Digital Civic Activism in Romania: Framing anti-Chevron Online Protest Community «Faces» = Activismo cívico digital en Rumanía: La comunidad de Facebook en las protestas on-line contra Chevron

Cmeciu, Camelia and Coman, Cristina Digital Civic Activism in Romania: Framing anti-Chevron Online Protest Community «Faces» = Activismo cívico digital en Rumanía: La comunidad de Facebook en las protestas on-line contra Chevron. Comunicar, 2016, vol. 24, n. 47, pp. 19-28. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

This article presents the results of a quantitative analysis of two Romanian Facebook communities' self-presentations during the online and offline anti-fracking protests in Romania. In 2013 Romanians started to protest against the gas exploration of the US giant Chevron in the village of Punge?ti. The online and offline Punge?ti Resistance Movement turned within one month from a rural to a national mobilization tool meant to help the Romanian peasants affected by the proposed shale gas exploration operations of Chevron. Since the online engagement desired to finally turn into an offline participation is highly dependent on the informing practice, we consider that a framing analysis of the Facebook posts will reflect whether they are culturally compatible and relevant for the protesters. Using the framing theory in social movements as our theoretical background, we provided a comparative content analysis of two Romanian Facebook communities' postings (October, 2013 - February, 2014). We focused on identifying the verbal and visual framing devices and the main collective action frames used for the shaping of the online communities' collective identity. The findings revealed a dominance of «land struggle» as a collective action frame followed by «conflict» and «solidarity» and a salience of photos and video files used as framing devices of cultural relevance for Romanian protesters and of evidence of offline anti-fracking activism in Romania.

Spanish abstract

Este artículo presenta los resultados del análisis cuantitativo de las auto-representaciones de dos comunidades rumanas en Facebook durante las protestas on-line y off-line en contra del «fracking» en Rumanía. En 2013 los rumanos comenzaron a protestar contra las explotaciones de gas del gigante energético norteamericano Chevron en la aldea de Pungesti. Este movimiento de resistencia pasó, en poco más de un mes, de ser una herramienta de movilización rural a una de alcance nacional cuyo objetivo era ayudar a los campesinos afectados por las explotaciones de gas planificadas por Chevron. Dado que el óptimo grado de implicación on-line para pasar a una participación off-line depende mucho de las prácticas informativas, consideramos que un análisis de textos publicados en Facebook reflejará si éstos son compatibles y relevantes para los manifestantes. Nuestra premisa teórica está basada en la teoría del encuadre en movimientos sociales e informa nuestro análisis de contenido comparativo de los textos de dos comunidades rumanas de Facebook desde octubre de 2013 hasta febrero de 2014. En el trabajo se identifican las estrategias de encuadre verbal y visual, y los marcos de acción colectiva utilizados para formar la identidad de estas comunidades on-line. Los resultados obtenidos muestran el predominio de «la lucha por la tierra» como principal marco de acción colectiva, seguido del «conflicto» y la «solidaridad», e indican la preeminencia de fotos y archivos de vídeo como recursos de encuadre de relevancia cultural y como pruebas del activismo fuera de Internet en contra del «fracking» en Rumanía.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: online protest, framing, collective action frames, framing devices, land struggle, conflict, solidarity, protestas on-line, teoría del encuadre, encuadres de la acción colectiva, dispositivos de encuadre, lucha por la tierra, conflicto, solidaridad
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BJ. Communication
G. Industry, profession and education.
G. Industry, profession and education. > GH. Education.
Depositing user: Alex Ruiz
Date deposited: 01 Aug 2016 15:45
Last modified: 01 Aug 2016 15:45
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/29600

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