"For the sake of my children" : Exploring the centrality of motherhood within QAmom accounts in social media spaces
Mikkola, Hilary (2023)
Mikkola, Hilary
2023
Master's Programme in Global Society
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-04-27
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202304204027
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202304204027
Tiivistelmä
The QAnon conspiracy theory erupted into the mainstream during the Summer of 2020, spreading throughout social media, entering political discourse, and providing a platform for mobilization on the January 6th storming of the capitol. This increased relevance to US political life has resulted in an increasing body of research on the QAnon conspiracy theory. Although some research has begun to acknowledge and explore the central role women played in bringing QAnon to the mainstream, one group is rendered invisible: mothers. The research surrounding motherhood has been restricted by notions of apolitical female agency, the politics of white motherhood and maternal thinking. In summary, mothers who promote the QAnon conspiracy theory have been essentialized to their function as mothers—the rationale for their engagement being their inherent maternal desire to protect their children.
This thesis locates mothers as agentic and intentional in their employment of motherhood as a rationale for the creation of and spreading of conspiracy theories. Further, it recognizes that white motherhood is a particularity valuable identity for analysis. It does not suggest that the experiences of white motherhood are monolithic, but instead utilizes the image of the white mother within white supremacist logics and the historical and contemporary use of this imagery as a means with which to understand the politics of white motherhood.
This thesis explores three separate QAnon mom, or QAmom influencers, to investigate the centrality of motherhood within their posts. Throughout this investigation of the influencers, it seeks to understand if the centrality of motherhood, the softening of messaging, and the presumed apolitical nature of mothers can partly explain QAnons entrance into the mainstream and its popularity amongst women. Passive netnography or online ethnography was used to collect data from various platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Telegram and Parler. A hermeneutic approach was used for the analysis, weaving a story of these women and situating the story within the larger literature on the politics of white motherhood within the United States. Ultimately, this research concludes that motherhood was a central feature of these accounts and was often used as a justification for the spread of misinformation, hate and conspiracy theories. Interestingly, motherhood was often employed to reach out to other women, using a language which spoke to mothers at large, invoking a sense of motherly duty. This research also argues the need for greater exploration into online communities such as mommy-blogs and Tradwife spaces to understand the unique ways in which conspiracy theories and hate are disseminated.
This thesis locates mothers as agentic and intentional in their employment of motherhood as a rationale for the creation of and spreading of conspiracy theories. Further, it recognizes that white motherhood is a particularity valuable identity for analysis. It does not suggest that the experiences of white motherhood are monolithic, but instead utilizes the image of the white mother within white supremacist logics and the historical and contemporary use of this imagery as a means with which to understand the politics of white motherhood.
This thesis explores three separate QAnon mom, or QAmom influencers, to investigate the centrality of motherhood within their posts. Throughout this investigation of the influencers, it seeks to understand if the centrality of motherhood, the softening of messaging, and the presumed apolitical nature of mothers can partly explain QAnons entrance into the mainstream and its popularity amongst women. Passive netnography or online ethnography was used to collect data from various platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Telegram and Parler. A hermeneutic approach was used for the analysis, weaving a story of these women and situating the story within the larger literature on the politics of white motherhood within the United States. Ultimately, this research concludes that motherhood was a central feature of these accounts and was often used as a justification for the spread of misinformation, hate and conspiracy theories. Interestingly, motherhood was often employed to reach out to other women, using a language which spoke to mothers at large, invoking a sense of motherly duty. This research also argues the need for greater exploration into online communities such as mommy-blogs and Tradwife spaces to understand the unique ways in which conspiracy theories and hate are disseminated.