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Visual Framing: The Use of COVID-19 in the Mobilization of Hong Kong Protest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2022

Katherine Whitworth  and
Yao-Tai Li Open the ORCID record for Yao-Tai Li [Opens in a new window]
Katherine Whitworth
Affiliation:
Political Economy, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Email: whitworth.katherine@gmail.com,
Yao-Tai Li*
Affiliation:
Sociology and Social Policy, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
*
Corresponding author: Yao-Tai Li, email: yaotai.li@unsw.edu.au
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Abstract

This study focuses on the Hong Kong Lennon Walls and the communications posted there. We assert that the physical placement of COVID-19 related images on the Lennon Walls of Hong Kong and the replication of symbols and iconography from the Umbrella Movement and the Anti-ELAB Movement situated COVID-19 discourse not only physically within but also symbolically within the contentious politics of Hong Kong. We conclude that the messages and images posted on Lennon Walls between January and April 2020 have used COVID-19 to extend public expression of sentiment on the debates around the Hong Kong government and to further mobilize a sense of Hong Kong identity against China. The findings contribute to the understandings of how the cultural politics surrounding the pandemic became a collective action frame in the mobilization of a localized Hong Kong political identity against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.

摘要

摘要

本文探讨香港连侬牆以及透过连侬牆所传播的讯息。我们分析了连侬牆上与新冠肺炎有关的符号和图像,认为其与 2014 年香港雨伞运动以及 2019 年反修例运动的图像有相当程度的一致性。在具体空间以及象徵意义上,我们发现新冠肺炎的相关论述被连结到香港抗争政治的脉络上。在新冠肺炎爆发后 (2020 年一月到四月),连侬牆上的讯息和图像透过肺炎作为构框 (frame), 延伸对于香港政府的公众论述和情绪表达,并动员香港认同以对抗中国。本文的研究贡献在于指出对于全球疫情的文化政治如何转化成为一种集体行动的论述框架,用来动员在地化的香港政治认同以对抗香港和中国政府。

Keywords

Lennon WallCOVID-19visual framingcultural politicsHong Kong identityChina连侬牆新冠肺炎影像构框文化政治香港认同中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 253 , March 2023 , pp. 19 - 34
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

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