Medrado, A., Souza, R. and Paulla, M. 2021. Black Women in Parliament and on Social Media: Link visibility as an Intersectional and Solidarity-Building Tool. Global Perspectives. 2 (1) 24503. https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2021.24503
| Title | Black Women in Parliament and on Social Media: Link visibility as an Intersectional and Solidarity-Building Tool |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Medrado, A. |
| Souza, R. | |
| Paulla, M. | |
| Abstract | This article tackles the multiple facets of visibility, ranging from invisibility, a lack of recognition in society, to hypervisibility, when bodies are hyper exposed for commodification or criminalisation purposes. We analyse the specific implications of achieving media visibility for one Black Brazilian woman in politics—Renata Souza –a Rio de Janeiro State Legislator. Souza’s campaign and mandate have drawn inspiration from the legacy of Marielle Franco, a Black lesbian favela-born city councilor and human rights advocate who was murdered in March 2018. Our theoretical framework consists of three strands of research: visibility studies, intersectional feminism, and intersectional work on technologies and surveillance. We draw from autoethnographic approaches with the use of fieldnotes, audio diaries, and interviews with members of Souza’s staff. We complement these with digital ethnographic observations of Souza’s and her allies’ social media profiles. We ask: If visibility is a goal for groups who are marginalised and silenced, what happens when they do achieve it? When does visibility help to protect black women? And when does visibility bring even greater vulnerability? In this article, we propose and define the concept of “link-visibility” as a process led by women of colour who need a high degree of social media publicness but are affected disproportionally from visibility-induced high levels of vulnerability. We argue that link-visibility represents an intersectional feminist approach as well as a tool for solidarity building, and that both— intersectionality and link-visibility—help bind oppressed realities in Brazil and elsewhere. Finally, we interrogate what can be done to protect women of colour online, stopping the violence, threats, and fear. |
| Keywords | Black women in politics |
| link-visibility | |
| racism | |
| intersectionality | |
| autoethnography | |
| Article number | 24503 |
| Journal | Global Perspectives |
| Journal citation | 2 (1) |
| ISSN | 2575-7350 |
| Year | 2021 |
| Publisher | University of California Press |
| Publisher's version | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2021.24503 |
| Web address (URL) | https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2021.24503 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 08 Jun 2021 |
| Supplemental file | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |