Week 12-13 Blog Post

For weeks 12-13, we read a chapter written by Jennifer Nish regarding genre knowledge, uptake, and circulation literacies. There are an indefinite amount of genres that can be used for activism but their circulation is affected by how well they are incorporated into the movement. Their uptake is determined by how spreadable they are based on the rhetorical devices the author employed and how the rest of the activists react to it. The variety of social media can also influence uptake- something that may spread virally on Twitter may be unlikely to spread on a different network like Facebook based on the tools of the platform and the people that use them. In addition to this, sticky uptakes and counter uptakes are possible which could change the way that the information circulates (and the general opinion on it). While the idea of a counter-uptake may sound negative, it can also mean that a specific part of the movement wants to focus on a different or more specific aspect of the activist work.

In relation to my movement, one of the common hashtags that I have seen is #generationrestoration. Many of the UN accounts use it when describing actions in the current movements that were also led by young people (it is also used by many other accounts both big and small). At the tail end of the COP27 Summit, it has been used mainly to share the new policies and ideas that came out of the meetings and presentations. However, there is a bit of a counter-uptake where people are using the hashtag to discuss the lack of action accomplished by global leadership. It all seems to have the same message though- to serve as an archive for what is going on in order to convince young people to become involved. It is important that there is a balance between positive and negative work so that there is a need for change but activists don't feel like it is hopeless.