Queer & Trans People of Color and Digital Platform Engagement
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2020 Intersectional digital rhetoric pedagogy: Queer & trans people of color and digital platform engagement Lauren Ashley Malone Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Recommended Citation Malone, Lauren Ashley, "Intersectional digital rhetoric pedagogy: Queer & trans people of color and digital platform engagement" (2020). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 18014. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18014 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Intersectional digital rhetoric pedagogy: Queer & trans people of color and digital platform engagement by Lauren A. Malone A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Rhetoric and Professional Communication Program of Study Committee: Barbara Blakely, Co-major Professor Abby Dubisar, Co-major Professor Jeanine Aune Novotny Lawrence Manali Sheth The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this dissertation. The Graduate College will ensure this dissertation is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2020 Copyright © Lauren A. Malone, 2020. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... vi NOMENCLATURE .................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................ ix ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ xi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING QTPOC REPRESENTATION ONLINE .................................................................................... 1 Background of This Study ..................................................................................... 1 The Issue for Instructors........................................................................................ 7 Dissertation Overview ......................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW: INTERSECTIONS OF CULTURE, PLATFORMS, AND JUSTICE-CENTERED PEDAGOGY ....................................... 11 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 11 Rhetoric – Cultural, Digital, Queer ....................................................................... 12 Platform Communication ..................................................................................... 18 Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy.................................................................................. 25 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY: CENTERING QTPOC VOICES IN DIGITAL INVESTIGATIONS ................................................................................................... 32 Researcher Positionality...................................................................................... 32 Interviews ............................................................................................................ 34 Participant Selection ....................................................................................... 35 Data Collection ............................................................................................... 37 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 39 Digital Rhetorical Analysis ................................................................................... 42 Platforms and Definitions ................................................................................ 42 Digital Rhetorical Analysis .............................................................................. 45 Hypothesis .......................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 4. INTERACTION: STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT IN DIGITAL SPACES ............................................................................................... 51 Conversation ....................................................................................................... 54 Amplification (Tool) ............................................................................................. 63 Digital Rhetorical Appeals ................................................................................... 69 Disruption ............................................................................................................ 73 iii CHAPTER 5. BUILDING COMMUNITY AND CURATING QTPOC CONTENT ....... 77 Building Community through Amplification .......................................................... 78 Protecting Community through Moderation ......................................................... 82 Community Persona & Impact of Curation .......................................................... 88 CHAPTER 6. PEDAGOGICAL DISCUSSIONS ....................................................... 94 Where to Start? ................................................................................................... 96 What’s Out There ................................................................................................ 98 Analysis of Platforms as Training ........................................................................ 99 Centering a Queered Landscape for Creation ................................................... 101 Moderation as a Critical Literacy ....................................................................... 104 Remixing the Common Spaces ......................................................................... 105 CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 109 Further Study .................................................................................................... 109 Limitations ......................................................................................................... 111 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 112 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 115 APPENDIX A. IRB APPROVAL ............................................................................. 122 APPENDIX B. INFORMED CONSENT .................................................................. 123 APPENDIX C. INITIAL SURVEY ........................................................................... 127 APPENDIX D. INTERVIEW PROTOCOL .............................................................. 129 APPENDIX E. INTERVIEW MATRIX ..................................................................... 131 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Chantal Tuay & Nafessa Williams. Black Lightning, CW............................. 2 Figure 2. Megan McCain uses a reaction GIF.......................................................... 14 Figure 3. Kid Fury sipping tea .................................................................................. 15 Figure 4. Kristen Clarke tweets in remembrance of Sandra Bland, whose death started the #SayHerName movement .............................. 17 Figure 5. Voyant Tool with Interview Example ......................................................... 40 Figure 6. Interview Data Matrix Example ................................................................. 41 Figure 7 Overall schema of thematic analysis.......................................................... 42 Figure 8. Platform Overview .................................................................................... 43 Figure 9. Theme 1 - Interaction and subthemes ...................................................... 48 Figure 10. Theme 2 - Community and subthemes ................................................... 48 Figure 11. Theme 3 - Curation and Subthemes ....................................................... 49 Figure 12. Structure of Theme 1 and Sub-themes ................................................... 52 Figure 13 Twitch Chat Box ....................................................................................... 55 Figure 14. Tumblr post with comments .................................................................... 57 Figure 15. Twitch Homepage with Interaction Points ............................................... 62 Figure 16. Arrows indicate major conversation affordances .................................... 63 Figure 17. Twitter and Tumblr reblog buttons .......................................................... 64 Figure 18. Twitter Beginning Navigation .................................................................. 66 Figure 19. Emote Menu on Twitch ..........................................................................