Abstract
Marginalised groups participate in politics in many ways and across multiple sites, both online and offline. This includes using popular social media sites such as Facebook, X (previously Twitter) and Instagram. However, the ability of marginalised groups to influence or shape public opinion through their political engagement remains limited. The increased access to social media, while offering new opportunities for engagement, also brings challenges and adds complexity to how issues are framed, communicated, and addressed within the democratic public sphere. Considering these complexities, this thesis explores the viability of social media for public narrative engagement by marginalised groups, specifically First Nations groups in Australia.The thesis combines insights from the literatures on the public sphere, postcolonial and decolonial theory, deliberative democracy, social media, and social movements to better understand how First Nations people use social media to share, challenge and engage with narratives about issues important to them. Empirically, the thesis draws on interviews about First Nations peoples’ social media use, and case study research about the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in Australia and the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum. These were two significant events in Australia’s recent history that spotlighted key First Nations issues. Specifically, the 2020 BLM resurgence drew renewed public attention to the long-running issue of First Nations deaths in custody and recurring injustices around this trend. The 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum was a response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a statement drafted and delivered by First Nations people calling for recognition in the Australian Constitution to form a body that would make recommendations to the Australian government about First Nations matters. Both events generated increased social media activity and provided First Nations people opportunity to speak into these issues and disseminate their narratives, bypassing traditional media channels. However, discussions on these issues on social media were not always constructive and fruitful; they often harmed and undermined First Nations groups and the issues being discussed.
This thesis examines the challenges First Nations people encounter in their political engagements, both on social media and within the broader public sphere. Drawing on the research conducted for this thesis, I argue that social media provides greater accessibility to the public sphere for marginalised groups, but not greater inclusivity. Marginalised groups continue to face similar—and several additional—exclusions in this space, much as they have historically in the traditional public sphere. Many of these exclusionary obstacles stem from the persistent influence of colonisation in contemporary Australian society and include racist targeting, colonial mindsets, information manipulation, superficial engagement and silencing. As such, marginalised groups, despite being more connected, continue to face exclusion within the public sphere. This thesis highlights this dynamic through the aforementioned two case studies—the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement and the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum—and semi-structured interviews with photo elicitation to examine how First Nations groups navigate these exclusions.
This thesis contributes to discussions on political participation by marginalised groups, through its focus on digital tools and platforms, and in-depth exploration of two recent cases that have not yet been analysed together. It also contributes to discussions on decolonising deliberative democracy by showing how the deliberation on online platforms continue to echo colonial thinking and pursuits, which exclude marginalised voices whether purposefully or unintentionally. By highlighting how this exclusion looks on platforms that are assumed to be more inclusionary, this thesis considers the ways to make these platforms more inclusive for greater narrative engagement in the public sphere for more effective political outcomes.
| Date of Award | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Mary WALSH (Supervisor), Selen AYIRTMAN ERCAN (Supervisor) & Hans ASENBAUM (Supervisor) |