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Emergent online discourses and the (re)framing of women’s identity: A feminist critical analysis of selected Zimbabwean blogs

A feminist critical analysis of selected Zimbabwean blogs

Sibongile Mpofu
National University of Science and Technology
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Emergent online discourses and the (re)framing of women’s identity: A feminist critical analysis of selected Zimbabwean blogs. (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 38(2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v38i2.1533
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  • Submited: October 6, 2022
  • Published: October 7, 2022

Abstract

The advent of social media communication platforms, specifically blogs as sites of political
engagement, means that they now constitute the key carriers of democratic public discourse.
Previously marginalised groups such as women can now deliberate, interpret and re-frame their
own narratives and identities. This article examines how Zimbabwean women are using blogs
to resist and subvert women’s ascribed identities, improve the political, economic and cultural
representations of women, and enhance women’s participation in politics. Using feminist critical
theory, the article describes how women-owned content from selected Zimbabwean blogs
frames women’s political, economic and cultural identities, and how women producing their own
messages are improving women’s representation in society. Data obtained through qualitative
content analysis of blog posts reveal that, as sites of agency, blogs offer possibilities for reframing
and re-presenting women’s political and cultural identities. Blogs act as sites for the
subversion of ascribed identities that continue to position women as second-class citizens. The
article concludes that digital media, particularly blogs, can be used as sites of resistance to power
by bringing to the fore counter narratives that have been obscured from mainstream discourse,
and at the same time affording women direct influence over their public image.

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How to Cite
Emergent online discourses and the (re)framing of women’s identity: A feminist critical analysis of selected Zimbabwean blogs. (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 38(2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v38i2.1533

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