudentWellbeingUniversityNews Campuses TransDayofVisibility–Thursday31March Albury-Wodonga HarmonyWeekwrap-up Albury-Wodonga FindingChildcareoptions Careers Callingallinternationalstudents! Career&futurestudy AllAlumniCareersFutureStudyStudyAbroadWorkIntegratedLearning Academic TheBigLeap Careers Callingallinternationalstudents! Careers Graduatejobsareavailablenow! Academic FutureFemaleConference2022 AcademicUpdates AllAcademicAcademicCalendarASKLaTrobeGraduations Academic Wanttoimproveyourassignmentsandgetbettergrades?TheLibrary… Academic TheBigLeap Albury-Wodonga 2022Graduationsarecomingtotheregions! International VisaApplicationChargesRefunds:StudentsandWorkingHolidayMakers Melbourne Albury-Wodonga Bendigo Shepparton Mildura City Online Signin Welcome!Logintoyouraccount yourusername yourpassword Forgotyourpassword?Gethelp Passwordrecovery Recoveryourpassword youremail Apasswordwillbee-mailedtoyou. AcademicASSCCollegeStudentLifeTrending Thegrowingtrendofperformativeactivism November6,2020 Share Facebook Twitter WrittenbyBachelorofMediaandCommunication(MediaIndustries)student AislingO’Mahonyandoriginallypublishedonupstart,LaTrobe’sonlineplatformforemergingjournalists. Withcelebrities,brandsandeverydaysocialmediausersbeingcalledoutforperformativebehaviour,theissueofhowtopartakeingenuineonlineactivismhasbecomeincreasinglyrelevant. Performativeactivismisanexpressionthathasbeenthrownaroundalotlately,associaljusticeissuessuchastheBlackLivesMattermovementgaintractionandattentionacrosstheworld. Althoughthetermlacksaformaldefinition,itrecentlyhasbeenusedderogativelytocalloutactivismthatoccursmostlyonline,andthatisexecutedbyindividualswhowanttoappeartobeinvestedinissuesofsocialinjusticebutdolittletoactuallyeffectchange. BrownampersandconcretestatureinsideanintermodalcontainerbyJanBaborák. GoogleTrends suggeststhatthesearchphraseperformativeactivismhastakenoverfromapreviouslypopularterm, slacktivism,forgedfromslackerandactivismanddefinedasshowingnominalsupportforsocialorpoliticalcauses. Slacktivismwasfirstcoinedin 1995,butoverthelastdecadeitcanbe linked tomovementslikethe Kony2012CovertheNight campaign,whichenduredalotofbacklashandcriticismforfailingtofosterrealchangefromanonlinemovement. Accordingto GoogleTrends,overthelast12monthsthesearchtermperformativeactivismreachedpeakpopularityintheweekof21May2020,just6daysafterthedeathofa46-year-oldblackman, GeorgeFloyd,atthehandsofMinneapolispoliceofficers. FollowingthedeathofGeorgeFloyd,InstagramuserstooktotheplatformpostingblacksquaresaccompaniedwiththehashtagBlackoutTuesday.Initiallythemovementwasacollectiveprotestagainstracismandpolicebrutalityorganisedbythemusicindustry. But,theactionsoongarneredattentionfromcelebritiesandsocialmediainfluencersworldwide,leavingtheinitialpurposeofthemovementlostintranslation. BreananTurnerisaPhDcandidateatRMITUniversity,researchingfeministidentityperformanceandactivismonsocialmedia.Shewatchedas#BlackOutTuesdaygainedtractionacrosssocialmedia. “The#BlackOutTuesdayblacktilecampaignonInstagramhighlightedhowpowerfulpeerinfluencecanbeonsocialmediaintermsofnotwantingtobeseenascomplacentandsilentonasignificantandverypublicsocialissue,”Turnertold upstart. Initiallythe#BlackLivesMatterhashtagwasbeingusedtospreadinformationonpetitionstosign,donationlinksandotherimportantinformationrelatingtothecause.Oncetheblacktilecampaigntookoff,thehashtagwasfilledwithblacksquares. IFYOUAREPARTICIPATINGTODAYBYSHARINGABLACKSCREEN,PLEASEUSETHEHASHTAG#BlackOutTuesday.USING#BlackLivesMatterSILENCESBLACKVOICES.IFYOUHAVEALREADYPOSTED,REPOST.YOUCANNOTEDIT,ASINSTAGRAMLEARNSTHEALGORITHM.LETSBEHELPERS,NOHINDERERS.pic.twitter.com/VflEfohapk—ScottHelman(@ScottHelman)June2,2020 “Unfortunately,duetoalackofcontextandclearinstruction,thecampaignendedupmutingveryimportant#BlackLivesMattercontentandBlackvoices,”shesaid. Inatimewhereactivismandinitiatingsocialchangeisverymuchlimitedtoonlineprotestandactsofsolidarity,thequestionofhowtoavoidfallingintoatrendofperformativeactivismandbeinglabelledaslacktivististroublingmanysocialmediausers. DannyHickeyisastudentwhoregularlyusestheirvarioussocialmediaplatformstoraiseawarenessonconcernsofracism,sexism,homophobiaandotherissuesthatimpactminoritygroups.Whenengagingwithpoliticalorsocialmattersonline,theyregularlycomebacktothequestionofwhethertheirinputisofferingsomethingeffectivetothediscussion,toavoidpostingjusttobeloud. “There’skindofcompetitionbetweenalotofpeopleonlinetosortofscoremorewokepointsthanotherpeople,it’squitesadbecausethenitbecomesallaboutyou,”Hickeytold upstart. Socialmediahasproveditsworthinspreadinginformationanddrawingattentiontoparticulartopics,butinitscyclicalnatureit’seasyforissuesofsocialinjusticetobecomelostinatrendthatquicklydies. Facebookhasmadeiteasyforuserstoshowtheirsupportforvariousmatterswithprofilepictureframes,likethe‘VoteYes’filterinrelationtothesame-sexmarriageplebiscitein2017,thisactionofaddingaframetoyourdisplaypicturehasbeenwidelycritiquedasperformativeandmanyhavequestionedtheeffectivenessofsuchactions. “Performativeactivismisoftenwhenyoudon’ttakethatnextstep,”theysaid. “Thefiltersandstuffthey’renotinherentlybadbuttheykindofbecomebadifyou’renotspring-boardingoffthemanddoingmoreinyourreallife.” Anotherconcernisthatwithsomanyissuesofinjusticearisingeachandeveryday,itcanbecomehardforactiviststospreadthemselvesequallyacrosstheboardinaneffectiveandmeaningfulway. Particularly,inrelationtotheBlackLivesMattermovementwhichislargelycentredaroundsystemicracismanddefundingthepoliceintheUnitedStates,foranactivistinAustralia,socialmediacanbeanalternativewayofinvolvementwhentheycan’tphysicallybepresentatprotests. JessicaIsonisaCoordinatorfor LaTrobeViolenceAgainstWomenNetwork(LAVAWN) andinherpersonallifesheregularlyinvolvesherselfinactiviststruggles.Isonrecognisesactivismisn’tstraightforward,particularlyinthetimeofCOVID-19wheresocialrestrictionslimithowmuchworkcanbedoneoffline. “Youcan’t,livinginonecountry,genuinelybeonthegroundandactiveinastruggleinanothercountry,that’sjustnotrealisticobviously,”Isontold upstart. SimilartoHickey’spointofview,Isonhighlightsthemainissuethatsurroundsperformativeactivismistheabilitytotranslateyouronlinepresenceintophysicalsupportandsolidarity. “Whatareyoucontributingto?Ithinkisthebiggerquestionandtheimportantquestion.Youmightnotgetitrightonline,butareyoupartofstruggles?Ifyouhavethatcapability,”shesaid. Theinternetandsocialmediahaveprovidedmultipleavenuestoadvocateforsocialequality,yetparticipationinvirtualmovementspresentstheopportunityforcritiqueandbacklash. BreananTurnerbelievestheeasiestwaytomakeactivismmoremeaningfulistoquestionpersonalmotivationsandbehonestaboutthecapacityyouhavetoparticipate. “Activismisn’talwaysachoiceforpeople,butifyoudohavetheprivilegeofchoosingtoparticipate,thebestplacetostartisbyeducatingyourselfasmuchasyoucanabouttheissue,listentothepeoplemostimpacted,reflect,andifitfeelsrighttoact,thenhaveago,”shesaid. Wanttoseeyourwriting,videos,photosoressayspublishedonMyLaTrobe?Emailusatmylatrobe@latrobe.edu.auandtellusyouridea. Facebook Twitter Previousarticle‘NAIDOCWeek:AlwaysWas,AlwaysWillBe’–studentssharetheirstoriesNextarticleALaTrobestudentandaLawProfessordiveintothedangersofmulti-levelmarketingschemes Relatedarticles Campuses TransDayofVisibility–Thursday31March March28,2022 TransDayofVisibilityon31Marchisanannualinternationalcelebrationoftransprideandawareness,recognisingtrans... Albury-Wodonga HarmonyWeekwrap-up March28,2022 HarmonyWeekwascelebratedacrossallcampusesatLaTrobelastweek.Here'saquickwrap-upofthe... 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