Sorensen, Brianne (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Edenfield, Avery (College of Humanities and Social Sciences, English Department)
I investigate how #burkaban is used by Twitter users to point out the compounded marginalization of Muslim women in modern Western law, particularly Denmark, through discriminatory practices in government.
Historically, Denmark has a fewer number of Muslim communities compared to other modern Western societies. I chose to research Denmark because Muslim communities are already severely marginalized socially, economically, and physically. Denmark also uses discriminatory speech in their lawmaking to intentionally discriminate against Muslim communities.
I unpack and use the framework of Crenshaw's ideas on intersectionality from "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex," but instead of demarginalization of the intersection of sex and race, I examine how hashtag use points out the marginalization of the intersection of sex and religion. I also use Koerber's "Toward a Feminist Rhetoric of Technology" to bridge the gap between how technology research intersects with discriminatory political practices. I utilize Frost's Apparent Feminism methodology framework to analyze how hashtags are used to address political trends that are intentionally discriminatory, particularly towards Muslim women. I further utilize this methodology to look specifically at how this hashtag is used to pose an intervention of discriminatory politics.
My conclusions determine who is using the #burkaban on Twitter, whether it is Muslim women or allies of Muslim women. I argue different hashtag users deploy #burkaban towards different goals for political intervention in Denmark. I also conclude and argue that Twitter has an ethical responsibility to take action towards political intervention in Denmark.