Carrying the cross for justice: Digital traces of victimhood in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Victimhood claims in the digital space are often affectively and morally negotiated based on the extent of sharedness of those sentiments and values. However, media-centric and populist political interpretations based on ‘mobilization’ often curtail the exploration of ‘sharedness’ and ‘belonging’ in digital discourses of victimhood. Therefore, this article explores the nature of digital victimhood discourses, their constitution, and how those victimhoods are negotiated in digital collectives. The article combines affective victimhood with chronotope to analyze digital discourses on ‘public acts’ carried out by members of the public seeking justice for the Easter attack victims of 2019. Accordingly, the article focuses on Facebook posts and comment sequences on “Jehan Appuhamy carrying the cross” to mark the third anniversary of the attacks in April 2022. Data is gathered from four Facebook posts containing a collection of videos and images combined with a selected 3142 post-comment sequences. The article finds that affective and moral understandings of victimhood are negotiated in interaction with right-wing populist undertones and resistance discourses of the people’s protest. The narratives of justice, threat, empathy, and solidarity constitute a multifaceted expression of discontent, representing both a struggle against those in power and a quest to connect with like-minded individuals, irrespective of the specific cause for such sentiments. Additionally, it involves rallying support from friends, sharing feelings of discontent, and motivating them to take action. Thus, digital belonging is fractally nested in specific timespace configurations.