Abstract

This study examines the meaning-making work of transnational cultural references in protest. Whether using the image of the superhero or re-mixing a famous painting, the presence of such references in home-made protest placards was a striking feature of the 2017 anti-corruption protests in Romania. By means of a qualitative analysis of 58 such signs, this study identifies five types of transnational cultural resources co-opted in the local protest: politics, high and popular culture, brand names, computer culture, and other motivational slogans and protest symbols. Such references are appropriated in local protest for their recognizability potential, their generic interpretive frames, or their usefulness in generating surprising re-iterations of the political cause. Yet, the use of such references remains interwoven with the symbolic and political capital of professional, middle-class elites. In the Romanian case, the use of these transnational cultural references also constructs the protesters as cosmopolitan and aligned with Western cultural consumption and political practices. In turn, this frames political opponents as backwards, parochial, and unfit for democratic politics.

Highlights

  • This study focuses on the meaning‐making work of transnational cultural references in protest

  • Using data from the 2017 anti‐corruption protests in Romania, the study asks how symbolic resources from other geopolitical and cultural contexts become re‐used in national protests and how this glocalized meaning‐ making work contributes to the mobilization and ampli‐ fication of protests

  • Where the transnational diffusion of collective identity and action frames has been studied in rela‐ tion to social movements, there is less attention to how seemingly global cultural references are mobi‐ lized in national protest to generate novel expressions of civic dissent

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Summary

Introduction

This study focuses on the meaning‐making work of transnational cultural references in protest. Using data from the 2017 anti‐corruption protests in Romania, the study asks how symbolic resources from other geopolitical and cultural contexts become re‐used in national protests and how this glocalized meaning‐ making work contributes to the mobilization and ampli‐ fication of protests. Transnational references such as HBO series, Italian Renaissance paintings, English novels, or North Korean politics, for instance, are reused in homemade protest visuals such as banners, protests placards, or art instal‐ lations. Media and Communication, 2021, Volume 9, Issue 3, Pages 239–248 cultural references are mobilized in national protest; and how do these references contribute to local political meaning‐making?

The 2017 Anti‐Corruption Protests in Romania
Transnational Cultural References in Protest Visuals
Visual Objects and Meaning‐Making
The Transnational Circulation of Cultural References
Analyzing Protest Signs
The Meaning‐Making Work of Transnational Cultural References in Protest Signs
The Semantic Usefulness of Recognizability
The Value of Generic Interpretive Frames
The Ludic Appeal
Conclusions
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