#Activism
George Floyd’s death re-kindled the urgency of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement but also, unfortunately, performative activism (PA). Hundreds of people marched for those brutally killed by police officers, others posted aesthetic infographics on Instagram. Activism suddenly became the “ 2020 summer trend” and that mixed with herd mentality gives you performative activism by self-proclaimed activists. By April 2020, most people had either an “issuesintheworld.caard.co” link in their bio or a black square in their feed.
Words like “intersectionality,” “disproportionality,” and “systematic oppression” spilled out of people’s mouths like trendy buzzwords. Similar to the “fight” for Floyd, the use of these words seem more like following the crowd than understanding the situation. In fact, using terms like “decolonization” as a prefix for everything does more harm than good (Tuck & Yang, 2012). It takes a complex idea with a complex etymology and grossly simplifies it into a misunderstood and misused word (Tuck & Yang, 2012). These buzzwords are used in social media captions, research papers, Ted talks, and more so often that one has to question whether people are following the trend or if they know what the word means. When one overuses words like “decolonization,” it becomes meaningless and costs the oppressed group (Tuck & Yang, 2012).
Oppression and privilege, which still very much exist, have evolved into a more dangerous monster in the wake of social media. People who know about oppression and privilege but exploit those stories for the “trend” without fully understanding what they are “supporting,” are the problem. It is the oversimplification of complicated issues and the undereducated opinions of people who support them. The following will address two ideas; PA makes real issues meaningless trends and takes away from the issue it is supporting, making PA yet another form of oppression and privilege. The implication of PA in research is detrimental.
Colonization, Exploitation, and Marginalization
I have always been a minority and have never known anything outside of that. I was born and brought up in Singapore where it is not customary nor legal to speak up so I never thought twice about my place in the world. I did not even know words such as “intersectionality” and “oppression” existed until I moved to New York City. In class we learned about the relativity of oppression and privilege; how one cannot exist without the other. For me, privilege, access, power are things I have simply never known. When I moved to New York however, it became clear to me that it is entirely possible to preserve your own identity and be in charge of your life regardless of whether you are a minority or not– as established in From A Native Daughter (Trask, 1999). Trask discusses a form of oppression; colonialism and the impact of colonial thought on native Hawaiian people and Hawaiian land. Similar to Hawaii, Antigua is another beautiful city ravaged by “cultural prostitution” (Kincaid, 1988; Trask, 1999). This touches on a second form of oppression; exploitation. Both Hawaii and Antigua are beautiful tropical islands with a rich history and culture but are grossly reduced to exotic beaches, aloha shirts, and cocktails under palm trees. Tourists go straight from the airports to 5-star hotels (built on ancestral land), marvel at the local peoples’ “simple lives” and then drink packaged water (Kincaid, 1988). Tourism is one of the most blatant practices of privilege; people of power literally enjoy the oppressed groups’ homes and use them for their entertainment. From A Native Daughter (Trask, 1999) calls for self-determinism and citizen empowerment. The book is a template for change that can apply to the people of Antigua and even the marginalized Chicanos from Borderlands (Anzaldua, 1987). Anzaldua touches on a similar sentiment with her narrative on marginalization, a third form of oppression. In the eloquent semi-autobiography, Borderlands tells of the process of oppression. Oppression starts with differences, which then becomes preferences, then privilege, and then power, similar to what was covered in class. Anzaldua explores this through the lens of race, gender, and colonialism. Similar to Trask, Anzaldua discusses breaking ingrained colonial paradigms such as historically excluded Indigenous narratives (Anzaldua, 1987; Trask, 1999).
The three stories present three different forms of oppression; colonialism, exploitation, and marginalization. These still exist today, but there is an additional form of oppression that exists on top of this; PA. Oppression is robbing somebody of their power to tell their story, this is no different to PA which also takes a story or a culture and then simplifies it into a short infographic or hashtag without understanding the full picture.
Performative Activism: Modern Oppression and Privilege
Iris Marion Young (1990) describes oppression as a structural concept, an “evil perpetrated by others, not society.” She then famously listed “five faces of oppression;” exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence (Young, 1990). I do agree that these five “faces” of oppression exist, I would like to propose a sixth “face” of oppression which I will call “meta-oppression (MO).” MO refers to the consequences of PA; it is using the concept of oppression for being “trendy” and then indirectly continuing to oppress a group of people. This refers to the infographics on Instagram, where people have spent more time making it pretty than in educating themselves on the topic. This refers to the incredibly complicated issues that have been boiled down to “digestible” articles and videos on social media where audiences (of privilege) do not have to live the issue, or even make an effort to read a primary source about the issue, they can just “learn” about the issue from the comfort of their iPhone. This refers to the passive “reposting” and “storying” of the beautiful infographics of ugly problems and people thinking they’ve done their part and are now activists for the topic. This is not fighting oppression, this is not social justice, this is privilege in action. This is theatre for the “followers” and further exploitation of an already oppressed group. Kimmel & Ferber (2017) discuss “color blindness” and “oppression blindness” as ignorance to systemic oppression. I believe there is something even worse than being “oppression blind,” it is seeing oppression with rose-tinted glasses. Rose Tinted Oppression (RTO) is seeing oppression as Tiktok content. MO and RTO are performative activism at their height.
Implications of Performative Activism in Academia
Since the scientific revolution in 1543, empirical research has become the authority of society and informs everything from medical procedures, to products we consume, to psychological theories we develop. For this reason, there is no room for PA in research. Academic researchers have an ethical and moral obligation, to be honest, and to be well informed about their practices, and to use words like Participatory Action Research (PAR) because they sound “inclusive” is unacceptable.
Conclusion
My great grandfather fought, alongside Gandhi and Nehru, for the independence of India. My great grandfather was a selfless person and cared only about India and its people– he was an activist. Rosa Parks, Malala, Susan B. Anthony was selfless with no ulterior motives. That is real activism. After the PA started, my fury did not set in until I saw people reposting infographics about Indian Farmers, Kashmir Annexation, and “Brown Trauma.” These are incredibly complicated issues and it is insulting to see those stories condensed into small squares that are “easy” to read. My countries’ issues are not supposed to be easy. An aesthetic Instagram post does nothing but carries forward oppression and privilege, and it tells my story. I only felt more silenced. Use words meaningfully. And don’t take the justice out of social justice.
References
Anzaldua, G. (1987). Borderlands la frontera, the new mestiza. Aunt Lute Books
Kimmel, M.S. & Ferber, A.L. (2017). Privilege, a reader. Westview Press
Kincaid, J. (1988) A Small Place. Penguin.
Trask, H. (1999). From a native daughter: colonialism and sovereignty in Hawaiʻi.
University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Tuck, E. & Yang, K. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity,
Education & Society, 1(1), 1–40.
Young, I.M. (1990). Five faces of oppression. In Heldke L. & O’Connor, P. (Eds.), Oppression,
Privilege & Resistance (pp. 39–65). Princeton University Press.
