When We #SayHerName: (Re)membering Black Women Online and Beyond

A Presentation by Newhouse Center Faculty Fellow LaToya Sawyer

Black women are vital contributors to social media spaces, the most prominent space of feminist activism. At the same time, Black women’s labor, intellectual contributions, and agency are often not adequately recognized due to intersectional erasure and the use of overlooked rhetorical strategies. This presentation highlights the evolving digital rhetorical strategies rooted in Black feminist memory and visibility that are being used to advocate for all Black women and the end to the violence they face. Analyses of the use of the #SayHerName hashtag on Twitter in 2015 and the image-centric meme campaign for Justice for Breonna Taylor on Facebook and Instagram during the summer of 2020 will illustrate both the constancy and adaptability of Black women’s rhetoric in resisting the disciplining violence and oppression that ultimately threaten us all.

LaToya Sawyer (she/her) is an assistant professor of English at St. John's University. Her research focuses on Black women's rhetoric, literacies, and discourse practices online. She is currently working on her first book, Composing Digital Black Womanhood, which examines Black women's identity performances and agency across social media platforms. She is in residence at the Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities in 2023-2024.

This talk will be livestreamed via Zoom. Click here to pre-register for Zoom registration. 

This talk is free and open to the public. No prior registration is required for in-person attendance.