Do I look white? : creating community in online safe spaces for racialized youth

During the 2010s, a myriad of safe spaces has emerged across social media platform, particularly in a Sweden context. Due to their explicit focus on social injustices and marginalized identities, these spaces have occupied a contentious position in political debates about anti-racism and identity politics. This dissertation studies identity performances in two online safe spaces for racialized youth and queer, racialized youth. Focusing on interaction between youth online, the dissertation examines how belonging in the spaces is achieved narratively, as well as how boundaries are challenged and negotiated. Further, the study explores the idea of 'safety" in safe spaces, how this safety is performed, and who is excluded from experiencing safety. Finally, the dissertation analyses positioning in critical media debates about identity politics and safe spaces, contextualizing the society in which these spaces operate, illustrating cultural ideals of anti-racism. Combining narrative analysis with decolonial and affect theories, the study examines how
affect is employed as a linguistic resource in constructing reliable narratives, and how the 'smallness" of interaction draws on both local narratives and racial stories, and global master narratives of the colonial order.

Fanny Pérez Aronsson holds a master's degree in Gender Studies. 'Do I look white? Creating community in online safe spaces for racialized youth' is her doctoral dissertation in Child and Youth Studies.

This is a Doctoral Thesis in Child and Youth Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden 2020