Examining everyday discourses of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City

(Re)Framing racial origin myths across received chronotopes

Authors

  • Valerie Biwa Baruch College, CUNY
  • Sean P. O'Neill University of Oklahoma

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jld.22061

Keywords:

Black Lives Matter, Oklahoma City Chapter, discourse, framing, chonotope, myth

Abstract

This ethnography of communication invokes the principle of dialogism from the Bakhtinian framework of discourse analysis and employs digital ethnography to examine the everyday discourses of the BLM Oklahoma City Chapter (BLM OKC). A total of 163 Facebook posts, informal interviews and two formal interviews of the chapter were collected and analysed. The analysis revealed that the discourses of BLM OKC on the local level align with the global level, that BLM OKC employs framing to facilitate sensemaking of the black experience – effectively challenging popular discourses in a way that frames and (re)frames the received chronotopes and origin myths of mainstream society. These findings in relation to police brutality and killings, race and discourse of nostalgia are discussed. 

Author Biographies

  • Valerie Biwa, Baruch College, CUNY

    Valerie Biwa is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Baruch College, CUNY. Her research is in intercultural and organisational communication and focuses on identity, cross-cultural adaptation, women in leadership, and issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.

  • Sean P. O'Neill, University of Oklahoma

    Sean O’Neill is a professor of linguistic anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. His research on language, music and culture – in multilingual and multicultural settings throughout the world – focuses on how people find a place of peace in a world fraught with conflict.

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Published

2024-02-16

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Biwa, V., & O'Neill, S. P. (2024). Examining everyday discourses of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City: (Re)Framing racial origin myths across received chronotopes. Journal of Language and Discrimination, 8(1), 24-49. https://doi.org/10.1558/jld.22061