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Part of
Disability in Dialogue
Edited by Jessica M.F. Hughes and Mariaelena Bartesaghi
[Dialogue Studies 33] 2023
► pp. 88–114

Death and traumatic affect on Twitter

ORCID logo | Millersville University
References to death appear frequently in activist discourse. Activists make death matter on- and offline when they speak the names of people killed, hold die-ins and vigils, mention the number of lives lost, and tell the stories or share pictures of those who have died. This chapter examines how death materializes in digital activism on Twitter. Using a relational ontological approach (Cooren, 2018) to analyze agents and relationships evident in tweets about death in her own Twitter profile, the author works to understand how references to death are used in digital disability activism and what kinds of affective impact references to death might have on Twitter users. Taking as a focal point disability activists’ responses to comments about COVID-19 deaths made by the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the analysis demonstrates how references to death are used to mobilize activists, hold authorities to account, and reframe states of affairs to center the needs of vulnerable community members. Putting this case study in dialogue with other references to death on Twitter reveals the power of traumatic affect (Richardson, 2018), a force that materializes in the body and positions audience members in moral relation with those who have died.
Keywords: death, materiality, relational ontology, disability activism, Twitter, dialogue
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A relational ontological approach
  • 3.Making death matter on Twitter
    • 3.1An upstream agent: Walensky’s interview
    • 3.2Initial reactions: Critique, contestation, and conspiracy theories
    • 3.3Eugenic discourse
    • 3.4Hypothetical reported discourse
    • 3.5Downstream dialogues
  • 4.Death and traumatic affect
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 19 September 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ds.33.05hug
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