Open AccessEthno‐Racial Identity Displays on Facebook
Author(s) -
Grasmuck Sherri,
Martin Jason,
Zhao Shanyang
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of computer‐mediated communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.15
H-Index - 119
ISSN - 1083-6101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01498.x
Subject(s) - identity (music) , vietnamese , ideology , narrative , presentation (obstetrics) , resistance (ecology) , sociology , salient , social identity theory , gender studies , ethnic group , social psychology , race (biology) , psychology , media studies , social group , political science , anthropology , aesthetics , politics , medicine , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , biology , law , radiology
The present study investigates self‐presentation in a nonymous setting and explores differences in self‐presentation by distinct ethno‐racial groups. Based on content analysis of 83 Facebook profiles of African Americans, Latino, Indian and Vietnamese ancestry students, supplemented by 63 in‐person interviews, we found that ethno‐racial identities are salient and highly elaborated. The intensive investments of minorities in presenting highly social, culturally explicit and elaborated narratives of self reflect a certain resistance to the racial silencing of minorities by dominant color‐blind ideologies of broader society. In the nonymous environment of Facebook, various dimensions of identity claims appear to be grounded in offline realities as revealed in interviews and observations of campus social dynamics.