#SandraBland's Mystery: Uncovering the Transmedia Story of Police Brutality on Social Media

• In Event: 69.057 - Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: 69.057-6 - Justice and the Justice System?

Abstract

Sandra Bland, a 28-year old participant in the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, was found hung in her jail cell in July 2015. This study explores how a transmedia story of the policing of Sandra Bland was told across social media channels. Jenkins theorized “[a] transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole.” This work reveals that social media users, as storytellers, took up two distinct roles that either pushed or altered the narrative of #SandraBland’s death and its aftermath. As a result, #SandraBland as a transmedia story was one that became complex and was ultimately unresolved by storytellers who used both media platforms.

Authors

• Aaminah Norris, California State University, Sacramento

• Nalya Arabelle Fenella Rodriguez, University of California - Irvine