Taking Root Among The Tweets: Content Analysis of #Afrofuturism on Twitter

Afrofuturism is an artistic, political, and social movement that positions Blackness as integral to the future. Afrofuturist thought rejects white hegemonic thinking that erases the humanity and contributions of Black people while painting us as inherently primitive. Afrofuturism allows us to imagine worlds free of oppression and anti-Black racism, opening us up to endless possibilities of what liberation can look like. In order to study this movement and the individuals who comprise it, I conducted a content analysis of posts containing #Afrofuturism on the social media site Twitter in 2023. Sociologists have used content analysis of tweets to study online communities and social phenomenon. Hashtags on Twitter are particularly useful for researchers because they can create communities and build networks in addition to cataloging and organizing posts. #Afrofuturism has been subjected to limited scholarly inquiry despite its ability to provide insight on the contemporary conversations happening around Afrofuturism. I conducted a content analysis of 440 original tweets tagged with #Afrofuturism to better understand who is using #Afrofuturism and why. I relied on Critical Afrofuturism and counterstorytelling from Critical Race Theory as my theoretical framework. The analysis showed that Black creatives and Afrofuturist community members use the hashtag for three main reason: building hype for Afrofuturist events and creations, utilizing new technologies, and providing alternative histories and perspectives. My findings on #Afrofuturism reveal both the strengths and weaknesses of Afrofuturism as a movement.

Author

• Amadi, Rebecca Ogechi

Language

• en

Keyword

• Afrofuturism
• Content Analysis
• Black Studies
• Popular Culture
• Twitter

Date created

• 2023

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Sociology

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Cottrol, Robert J

Committee Member(s)

• Lengermann, Patricia
• Brantley, Jill

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/5h73pw86r