REPRESENTATION OF RACISM AND ETHNICITY IN AMERICAN BLACK SINGERS’ TWEETS: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

The typical media stereotypes American black singers as excessively racist and more ethnic than other singers. This study examines how three American black singers use twitter as an online social networking service to present their own personalities. The literature probes the spots of racism and ethnicity in the three singers’ tweets. Fifteen tweets from each singer were collected, then coded, analyzed and described using critical discourse analysis. In addition, this study is a descriptive qualitative study on the representation of racism and ethnicity in American black singers’ tweets involving (1) the themes of discourses that represent racism and ethnicity in American black singers’ tweets, (2) the representation of racism and ethnicity in American black singers’ tweet, (3) the meaning and values of American black singers’ tweets. This study was conducted from September 2012 to May 2013. Based on the research findings, it was found that American black singers’ tweets represent the maintenance of an existing group, and raising black people from the dominant of white class and the positions of power and stature in American society and they also have meaning and values of the concept of power to reflect the interests of the strength elite, online identity construction, and a place to counter the media stereotypes.