hey also facilitated activists’efforts to bypass theinterference of media professionals and their gaze in the production of protest-relatedinformation. Activists discovered new ways of bringing their images–and discourses attachedto them–to broader audiences. This also happened with written information about socialmovements, but it occurred probably with even more strength with regard to images.Indeed, the proliferation of relatively cheap portable technologies to record images andvideos, like cameras and more recently smartphones, allowed activists to produce theirown visual materials without the need for media professionals or specialized media practi-tioners as in earlier generations of movements

Examining the image using this framework provides evidence regarding how and to what extent this image functioned rhetorically to shift the narrative of the BLM movement in a way that would generate more involvement from citizens, including from other racial and ethnic group members in the emerging movement without decentering the experiences and knowledge of Black citizens.

these images provided support for those who seek to perpetuate caricatures of Black citizens such that bodies protesting unequal treatment are cast as violent, threatening, and anarchic Black bodies. To move beyond or to contradict such caricatures, images that could reframe the movement, that could transcend current, individual crises and make people look again and anew were necessary.

they function rhetorically to shift the narrative of a movement from tactical to strategic, from syncretic1 (centering whiteness2 as dominant) to counterhegemonic (decentering whiteness as dominant)

In addition to the affordances of connectivity, mobile devices have alleviated temporal and spatial boundaries, broadening audience awareness of instances of racial inequality through social media platforms. The visibility made possible through the advent of these technologies has allowed individuals an opportunity to see more immediately into the lives of others and to witness seemingly “firsthand” their experiences. Visual media also affords the public the opportunity to create narratives about these moments as well as to join the public discourse on the matters at hand through social media platforms.

ctive citizenship demands agile communicative tools, and image memes were employed with great agility to make diverse points on OWS. This added not just reach but nuance to public discussion.

CDA focuses on the form and content of communicative artifacts—such as memes—and the social practices that inform them. CDA emphasizes the relationship between what is communicated and the social realities tied to that communication.

“Echo chambers” (Sunstein, 2007) are the negative corollary to polyvocality. In a boomerang effect, the wealth of public discourse on sites like Twitter, reddit, Tumblr, and YouTube might lead users to seek and engage only opinion-confirmingcontent.

the public sphere was the liminal space where private citizens engaged in public deliberation about social and political issues

Discourse can be cheapened when pop culture and pop humor become part of the political discussion. Buttovan Zoonen (2005),calling pop engagement “cheapened” is a way to shut out alternative forms of understanding. I

mage memes are a populist means to express public perspectives, even when those perspectives are diverse