This study seeks to analyze the performative activism and political performance that took place during the Black Lives Matter protests between May and November of the year 2020. Various points of view perceive such acts as merely reductive or otherwise worthy of disdain, however, this study seeks to analyze these acts to identify different components within each performance. The primary focus is to further understand the advantages and disadvantages of performative activism and political performance. This research concentrates on examining the significant social and political impacts of these performances and their symbolic nature. This study also evaluates how discourse related to marginalized communities enters the public sphere and influences it. This study will include the analysis of performance via social media platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter during the 2020 resurgence of Black Lives Matter, including performances carried out by political leaders along the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign trail. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This article explores some of the recent protests in support of Black Lives Matter from a homiletical perspective. Specifically, the author argues that these protests reflect a non-traditional form of pneumatic or Spirit-inspired proclamation that can enrich the church’s preaching in a time of crisis. The article is arranged into three sections. First, a pneumatological framing of proclamation is proffered in order to interpret protest as a mode of Spirit-inspired preaching. Second, drawing on the author’s experience as a participant-observer in select protests in Southern California, three snapshots of proclamation at protests are offered. The article concludes by suggesting that the pneumatic proclamation of recent protests challenges the church in the United States to hold together three key dialectical tensions in its proclamation: lament and celebration, particularity and universality, and word and deed.

The Trayvon Martin shooting of 2013 and the Michael Brown shooting of 2014 by a White security guard and White police officer sequentially led to the Black Lives Matter movement which has grown internationally to 40 chapters. Police agencies have responded with active community outreach programs to proactively reduce conflict. The question arises whether a language of peace such as Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication would be an effective tool to be used in instances of conflict similar to the carnage involving Black men and White police officers between 2013-2017. Local members of the Black community, Black Lives Matter, and law enforcement were interviewed asking the efficacy of Rosenberg’s NVC and deliberative dialogue as well. The study showed that since Blacks and Whites view racism differently, a more comprehensive approach is needed to address the challenges of racism and race relations. This thesis describes the possible use of a few models structured to discuss the racial conflict between all parties affected by racism. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

What do Black Lives Matter and Freaknik have in common? In this paper, I will argue that moments of Black Lives Matter in Atlanta exhibited refusals and undoings of respectability politics through the method of the ratchet. I define the ratchet as moments of non-normative embodiment and political possibility that refuse statist and Eurocentric norms through slippage of the self and the engagement of Black queer sexual politics. Freaknik is foregrounded as a ripe space for excavating such a display of the politically ratchet in Atlanta. I will look at a few different moments in the Black Lives Matter movement in the city of Atlanta and read each for currents of ratchetness and respectability, highlighting the importance of the ratchet in political imagination and possibility.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur Black Lives Matter i Sverige diskuteras av svensk nyhetsmedia år 2020. Följande frågeställning undersöks: -Hur skildras “Black Lives Matter”-rörelsen i Sverige av svensk nyhetsmedia? Tidigare internationell forskning har bland annat visat på att nyhetsmedia oftast betonar demonstranternas kriminella beteende och specifika händelser istället för deras mål. Dock finns det begränsad svensk forskning kring detta. Om det ska kunna ge förändringar mot ett svenskt samhälle utan strukturell rasism och polisbrutalitet, som rörelsen kämpar för, måste flera ta del av debatten. Detta kan endast göras om det finns fler studier som kan få en påläst och intresserad att ta del av diskussionen. Om man inte uppmärksammar det, inser befolkningen förmodligen inte att det finns problem, därför behövs vår uppsats. Undersökningens resultat grundas på en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av nyhetsartiklar från Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet samt Expressen. Den analyseras sedan utifrån teorierna diskursteori och andrafiering men det sker även en jämförelse med tidigare forskning. Fokuset är på artiklar som beskriver Black Lives Matter-demonstrationerna som skett i Sverige år 2020. Resultatet visar på det som involveras i skildringen i svensk nyhetsmedia. Bakgrunden tas med i en obetydlig grad. Endast rörelsens budskap uppmärksammas men det skiljer sig mellan artiklarna vilken som presenteras. Vissa speglar inte det riktiga motivet bakom rörelsens handlingar. Säkerhetstjänstens personal och demonstranterna lyfts också fram. Polisen och ordningsvakter porträtteras mestadels positivt medan det är tvärtom för rörelsens anhängare. Vidare skildras kritikernas syn på demonstrationerna i sig då det både uttrycks positiv respektive negativ kritik. Dessutom finns det diskussion om Sverige i frågan om rasism och polisbrutalitet där det finns olika åsikter. Antingen anses det som ett importerat problem från USA, att det inte finns, eller upplevs det som att det finns. Resultatet visar vidare på en ”andrafiering” och kan kopplas till diskursteorin. Det har även funnits likheter mellan den och tidigare forskning.

Thesis advisor: Daniel J. Daily / Thesis advisor: James Keenan / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Syftet med denna studie är att, genom närläsning av opinionsartiklar, se hur skribenter på Dagens Nyheter och Svenska Dagbladets ledar- och kultursidor argumenterade kring Black Lives Matter-protesterna 2020. Uppsatsen ämne har valts baserat på att opinionsjournalistik, och dess påverkan på samhällsdebatten är ett, generellt sett, underutforskat område trots att opinionsartiklar är bland de mest delade digitalt. (Bolin, Strömbäck och Hinnfors 2016) I arbetet med texterna har ett frågeschema använts, grundat på argumentationsanalys, retorisk analys, medieretorisk analys samt metaforanalys för att spåra teser, typ av argumentation, metaforer och värderingar. Teoretiskt har uppsatsen utgått från diskursteori samt teorier om andrafiering och identitetspolitik. De teser som drivs om Black Lives Matter-protesterna 2020 är främst kopplade till våld, intolerans, coronapandemin och identitetspolitik. Skribenterna tenderar att tillskriva demonstranterna egenskaper, syften och mål med demonstrationerna som skapar en social maktobalans och en känsla av andrafiering. Jag har funnit att i de undersökta artiklarna ställs grupper mot varandra där de som tillskrivs handling agerar för att skada andra grupper, i det fallet både rörelsen och samhället i allmänhet. Artiklarna skapar ett "vi och de" där "de" använder våld och intolerans mot kritiker medan "vi" är skribenten, läsaren och alla fredliga vita och svarta som inte ingår i Black Lives Matter-protesterna. Många texter pekar också ut andra sociala identitetspolitiska grupper som kontrast till “vi”. Jag kunde också se att Svenska Dagbladet intar en mer kritisk och konservativ ställning till protesterna och rörelsen i både USA och Sverige och att Dagens Nyheter har en mer liberal inställning till rörelsen men kritiserar våldet under protesterna. Detta stämmer också väl med deras politiska beteckning som obunden moderat (Svenska Dagbladet) och oberoende liberal (Dagens Nyheter).

This dissertation examines the potential existential roots of contemporary American social movements. I extract an existential social movement theory from Albert Camus’s philosophy that can elucidate surprising similarities and tactical differences across ongoing movements. I then apply the theory to Black Lives Matter and the Alt-Right which helps demonstrate that both movements express existential anxiety related to collective, racialized death. The social movement theory also clarifies the movements’ divergent political tactics as Black Lives Matter responds to existential anxiety by collectively acting to relieve immediate Black suffering and death which I argue is a Camusian rebellion. The Alt-Right conversely responds to existential anxiety by directing their energies towards achieving a teleological goal of racial homogeneity which I argue is a Camusian revolution. I use a variety of first-person sources including memoirs, interviews, and undercover exposés to support my thesis that Black Lives Matter and the Alt-Right are both responding to feelings of racialized existential anxiety, although they traverse disparate pathways.While the dissertation is primarily focused on racially motivated social movements, I argue that American environmental activists can learn from, and emulate Black Lives Matter’s tactics. Environmental activists argue that climate change is an existential crisis, and the anxiety of the death and devastation of climate catastrophe underlies much of today’s climate activism. Black Lives Matter has successfully transformed existential anxiety over state sanctioned Black death into meaningful and immediate reforms, without sacrificing its radical critiques of racial capitalism, mass incarceration, and white supremacy. I argue that environmental activists can likewise energize their existential anxieties into reforms that slow climate change, while continuing to challenge systemic degradation of the global environment. I conclude the dissertation by examining the 2020 Black Lives Matter activism in response to the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. Ongoing and recent Black Lives Matter protests are rooted in the same collectively anxious response to Black death and have achieved even greater sociopolitical and cultural changes than the protests of years prior, providing further evidence for my thesis. / Political Science

During the last decade the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has brought increased attention to the issues pertaining to police brutality and the systemic discrimination of black Americans. At the same time as the movement has experienced growing support, its opposers have also consolidated. Among them president Donald Trump has proved to be one of the staunchest critics of Black Lives Matter. This has further strengthened the movement's oppositional role in relation to the US government. Therefore this bachelor's thesis examines what role the Trump-administration plays in the portrayal of Black Lives Matter. Using the Essex School of discourse analysis the statements of Trump and his administration towards the movement are examined, and through them discourses opposed to BLM are identified. Through the theoretical lenses of postcolonialism and post-marxism the Trump-administration’s statements can be shown to portray BLM as a violent and extremist socialist movement. The statements have the effect of rendering BLM as distinct from regular americans and as opposed to american values in various ways. This has the additional effect of creating division among the supporters of BLM themselves as they are torn between allegiance to the movement and the nation. The Trump-administration’s statements towards BLM are concluded to stem from the discourses of “American Exceptionalism”, “Neoliberalism” and “Law and Order”. This indicates that previously mentioned discourses are in opposition to BLM.

In 2016, Colin Kaepernick, the former starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, unknowingly bartered his athletic aspirations by exercising his First Amendment Right to freedom of expression. Frustrated with what he and many others perceived as pervasive extrajudicial tactics of law enforcement and a seemingly incessant lack of accountability from the American legal system, Kaepernick silently protested by sitting during the playing of the National Anthem. Although, Kaepernick's actions begun as a singular, almost imperceptible act, he has ultimately redefined the significance of taking a knee, and etched his name in a long list of other malcontents in the struggle for racial equality in America. The purpose of this study is to explore in detail one of the most polarizing components of the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) and Black Social Protests in the United States. Analysis of social media content will argue the value of the Kaepernick "Anti Flag/Anthem" Protest, from a communication-cultural perspective. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection