An (in)visible universe of grief: Performative disidentifications with white motherhood in the We are not Trayvon Martin blog

ABSTRACT

This essay offers a critical rhetorical analysis of social media discourse of white mothers protesting the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer. I argue that through affectively charged performative disidentifications, white mothers contributing to the We are not Trayvon Martin blog worked within and against norms of ideal motherhood to challenge dominant formations of whiteness in ways that exposed the privileged status of U.S. American white motherhood and reconceptualized motherhood as an affective orientation toward antiracism. Unpacking affectively charged performative disidentifications with privileged racial identities is important for enhancing understandings of white antiracist rhetoric and fostering formations of white antiracist consciousness.

KEYWORDS:

• Antiracism
• whiteness
• motherhood
• disidentification
• affect

Acknowledgments

Stephanie L. Hartzell is a PhD student in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder. She wishes to thank Todd Sandel, Rona Halualani, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and supportive feedback. Lisa Flores, Phaedra Pezzullo, and Amani Husain also provided valuable guidance with drafts of this essay. Earlier versions were presented at the National Communication Association Convention in Las Vegas, NV and the Western States Communication Association Convention in Spokane, WA.

Notes

1. See http://mynews13.com/trayvon-timeline.html for a timeline of this case.

2. I focus on “young black males” because injustices against this group were emphasized after Trayvon Martin—a young black male—was killed. I use “male” to avoid framing Trayvon as either a “boy” or a “man”—two contrasting, ideologically charged frames deployed by mainstream media (see McCann, 2014). The Black Lives Matter movement works to address injustices faced by all black people in the U.S. and is especially committed to black women, black queer people, and black trans* people (Garza, 2014).

3. 1,290 submissions were posted in July 2013, 62 in August 2013, 3 in September 2013, and 4 in November 2014.

4. http://wearenottrayvonmartin.tumblr.com/archive

5. I relied on contributors' self-identifications as mothers and presumed that a separate individual submitted each of the 141 posts. Determining whether any particular contributor is actually a mother is less important, for this project, than unpacking rhetorical appeals to motherhood.

6. “Children of color” encompasses how mothers identified their “black,” “biracial,” “interracial,” and “mixed” children.