Intersectional Multimodal Analysis: (Re)framing Agency, Reclamation, and Resistance in a Black College Woman’s Pandemic Video

• In Event: Black Girls and Women Recalling, Resisting, and Reclaiming Self Through Multimodal Composing

Abstract

Utilizing a case study approach, this paper analyzes a pandemic video created by a Black college woman using the Intersectional Multimodal Analysis (IMA) Framework. The IMA framework comprises four interrelated, representational dimensions within Black girls’ digital content: (1) Intersectional Identities: Black girls’/women’s depictions of endarkened femininity through Bodies (e.g., hair, skin color); Gaze; Gestures; Clothing; (2) Intersectional Spatialities: Black girls’/women’s Bodily Positionings in real or imagined spaces; (3) Intersectional Agency: Black girls’/women’s portrayals of power through Affect, Advocacy, and/or Resistance. (4) Intersectional Voice: Black girls’/women’s Stories, Reflections, and/or Counternarratives. The IMA framework responds to scholars who call for intersectional-oriented analytic frameworks that help us understand how young Black girls and women create digital content to “self- define, empower, and advocate for themselves [in ways] that disrupt oppression, sexism, and exploitation in digital spaces” (Lewis Ellison, 2018, p. 88). The current study asks: What intersectional meanings does IMA make visible in a Black college woman’s pandemic video? The IMA analysis revealed a Black girl’s story of reclamation and resistance within the pandemic. In keeping with the conference theme, this paper articulates how the IMA framework makes visible the full humanity of Black girls and women by affirming the intersectional meanings of their digital video content and amplifying their agency, reclamation, and resistance within and beyond a pandemic world.

Author

• Jennifer Danridge Turner, University of Maryland