Twitter as a Space for Critical Consciousness Development: Immigrant-Origin Youth’s Activism During Black Lives Matter

• In Event: Examining How Critical Consciousness is Fostered, Facilitated, and Performed Among Young People Across the US

Abstract

The surge in participation in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement since May 2020 has spurred anti-racist efforts across many groups in the U.S., including immigrant-origin (I-O) youth. Online participation in BLM may reflect critical consciousness (CC) development, a process conceived through three reciprocal domains: critical reflection, critical action, and psychological empowerment. The following study qualitatively explores I-O youth's CC development through their engagement with BML on Twitter.

Using an inductive qualitative approach, we analyzed over 3000 social media posts from 33 immigrant-origin participants ages 18-23 representing 18 countries of origin (see Table I). Up to 50 screenshots were taken of each participant’s posts related to BLM in May and June 2020. Through immersive coding, themes emerged and were organized into a code book informed by sensitizing concepts regarding CC. Interviews will be conducted in fall of 2020 with 15 participants to explore findings and member check emergent themes.

Participants’ CC is evidenced in the way I-O youth advance BLM efforts through Twitter, with some participants demonstrating a progression over time through the different dimensions of CC. Participants’ immigrant and other multifaceted identities foregrounded their online civic engagement in BLM. Participants demonstrated critical reflection in their online posting. For example, within the code “educating others,” participants built knowledge on how to further support BLM efforts. In another code, “honoring Black folks,” participants amplified Black creativity and achievements and memorialized Black individuals killed by white supremacist violence. Through the theme “restorying,” participants reframed dominant narratives and shared perspectives erased in the media. The code “galvanizing collective action” embodies the way participants engaged in critical action (i.e. petitions) and encouraged others to participate in BLM. Additionally, the code “holding others accountable” reveals how participants held individuals, particularly white people, and institutions accountable for racist actions. Lastly, the code “political efficacy” illuminated how participants celebrated BLM achievements and highlighted the power of collective action. The political efficacy code corresponded with a broader code reflecting Twitter as a space to provide psychological support. Through these efforts, some participants drew from personal experience to build coalitions in support of BLM, naming how their identities and groups were entangled in anti-Black racism. Other participants focused strictly on the experiences of Black Americans. Black participants wove their other identities — for example, as women or students — into their BLM engagement, calling out anti-Black racism in the U.S. while simultaneously amplifying collective Black activism and debating issues within the Black community.

These results highlight how I-O youth utilize social media as a civic space to develop critical reflection and political efficacy and to engage in collective critical action, and how their CC development may be shaped by their sociocultural histories and experiences. This study also highlights youth’s efforts to build inclusive coalitions on social media during a pivotal moment in the U.S.’s long struggle against racial injustice.

Authors

• Taina Quiles, University of Virginia
  Presenting Author

• Sara Wilf, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elena Maker Castro, University of California Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Wray-Lake, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author