Blogging Ferguson: Self-Care and the ‘Practice of Freedom’ for Marginalized Writers and Communities Online

• In Event: Evolving Representations of Race Within Internet Communication: The Life of Race Captured Within Subreddits, Translation, Twitter, and Blogging

Abstract

The death of unarmed teen Michael Brown, ensuing demonstrations, and the brutal police response in Ferguson, Missouri, captivated the mainstream news for several weeks in late summer of 2014. What followed was a shared need, on the part of racially-marginalized communities, to engage with the viciousness of racism that still faces communities of color in the United States. This paper, through the method of discourse analysis, analyzes blog posts over a two-month period from three professional African-American bloggers that use their platform to practice self-care and to engage in the radical ‘practice of freedom’ through blogging. Friere and hooks have suggested pedagogy as a deeply political and moral practice. This study suggests that blogging may advance the same civil engagement, critical thinking, agency, and self-reflection. In addition to these communal goals, online writing serves as an avenue of mental and emotional self-care for an oppressed people.

Author

• Catherine Knight Steele, Colorado State U