A hashtag worth a thousand words: Discursive strategies around #JeNeSuisPasCharlie after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting

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Main author: Giglietto, Fabio
Other authors: Lee, Yenn
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-23456
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description Following a shooting attack by two self-proclaimed Islamist gunmen at the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015, there emerged the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie on Twitter as an expression of solidarity and support for the magazine’s right to free speech. Almost simultaneously, however, there was also #JeNeSuisPasCharlie explicitly countering the former, affirmative hashtag. Based on a multimethod analysis of 74,047 tweets containing #JeNeSuisPasCharlie posted between 7 and 11 January, this article reveals that users of the hashtag under study employed various discursive strategies and tactics to challenge the mainstream framing of the shooting as the universal value of freedom of expression being threatened by religious extremism, while protecting themselves from the risk of being viewed as disrespecting victims or endorsing the violence committed. The significance of this study is twofold. First, it extends the literature on strategic speech acts by examining how such acts take place in a social media context. Second, it highlights the need for a multidimensional and reflective methodology when dealing with data mined from social media.
format Journal Article
author Giglietto, Fabio
author_facet Giglietto, Fabio
Lee, Yenn
authorStr Giglietto, Fabio
author_letter Giglietto, Fabio
author2 Lee, Yenn
author2Str Lee, Yenn
title A hashtag worth a thousand words: Discursive strategies around #JeNeSuisPasCharlie after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting
publisher Sage
publishDate 2017
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23456/

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