Instagram Activism: Using Slideshows to Promote Social Justice
/Morgan Jerald (Macalester College)
Objectives
For students to: (1) become familiar with multiple mechanisms for applying class content to real-world issues and debates; (2) understand and critically evaluate arguments related to the psychological study of Black women; (3) reflect on the ways that multiple dimensions of oppression influence the psychological development of Black women; (4) make connections between the historical position and experiences of Black women and the prevalence of contemporary inequitable life outcomes; (5) practice communicating psychological research to non-academic audiences; (6) develop students' research and writing skills.
Abstract
This assignment builds on and extends action teaching op-ed assignments. The assignment has two main parts: (1) students write an op-ed related to the course content, and (2) students create an Instagram slideshow based on the content of their op-ed. In the first part, students are instructed to take a position on a social, political, educational, or cultural issue that relates to the psychology of Black women, and to make a persuasive argument for addressing the issue in an op-ed. Students then submit the op-ed to a publication of their choice. Second, students create their own Instagram-appropriate slideshows on the same topic as their op-ed and post the slideshows to our class Instagram account. Thus, the assignment allows students to directly address social justice issues through a combination of public scholarly writing and social media posting in a fun and engaging manner.
Background and Overview of the Activity
During the summer of 2020, Instagram became flooded with "PowerPoint activism." As Terry Nguyen (2020) of Vox described, "The 10-image carousel, which Instagram launched in 2017, has been repurposed by activists, independent artists, advocacy groups, and well-meaning individuals as a means to educate and inform the masses, one slide at a time. Consider it something like PowerPoint activism. Over the past few months, these slides have migrated their way into my Explore page or been reposted on Stories of my friends and followers; in fact, these posts became so popular that I encountered similar designs and sentiments across multiple Stories. The most striking graphics stood out in my feeds, almost like an advertisement."
Inspired by the educational possibilities of this social media trend, I developed a student assignment that incorporates social media to build on and extend action teaching op-ed assignments. In this new assignment, a dozen college students taking a seminar entitled Psychology of Black Women in Fall of 2020 used both traditional and social media to address key issues related to the experiences of Black women in the United States.
In the first part of the assignment, students honed their research and writing skills to produce an op-ed article. To complete this part, students selected a topic based on course content or personal interests, read and evaluated at least three peer-reviewed empirical research articles on the topic, used this research to develop an informed opinion, and communicated their views in 700-800 words. When students uploaded their op-ed article to our school's learning management system, they were also required to include proof that they submitted the op-ed to a publication of their choice (by furnishing a screenshot, email confirmation of submission, etc.).
In the next phase of the assignment, students created an Instagram slideshow with 6-10 slides graphically summarizing the main points of their op-ed. To maintain high standards of scholarship, students were cautioned to resist oversimplifications, and they were required to provide sources for all the information and facts contained in their slideshow. As sociologist Eve Ewing has warned on her Instagram account, slideshows and graphics "can be a helpful teaching tool, but some of the 'racial justice explainer' posts that go viral grossly oversimplify complex ideas in harmful or misleading ways or flat-out misstate facts… [They] are not attributed to any transparent person, people, or organization who can be held accountable for errors and draw on the work of scholars and activists who go uncredited."
In my view, Instagram posts that are thoughtfully constructed and properly sourced can cultivate solidarity and educate individuals previously unfamiliar with a topic, but they should ultimately serve as a starting point for learning more. As such, the students were required to include a list of three suggested readings in their slideshow to provide additional resources for those interested. At least one of these suggested readings had to be a peer-reviewed journal article different from the three used in their op-ed essay, to encourage students to engage in further exploration of the research literature. Once students finished creating their slideshow, they uploaded the slides to our school's learning management system and to a class Instagram account that I created for this purpose (I shared the account details with students so that they could each upload their slides independently).
Adding a social media component to an op-ed assignment offers several noteworthy benefits. Here are just a few:
When students are challenged to communicate research-based positions with images as well as words, they develop a "360-degree view" of an issue that's richer and more complete than what they learn with words alone.
College students born after 2000 are avid social media users and are immersed in the world of technology, so adding an Instagram component to an op-ed project updates the assignment in a way that's more likely to be engaging for these students.
Posting student work in a class Instagram account creates a repository of the knowledge students gained during the seminar and allows students to educate others by sharing links and reposting their slideshow to their own Instagram Stories.
Unlike traditional op-ed assignments, in which the work students submit is rarely published, posting slides on Instagram ensures that all voices are heard and makes it easy for students to disseminate their work publicly.
Educational Effectiveness
Student slideshows Posted on Instagram
Overall, I believe each student in the seminar met the assignment's primary learning objectives, particularly with respect to communicating psychological research to non-academic audiences and developing research and writing skills. Students also succeeded in applying course content to real-world problems, conveyed their ideas via two different mediums (op-ed and Instagram slideshow), and followed best practices for disseminating public knowledge and supporting arguments with clearly sourced empirical evidence. To view the students' slideshows on Instagram, see @psyc394_fall2020.
Anonymous student feedback in course evaluation forms also indicates that the assignment was highly engaging and effective at meeting the proposed learning goals. Here, for instance, are two representative student comments:
"I just wanted to say I really enjoyed this project! I thought it was very relevant, and I loved that it gave us the chance to produce something that can be useful beyond the classroom (I wish more classes at Mac included beyond-the-classroom components). I also had a lot of fun creating the Instagram content. I really hope you continue to include this assignment for this class even beyond COVID times!"
"I also really enjoyed our final project!! I feel like this project allowed me to share everything I have learned in this class to the general public and contribute to the dismantling that research and academia uphold."
I should also add that when colleagues at my institution heard about the assignment, a few of them used it in their own courses and told me that it had been quite effective. These courses include Introduction to Psychology, Care versus Cure: Sociological Approaches to Disability Studies, and Consumerism. To see examples of the Instagram slideshows created in two of these classes, please visit @soci294_fall2020 and @soci194_spring2021.
Social Impact Beyond the Classroom
Two of my students' Fall 2020 op-eds were published in national or regional outlets. The first was published by Konadu-Acheampong (2020) in Blavity News—an online community and platform for Black voices, stories, and social influencers—and focused on understanding and supporting Black asexual women. The second was published by Meyer-Mueller (2020) in the Park Bugle—a regional newspaper—and focused on the history of segregated neighborhoods, their impact on Black women, and what local communities can do to help. Both op-eds skillfully blended public education with social justice advocacy.
A Student-Authored Op-Ed Published in Blavity
As for the social impact of Instagram activism, it is hard to draw definitive conclusions, in part because this form of public education and activism is a relatively new phenomenon. Even so, several studies suggest that Instagram activism can foster social change. In particular, scholars across multiple disciplines have noted how Instagram activism operates as a form of "everyday activism" that challenges hegemonic norms and discourses. For example, Retallack and colleagues (2016) characterize Instagram activism as an element of fourth-wave feminism that has challenged everyday sexism, particularly as it relates to countering mainstream body norms. Indeed, because Instagram is often used as a photo- and video-sharing app, it's especially well-positioned to promote alternative images of beauty and femininity (Wuri & Tambunan, 2017).
The effectiveness of Instagram activism has also been examined in other domains. For example, a recent social network analysis revealed that hashtag use on Instagram was associated with effective public health messaging related to the COVID-19 pandemic (Priadana & Tahalea, 2021). Studies also suggest that Instagram activism can be a useful way to raise public awareness of social issues, such as those related to children with disabilities (Poe-Alexander & Hahner, 2017).
In the activism assignment that I used with my students, the class Instagram page attracted more than 50 followers, and an October 2020 Twitter post I made about the Instagram slideshows received 181 likes, 23 retweets, and over 11,700 views, suggesting that the slides were seen by many people outside the seminar.
Tips on Implementation
Students used resources from the Op-Ed Project website to help them author their op-eds. This website provides invaluable tips on structuring op-eds, and it offers excellent examples for students to read. I also encouraged students to read examples in the op-ed section of their intended publication outlet. My instructions for the op-ed portion of the assignment were adapted from an assignment used in Professor Elizabeth Levy Paluck's Psychology of Gender course at Princeton University.
Because students were required to choose a topic for their op-ed and Instagram slideshow relatively early in the academic term, I also provided them with a resource to help them consider various topics. Because our seminar was on the psychology of Black women, I suggested that students use blackwomentoo.com as a helpful starting place. This website was created after the airing of Lifetime's Surviving R. Kelly (2019) to highlight a number of social systems in which Black girls and women face unjust circumstances. Students were able to browse the website to read about challenges Black girls and women face in childhood, education, media, healthcare, housing, law enforcement, the legal system, and social policy. If instructors adapt this assignment for a different class, I would recommend providing students with a similar resource to help them get started.
All of my students used the design app Canva to find ready-made Instagram templates to work with. This resource allowed students to create eye-catching slideshows without any special training or consultation from me. I also encouraged students to search Google to find other apps and videos with guides on creating appealing content.
One important tip—which I didn't know when I first tried this assignment—is that instructors should set up the Instagram class account as a business/creator account. Otherwise, instructors won't be able to access data on the number of times that the class page and student slideshows are viewed.
Finally, I cautioned students not to "memeify" or trivialize social justice issues. Specifically, I cited Breonna Taylor's death, which was highly relevant to our class content, as an unfortunate but all-too-common illustration of this social media practice. The goal of the assignment, I explained to students, was to use the slideshow as a call to action that shines a light on an important topic—not create a viral joke, catchphrase, or gimmick.
Suggested Improvements
One suggestion for improving this assignment in the future is to spend time helping students learn how to drive traffic to the class Instagram page. Not only would a high volume of traffic make the project more motivating and fulfilling for students, but it would amplify the social impact of their work and teach them an important skill relevant to social justice advocacy. At the very least, instructors might invite students to publicize the class Instagram page through their own social media channels, ask other Instagram and Twitter account holders at the institution to share the Instagram link on their pages, and help students reach out to nonprofit and educational organizations that have an interest in the slideshow topics.
One other enhancement of the assignment would be to make the student slide references more accessible by adding a Linktree to the Instagram account biography. This extra touch would allow students to post direct links to the cited sources for anyone interested in reading more about the topic.
References
Konadu-Acheampong, S. (2020, November 4). Why we must amplify Black asexual women and give the support they need. Blavity News, retrieved from http://www.blavity.com/why-we-must-amplify-black-asexual-women-and-give-the-support-they-need
Meyer-Mueller, I. (2020, November 25). "Performative allyship" in SAP, looking beyond "Black Lives Matters" signs. Park Bugle, retrieved from http://www.parkbugle.org/performative-allyship-in-sap-looking-beyond-black-lives-matters-signs/
Nguyen, T. (2020, August 12). How social justice slideshows took over Instagram. Vox, retrieved from http://www.vox.com/the-goods/21359098/social-justice-slideshows-instagram-activism
Poe-Alexander, K., & Hahner, L. A. (2017). The intimate screen: Revisualizing understandings of Down syndrome through digital activism on Instagram. In D. M. Walls and S. Vie (Eds.), Social writing/social media: Publics, presentations, and pedagogies. WAC Clearinghouse. http://dx.doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2017.0063.2.12
Priadana, A., & Tahalea, S. P. (2021). Hashtag activism and message frames: Social network analysis of Instagram during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Indonesia. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1836, 012031. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1836/1/012031
Retallack, H., Ringrose, J., & Lawrence, E. (2016). "Fuck your body image": Teen girls' Twitter and Instagram feminism in and around school. In J. Coffey, S. Budgeon, and H. Cahill (Eds.), Learning Bodies: The Body in Youth and Childhood Studies (pp. 85-103). Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0306-6_6
Romano, A. (2020, August 10). "Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor": The power and the peril of a catchphrase. Vox, retrieved from http://www.vox.com/21327268/breonna-taylor-say-her-name-meme-hashtag
Wuri, D. M., & Tambunan, S. M. G. (2017). Positive body image activism in collective (@effyourbeautystandards) and personal (@yourstruelymelly) Instagram accounts: Challenging American idealized beauty construction. In M. Budianta, M. Budiman, A. Kusno, and M. Moriyama (Eds.), Cultural dynamics in a globalized world. London: Routledge. http://doi.org/10.1201/9781315225340