Hashtag Activism Interrogated and Embodied: Case Studies on Social Justice Movements

Hashtag Activism Interrogated and Embodied analyzes the ways that hashtags repurpose and reclaim societal narratives, considering how these digital interactions carry over into external spaces and are embodied by both participants and spectators alike. A diverse set of contributors from a range of disciplines utilize a variety of methodologies to interrogate the lifespan and trajectories of specific hashtag campaigns, study rhetorical strategies engaged by online communities, and analyze how hashtags are employed for particular purposes.

The chapters capture twenty-first-century digital activism unfolding in different social and geopolitical climates. Delving into hashtag activism in various forms (tweets, memes, and personal narratives) and spaces (Twitter, Facebook, and in-person protests), these chapters reveal how participants question and construct online and offline identities and imagined and actualized communities. They also showcase the complicated ways hashtag activism intersects with consumer, popular, and celebrity cultures.

Hashtag Activism Interrogated and Embodied calls for broader inclusion in what is considered hashtag activism, such as digital fandom, how hashtags are co-opted for nefarious purposes, the effects of anti-activism, and the role of journalism and the media. It will appeal to a range of disciplines including rhetoric and composition, internet studies, communication studies, media studies, feminist studies, affect studies, cultural studies, technical communication, and sociology.

Contributors: Robert Barry, André Brock, Elizabeth Buchanan, Rosemary Clark-Parsons, Gabriel I. Green, Neha Gupta, Jeffrey J. Hall, Kyesha Jennings, Morgan K. Johnson, Salma Kalim, Megan McIntyre, Sean Milligan, Avishek Ray, Sarah Riddick, Stephanie Vie, Erin B. Waggoner, Holly M. Wells, William I. Wolff You can use only one pair of em dashes in a sentence.: (

Melissa Ames is director of English Education and professor of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Eastern Illinois University. She is the author of Small Screen, Big Feels: Television and Cultural Anxiety in the Twenty-First Century and How Pop Culture Shapes the Stages of a Woman’s Life, among others, and was the 2018 recipient of Eastern Illinois University’s Luis Clay Mendez Outstanding Service Award.

Kristi McDuffie is director of Rhetoric at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is editor, producer, and composer of I Write: A Writing Guide for the Undergraduate Rhetoric Program at the University of Illinois and the recipient of the 2021 University of Illinois Chancellor’s Academic Professional Award.