This talk is a part of the Narrative Studies Seminar
Time: Wed 27 November 3:15 pm (EET); Place: Pinni B4113 or Zoom (Link). (Meeting ID: 668 4700 7494 Passcode: 045076)
This presentation explores how TikTok has opened up new rhetorical spaces, enabling activists to creatively shape and deliver narratives tailored by the specific affordances of the platform. Our focus is on a group of feminist activists who address gender-based violence and gender inequality through multimodal short videos. We approached these videos as persuasive tools for conveying messages designed to engage and appeal to viewers through semiotically layered address. Employing digital ethnography, multimodal discourse analysis, and narrative positioning, we investigated how affective cues and bodily expressions are strategically used in visual narratives to argue the case for social change. These bodily performances create visual, interrelational positionings that convey affective evaluations and judgments about societal conditions, weaving together a network of messages that both mobilize support and strengthen identification among movement members.
The Narrative Studies Seminar is open to all interested persons. The aim of the seminar is to allow for a multi- and interdisciplinary discussion on data, methods, theories, and the state of narrative research. Sessions consist of introductory presentations by researchers from different fields studying narratives at Tampere University (up to 20 min), and general discussion.