Özet:

Language plays a pivotal role in social movements, and the influence of slogans in embedding social and political ideologies as well as initiating change in particular contexts have been duly acknowledged. Political slogans often bear narratives, and narratives hold roles played by social actors. The present study analyses textual resources used by protesters in expressing and negotiating feminist ideology through slogans at the 2019 Women’s March MY in Kuala Lumpur, specifically through social actor representation. Following Social Actor Network by van Leeuwen (2008), 270 protest signs were examined. The findings of the study revealed activation, classification, nominalisation, and agent deletion as the most prominent categories of social actor representation in the advocacy of women’s rights through three main narratives of solidarity and incrimination, generalisation of harmful actions, as well as resistance and reclamation of power by women. Additionally, protest signs also co-opted intertexts mainly sourced from politics, feminist leaders, corporate social activism, and popular culture. Contributing an insight into the polyvocal and intertextual nature of the discourse of protest, a clear implication of the study is the established potential of the representational process in raising social awareness and conveying feminist messages to not only protest violence against women, but also the continuous discrimination against women in the family, workplace, and society.

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