Trajectories of a viral text in different communicative events: entextualisation, indexicality, identity performances and ethnography

Abstract

Drawing on a multisited ethnographic study, this article analyses the trajectory of a viral text in different communicative encounters. We explore the modes through which the processes of recontextualization of Luisa Marilac’s video - a trans-woman who identifies herself as a transvestite – is recontextualized in Luan’s identity performances as a black and homoerotic boy along with his interlocutors in social networks and at school. We focus on language-in-motion as sociointeractional action, permeated by indexical values which signal broader social phenomena. We take into account the theorizing of performance, of entextualization, and of indexicality. The analysis shows how fragments of Luisa Marilac´s video are recontextualized in Luan´s interactions with classmates and with Facebook friends. We argue that the analysis of the circulation of a text opens up differentiated possibilities for the understanding of identification processes, social hierarchies, and power-laden relations which constitute contemporary interactional practices.