FA6 - Contemporary #MMIW Representations on Instagram
SCURS Disciplines
Communication
Document Type
General Presentation (Oral)
Invited Presentation Choice
Not Applicable
Abstract
This research paper overlooks the disproportionate number of missing persons and violence towards Indigenous groups, particularly women. Communication research has pointed to mass media lacking coverage on missing or murdered cases of Indigenous people, contributing to invisibility of the issue and lack of attention to the problem. Individual efforts to increase sources of information have been utilized in social media to make up for where mass media lacks. Social media creators who look to raise awareness, mobilize grassroot actions, and expand community ties using social media as a tool to reframe majoritarian narratives of why Indigenous women while creating digital social spheres. Content analysis was used to analyze content in Instagram under hashtags relevant to #MMIW–Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Three major emergent themes were red hands/symbols, calls to action, and counterstory.
Keywords
Indigenous, grassroot mobilization, majoritarian narrative, content analysis, communication
Start Date
10-4-2026 3:55 PM
Location
CASB 103
End Date
10-4-2026 4:10 PM
FA6 - Contemporary #MMIW Representations on Instagram
CASB 103
This research paper overlooks the disproportionate number of missing persons and violence towards Indigenous groups, particularly women. Communication research has pointed to mass media lacking coverage on missing or murdered cases of Indigenous people, contributing to invisibility of the issue and lack of attention to the problem. Individual efforts to increase sources of information have been utilized in social media to make up for where mass media lacks. Social media creators who look to raise awareness, mobilize grassroot actions, and expand community ties using social media as a tool to reframe majoritarian narratives of why Indigenous women while creating digital social spheres. Content analysis was used to analyze content in Instagram under hashtags relevant to #MMIW–Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Three major emergent themes were red hands/symbols, calls to action, and counterstory.