IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v29y2024i3p650-674.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

#TheAfricaTheMediaNever ShowsYou: An Afrodiasporic Subaltern Counterpublic

Author

Listed:
  • Edward Ademolu

    (King’s College London, UK)

Abstract

Media representations of African underdevelopment are central to the communicative potential and reach of international development in the mainstream public sphere, but they are not without sustained critique and confrontation. By conceptualising the humanitarian-themed campaign – #TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou on Twitter, as an Afrodiasporic Subaltern Counterpublic, this article considers how UK African diasporic communities have utilised this digitalised environment to oppose the popular but problematic ‘face of development’. Applying Nancy Fraser’s counterpublics theorisation and drawing on social media ethnography and multiple participant interviews, it shows how oppositional counter-discourses among these online diasporic communities challenge problematic African representation within ‘white media’. This is realised in three distinct but interrelated discursive practices: (1) Afrodiasporic solidaristic orientations; (2) Diasporic solidarism as an assemblage(d) response to development’s institutionalised whiteness; and (3) Countering Africa(n) misrepresentations.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward Ademolu, 2024. "#TheAfricaTheMediaNever ShowsYou: An Afrodiasporic Subaltern Counterpublic," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(3), pages 650-674, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:3:p:650-674
    DOI: 10.1177/13607804231193959
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804231193959
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/13607804231193959?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Natasha Keenaghan & Kathy Reilly, 2017. "Mediating representations of poverty and development: a help or a hindrance?," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(6), pages 1272-1290, June.
    2. Lilie Chouliaraki, 2010. "Post-humanitarianism: humanitarian communication beyond a politics of pity," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 29265, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Kath Hennell & Mark Limmer & Maria Piacentini, 2020. "Ethical Dilemmas Using Social Media in Qualitative Social Research: A Case Study of Online Participant Observation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(3), pages 473-489, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jones, Scott & Cronin, James & Piacentini, Maria G., 2022. "Celebrity brand break-up: Fan experiences of para-loveshock," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 720-731.
    2. Anne Vestergaard & Julie Uldam, 2022. "Legitimacy and Cosmopolitanism: Online Public Debates on (Corporate) Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(2), pages 227-240, March.
    3. Vinnari, Eija & Laine, Matias, 2017. "The moral mechanism of counter accounts: The case of industrial animal production," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-17.
    4. Luis Pascasio, 2017. "Mediated Compassion And The Politics Of Displaced Bodies," Eurasian Journal of Social Sciences, Eurasian Publications, vol. 5(1), pages 1-10.
    5. Natalie-Anne Hall, 2022. "Understanding Brexit on Facebook: Developing Close-up, Qualitative Methodologies for Social Media Research," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(3), pages 707-723, September.
    6. Hélder Raposo & Sara Melo & Catarina Egreja, 2022. "Data Protection in Sociological Health Research: A Critical Narrative about the Challenges of a New Regulatory Landscape," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(4), pages 1060-1076, December.
    7. Musa Mohammed & Nasir Shafiq & Al-Baraa Abdulrahman Al-Mekhlafi & Amin Al-Fakih & Noor Amila Zawawi & Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed & Rana Khallaf & Hussein Mohammed Abualrejal & Abdulkadir Adamu Shehu &, 2022. "Beneficial Effects of 3D BIM for Pre-Empting Waste during the Planning and Design Stage of Building and Waste Reduction Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-22, March.
    8. Ofra Koffman & Shani Orgad & Rosalind Gill, 2015. "Girl power and ‘selfie humanitarianism’," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62627, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Guccini, Federica & McKinley, Gerald, 2022. "“How deep do I have to cut?“: Non-suicidal self-injury and imagined communities of practice on Tumblr," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    10. Agni Kalfagianni & Lena Partzsch & Miriam Beulting, 2020. "Governance for global stewardship: can private certification move beyond commodification in fostering sustainability transformations?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(1), pages 65-81, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:3:p:650-674. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.