Eighteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Abstract

Social media has enabled the mobilization of people for political movements, transcending time and space, to protest authority or claim their citizenship. Social media platforms serve as a public sphere in which the socially marginalized can express their opinions, which are otherwise rarely heard in mainstream media. In particular, Indigenous people have actively utilized the space of social media as a means of protesting Indigenous policy and resisting violence stemmed from colonialism, thereby reterritorializing and indigenizing the information and communication space. Based on a content analysis of Facebook posts related to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that occurred in South Australia in 2020, this paper examines the role of social media in the Indigenous movement. Originating in the USA, BLM spread globally. In Australia, while people initially mobilized around the death of George Floyd, Indigenous activists created a discourse in social media associating police brutality in the US with custodial deaths of Aboriginal people. For instance, the Facebook page of #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA was utilized to mobilize Indigenous and other viewers from racial minorities for offline rallies and to develop solidarity, both locally and globally, by inducing the emotions of anger, sorrow, and hope. However, while digital technology enabled Indigenous people to connect with other racial minorities, especially African Australians, it also caused disconnection of relations they had with non-Indigenous people. This paper discusses the potentials and limitations of the use of social media in the Indigenous movement to pursue their rights as Indigenous citizens.