Abstract

The democratisation and proliferation of social media has seen the emergence of a distinct virtual community of Twitter users known as Black Twitter. This burgeoning community is characterised by discourses on cultural issues that are critical to the black community, such as race relations and identity politics in general. Black Twitter has often been criticised for its unashamed bashing of those who are perceived as displaying inauthenticity in their performance of identity and their positions on the critical issues debated on Twitter. This article reports on a study that employed a small-scale online ethnographic approach to collect a sample of tweets from a Twitter engagement with a South African public figure and media personality, the actress Nandi Madida. The article argues that through an African normative perspective known as ubuntu, the perceived harshness of South African Black Twitter users can be more usefully read as part of African cultural value of critical humanism. Ultimately, the traditional notion of ubuntu as simply friendliness towards a fellow human is challenged by broadening the concept to apply to notions that include seemingly violent forms of communication. This more robust view of ubuntu, whose application is demonstrated from the context of Black Twitter, ultimately seeks to make another person a better human even if it means public criticism.

摘要

随着社交媒体的民主化和扩散，出现了一个独特的 Twitter 用户虚拟社区，称为 Black Twitter。这个新兴社区的特点是讨论对黑人社区至关重要的文化问题，例如种族关系和一般的身份政治。Black Twitter 经常因毫不掩饰地抨击那些被认为在身份表现方面表现出不真实以及他们在 Twitter 上辩论的关键问题上的立场而受到批评。本文报道了一项研究，该研究采用小规模在线人种学方法从与南非公众人物和媒体名人女演员南迪·马迪达 (Nandi Madida) 的 Twitter 互动中收集推文样本。文章认为，通过称为 ubuntu 的非洲规范视角，南非黑人推特用户的严厉程度可以被解读为非洲批判人文主义文化价值的一部分。最终，传统的 ubuntu 概念只是对人类友好的概念受到了挑战，该概念被扩大到适用于包括看似暴力的交流形式的概念。这种对 ubuntu 的更强有力的看法，其应用是从 Black Twitter 的上下文中得到证明的，最终寻求使另一个人成为更好的人，即使这意味着公众批评。ubuntu 的传统概念仅仅是对人类同胞的友好，但通过扩大概念以适用于包括看似暴力的交流形式的概念而受到挑战。这种对 ubuntu 的更强有力的看法，其应用是从 Black Twitter 的上下文中得到证明的，最终寻求使另一个人成为更好的人，即使这意味着公众批评。ubuntu 的传统概念仅仅是对人类同胞的友好，但通过扩大概念以适用于包括看似暴力的交流形式的概念而受到挑战。这种对 ubuntu 的更强有力的看法，其应用是从 Black Twitter 的上下文中得到证明的，最终寻求使另一个人成为更好的人，即使这意味着公众批评。