ABSTRACT
Premised on discourse theory, and utilising discourse analysis, this chapter explores race and racism debates on hashtag platforms. What discourses emerge from the hashtag discussions of race and racism in post-apartheid South Africa? This chapter discusses this question from the perspective of two hashtags – #Penny Sparrow and #VickyMomberg, which debated two racist incidents that trended on twitter between 2016 and 2017. This study shows that the Twitter platform has aggravated and escalated racial tensions in post-apartheid South Africa. In showing this, it argues that twitter discourses have shattered the hopes of a ‘rainbow nation’ by promoting exclusionary discourses that advance (hate and polarising) narratives of in-groups and out-groups.
