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Instapoetry and Its Online Transnational Activism

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Instapoetry and Its Online Transnational Activism Instapoetry and its Online Transnational Activism MA Thesis: Literature Today Mayra Lynn Assink 5636841 Supervisor: dr. Anna Poletti Second Reader: dr. Mia You British English 14564 words including quotes and footnotes 25 June 2019 Assink 2 Contents Plagiarism Statement 3 Introduction 4-7 Chapter 1: Poetry, Instagram and Instapoetry 8-15 Chapter 2: Relatability and Shareability 16-31 Chapter 3: Community Building and Activism 32-45 Conclusion and Analysis 46-50 Works Cited 51-55 Assink 3 Assink 4 Introduction Instapoets have been deemed by many journalists and critics writing for, for example, The Guardian, The Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, to revolutionise the poetry genre and the way readers experience and value poetry (Crown; Mzezewa; Szkutak). Because of the revolutionising aspects of Instapoetry, such as the use of Instagram, Instapoets have attracted criticism from fellow poets, literary critics and readers. Even though critique on a new form of poetry is expected, the essence of the literary criticism on Instapoetry is often based on sexism and/or racism. Instapoets Rupi Kaur and Nikita Gill fight gender inequality in the world and the literary field through their poetry by giving the anger, pain and sorrow of marginalised persons recognition and a community in which they can let their voices be heard. Both Kaur and Gill are of Indian descent, causing them to be part of a minority group within the Western literary field and Western world. Although they are both successful Instapoets, they have both been marginalised because of their gender, this will be further explained in the third chapter. In this thesis, gender inequality is defined as the silencing, oppressing, violating, and objectifying of women in the world and literary field (Dobson 29). Rupi Kaur is the most popular Instapoet thus far, with over 3.5 million followers and two published bestseller poetry collections. Nikita Gill is less popular, when measured in online followers, with 500,000 followers on Instagram and 280,000 on Twitter, but she has published three poetry collections and one collection of short stories and poetry. The following of both Gill and Kaur consists mainly of young women between 14 and 35 of age (Byager; Miller), causing critics to disregard their poetry as naïve and not serious since their works are the product of an online personality rather than a poet (Watts). This dismissal of the work made by Instapoets such as Kaur and Gill will be further analysed in the third chapter. Assink 5 Poetry is often defined by its aesthetic value; meaning is not only significant in the interpretation of a poem, but the visual art such as typography or drawings that are part of the poem are also important. This interaction between words and visual arts is what distinguishes Instapoetry from other forms of literature and other forms of poetry (Alghadeer 87). The appeal of poetry is often defined through its concision and the ability of the author to convey much meaning in the limited space of the poem (Hughes 1). Moreover, reading poetry is a subjective experience. The question of what a poem aims to convey and what the impact of that meaning is in relation to one’s daily life is vital to coming to an interpretation of the poem (Alghadeer 87). Moreover, according to Hughes, any poem requires an attention span or state of concentration to which most people are unaccustomed to due to their “hectic lives” (1). Instagram does not seem to be designed for complex works of poetry that require attentive reflection. In fact, many users may glance at a post for only a fraction of a second before they continue to glance at the next post on their feed (Larach). The Instagram feed is a never ending, vertical stream of photos with a username, caption and comments (Larach). On average 95 million photos are shared each day with over 800 million global users (Cohen et al). Instagram went online in 2010 and since then, it is an increasingly popular platform that plays “a dominant role in influencing perceived social norms” (Cohen et al 2). A social network such as Instagram, where content is user-generated, provides new opportunities for social interactions and self-representation. Instapoets are rising in fame and followers; the hashtag #Instapoetry counts over 2.3 million hits to this date and Instapoets such as Rupi Kaur and Nikita Gill have millions of followers. Previous research on activism among users of Instagram has focused on the so-called selfie culture and the forming of communities as a critical part of online activism (Holowka 183). Other researchers focused on the fading boundaries between subculture and mainstream youth culture, causing activism to exist within popular culture (McRobbie 156). The pressure to conform to the ideal female body Assink 6 image, self-objectification and body positivity trends on Instagram have been researched (Cohen et al; Fardouly et al). These studies focused on the relationship between female body image and Instagram use and found that because Instagram’s content is user-generated, normally marginalised voices are able to have a voice on the free space of Instagram. There is no academic research yet on the popularity of poetry on Instagram and how activism against gender inequality can be seen as a factor of that popularity. But Instapoets Kaur and Gill can be seen as examples of marginalised voices that use Instagram to share their stories and art. Gill and Kaur are able to combine visual art and poetry in such a manner that they attract the attention of the fast-scrolling Instagram users. Besides this, arguably, aesthetic appreciation of Instapoetry, the manner in which Gill and Kaur are able to create online communities and address controversial issues such as gender inequality is significant in the way they are part of online activism. Following these statements, the following research question arises: what is the role of poetry on Instagram in the construction of (online) communities and transnational online activism against gender inequality? Through close reading of reviews and opinion pieces about Instapoetry, the Instagram profiles of Rupi Kaur and Nikita Gill, poems on those accounts, and through the reading of scholarly articles on online/digital activism, feminist social media theory, the male glance and poetry, an answer to the thesis question will be formulated. In the first chapter, the genre of poetry will be analysed, the social media platform Instagram will be examined, and the combination of poetry and Instagram will be investigated. The second chapter will examine the aesthetic appreciation, the relatability and shareability of Instapoetry. This will be done through the close reading of two poems: one by Kaur and one by Gill. Relatability is defined as how users can relate to and recognise themselves in a poem, this will be further discussed in chapter two. Shareability is understood as the ways in which poems are distributed on Instagram, this will also be further discussed in chapter two. The third chapter will focus on Assink 7 the emergence of online communities on Instagram around Instapoetry, the transnational activism that seems to simultaneously arise alongside those communities and the critique on Instapoetry. The last chapter will conclude and provide an analysis on the role of Instapoetry in the construction of (online) communities and transnational online activism against gender inequality. Assink 8 Chapter 1: Poetry, Instagram and Instapoetry This chapter will give an analysis of the genre of poetry, an overview of the social media platform Instagram and an analysis of the combination between poetry and Instagram, called Instapoetry. This will be done to examine the role of poetry on Instagram and ultimately to answer the research question: what is the role of poetry on Instagram in the construction of (online) communities and transnational online activism against gender inequality? Poetry Poetry is defined by its aesthetic value and its appeal lies in its concision and ability to convey much meaning. Because of the focus on the aesthetic, not only the meaning is significant in the interpretation of a poem, but the visual art such as typography, line spacing, or drawings are also important. This combination between words and visual is what distinguishes Instapoetry from other forms of literature (Alghadeer 87). In addition, poetry is the genre in which the expression of emotions is intensified by the use of a distinctive style. Poetry is typically evocative and provokes some intense emotion or experience of revelation and/or understanding of the world (Flanagan). These emotions, experiences and understandings of the world are not the same for every reader, this makes reading poetry a subjective experience. The question of what a poem is able to convey and what the impact of that meaning is in relation to one’s daily life is vital to coming to an interpretation of the poem (Alghadeer 87). The individuality of interpreting poetry leads to the absence of a clear, all-compassing definition of the genre (Nemerov 2). In general, readers are familiar with poetry and their attempt to define poetry comes from uncertainty due to seeming exceptions of the genre; it is not the case that they do not have an idea what poetry is, but rather doubt their own judgement to distinguish poetry from prose (Nemerov 2). Due to the focus on the aesthetic value of poetry, the genre is subjected to new forms of medium and styles. This makes it an ever-evolving genre, including all kinds of sub-genres that are not hierarchically Assink 9 ordered. Yet, some genres are deemed more prestigious than others, for example the Shakespearean sonnet has long been the standard within the British poetry genre (Nemerov 13).
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