Jackson, Sarah
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Publication Women Tweet on Violence: From #YesAllWomen to #MeToo(2019-01-01) Jackson, Sarah; Bailey, Moya; Foucault Welles, BrookeFrom the earliest feminist press to Twitter, women have used technology to create and sustain narratives that demand attention and redress for gendered violence. Herein we argue that the #MeToo boom was made possible by the digital labor, consciousness-raising, and alternative storytelling created through the #YesAllWomen, #SurvivorPrivilege, #WhyIStayed, and #TheEmptyChair hashtag networks. Each of these hashtags highlight women’s experiences with interpersonal and institutionally-enabled violence and each was precipitated by high-profile news events. Alongside an examination of Twitter networks, we consider the social and cultural conditions that made each hashtag significant at particular moments, examining the ideological and political work members of these hashtag networks perform. We find that feminist hashtags have been successful in creating an easy-to-digest shorthand that challenges and changes mainstream narratives about violence and victimhood.Publication Ask a Feminist: A Conversation with Cathy J. Cohen on Black Lives Matter, Feminism, and Contemporary Activism(2016-01-01) Cohen, Cathy; Jackson, SarahHerein, Sarah J. Jackson interviews Cathy J. Cohen on the potentials for feminist theory in racial justice movements. Topics addressed include the barriers and bridges between activists and academics, the unique ways in which race and gender intersect in state violence, challenges for feminist academics of color engaged in activism, and the shape of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.Publication Defining Women in Need: Online Media Coverage of the Violence Against Women Act and Native and Undocumented Women(2016-01-01) Jackson, Sarah JPublication Digital Standpoints: Debating Gendered Violence and Racial Exclusions in the Feminist Counter Public(2016-01-01) Jackson, Sarah; Banaszczyk, SoniaIn this study, we integrate counterpublic sphere theory and feminist standpoint theory to examine the discursive labor and debates shaped by the hashtags #YesAllWomen and #YesAllWhiteWomen. We identify the most influential users in these hashtags’ networks and critically analyze their tweets. Our findings illustrate how feminist counterpublics use Twitter to produce and progress feminist frames about violence against women while simultaneously engaging in community debates about race and inclusion. Our work illuminates how contemporary feminist discourse continues to reflect historical tensions in feminist movements, and how digital media platforms (and user generated tools like Twitter’s hashtag function) can equip feminist cultural workers with new ways to upend mainstream narratives and elevate conversations within feminist sphere(s).Publication Progressive Social Movements and the Internet(2018-01-01) Jackson, Sarah JPublication The Battle for #Baltimore: Networked Counterpublics and the Contested Framing of Urban Unrest(2019-01-01) Foucault Welles, Brooke; Jackson, Sarah JA growing body of research suggests that Twitter has become a key resource for networked counterpublics to intervene in popular discourse about racism and policing in the United States. At the same time, claims that online communication necessarily results in polarized echo chambers are common. In response to these seemingly contrary impulses in communication research, we explore how the contested online network comprised of tweets about the April 2015 protests in Baltimore, Maryland, evolved as users constructed meaning and debated questions of protest and race. We find that even within this highly polarized debate, counterpublic frames found widespread support on Twitter. Progressive racial justice messages were advanced, in part, by brokers who worked across polarized subcommunities in the network to build mutual understanding and model effective strategies for reconciling disparate accounts of protest events.Publication Framing Megan Williams: Intersecting Discourses of Race, Class, and Gender in Television News Coverage of Racialized Rape(2013-01-01) Jackson, SarahThis study examines mainstream television news coverage of the kidnapping and rape of Megan Williams in late 2007 and coverage of Williams’ recantation in 2009. The publicity of this case provides a unique opportunity to scrutinize the under-examined topics of news coverage of whiteon-black rape and white female perpetration. Feminist and critical media studies perspectives are called upon to provide an understanding of hegemonic discourses of gendered violence in media discourse. The intersection of race and class with such discourse is examined. Content and discourse analysis methods allow a critical examination of coverage of the Williams’ story on four of the most watched television news sources in America. Results reveal disturbing trends in the framing of white-on-black perpetration. Additionally, stark differences in ideological constructions of rape and race are found among the news outlets examined, suggesting that some news sources do more to reproduce raced and gendered discourses of privilege than others.Publication How Black Twitter and Other Social Media Communities Interact With Mainstream News(2018-01-01) Freelon, Deen; Lopez, Lori; Clark, Meredith D; Jackson, Sarah JPublication Hijacking #myNYPD: Social media dissent and networked counterpublics(2015-01-01) Jackson, SarahIn this research, we investigate the citizen hijacking of the Twitter hashtag #myNYPD in response to a public relations campaign by the New York City Police Department in April of 2014. Using counterpublic sphere theory, we examine how Twitter was used as a platform to organize, generate, and promote counterpublic narratives about racial profiling, police misconduct and police violence. Through a combination of large-scale network analysis and qualitative discourse analysis, we detail emergent counterpublic structure and leadership, specific discursive strategies deployed by crowdsourced elites within communities of resistance, and the reception of online counterpublic activism in mainstream media. We conclude with implications for understanding the evolving nature of counterpublics in the second decade of the 21st-century, with particular consideration to the roles of new and old media in (re)shaping public debates around marginalization, profiling, and policing.