Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed grief
Drawing on the postfeminist notion of resilience, in this article we explore female influencers in grief who, after losing their spouse, share their practices of grieving on Instagram. We examine how, in the narrations of grief, the grieving self is constructed as a resilient subject able to move fo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2025-0005 |
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| author | HARJU ANU A. PENTIKÄINEN LINDA |
| author_facet | HARJU ANU A. PENTIKÄINEN LINDA |
| author_sort | HARJU ANU A. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Drawing on the postfeminist notion of resilience, in this article we explore female influencers in grief who, after losing their spouse, share their practices of grieving on Instagram. We examine how, in the narrations of grief, the grieving self is constructed as a resilient subject able to move forward in the “grief journey” through exercising control at the site of the self. The article shows how reconciling the strain of coping with loss with influencer culture and platform requirements demands significant affective labour. We argue that such grief labour, a concept we introduce in this article, is rooted in the neoliberal regime of control targeted at the self. Utilising a digital media ethnographic design and multimodal content analysis, this study sheds light on influencers’ complex affective practices of resilience in the context of death; furthermore, the study advances knowledge on the normative aspects of platformed grief and further elaborates on the commercialisation of personal grief in the current platform economy. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8f4f85a7a98947bcbea5284469425f4b |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2003-184X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-8f4f85a7a98947bcbea5284469425f4b2025-08-20T02:01:47ZengSciendoNordic Journal of Media Studies2003-184X2025-05-0171769210.2478/njms-2025-0005Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed griefHARJU ANU A.0PENTIKÄINEN LINDA1Media and Communication Studies, University of Helsinki, FinlandMedia and Communication Studies, University of Helsinki, FinlandDrawing on the postfeminist notion of resilience, in this article we explore female influencers in grief who, after losing their spouse, share their practices of grieving on Instagram. We examine how, in the narrations of grief, the grieving self is constructed as a resilient subject able to move forward in the “grief journey” through exercising control at the site of the self. The article shows how reconciling the strain of coping with loss with influencer culture and platform requirements demands significant affective labour. We argue that such grief labour, a concept we introduce in this article, is rooted in the neoliberal regime of control targeted at the self. Utilising a digital media ethnographic design and multimodal content analysis, this study sheds light on influencers’ complex affective practices of resilience in the context of death; furthermore, the study advances knowledge on the normative aspects of platformed grief and further elaborates on the commercialisation of personal grief in the current platform economy.https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2025-0005influencergrief labourpostfeminist practice of resiliencedigital media ethnographyinstagram |
| spellingShingle | HARJU ANU A. PENTIKÄINEN LINDA Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed grief Nordic Journal of Media Studies influencer grief labour postfeminist practice of resilience digital media ethnography |
| title | Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed grief |
| title_full | Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed grief |
| title_fullStr | Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed grief |
| title_full_unstemmed | Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed grief |
| title_short | Grief labour on Instagram: Resilient influencers and platformed grief |
| title_sort | grief labour on instagram resilient influencers and platformed grief |
| topic | influencer grief labour postfeminist practice of resilience digital media ethnography |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2025-0005 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT harjuanua grieflabouroninstagramresilientinfluencersandplatformedgrief AT pentikainenlinda grieflabouroninstagramresilientinfluencersandplatformedgrief |