Social Media Language, Authenticities, and Affordances: Brazilian food discourses in the UK

Abstract

This thesis examines Brazilian culture in the UK through Brazilian food discourses on social media and online. Taking into account how increasingly blurred and embedded the “offline” and “online” are in contemporary society, this study is interested in the potential of social media spaces as growing arenas for processes of identification and community construction. In this way, it investigates communicative practices within online Brazilian food spaces in the UK through accounts of the technical and social factors influencing discourse, and the generic moves, stance-taking practices, and audience design at play on Facebook company Pages. Applying elements of digital ethnography, this project also moves language analysis beyond the log data possibilities to shed light onto social media communicative use and purpose for the cultural entrepreneur and their audiences in everyday practices. As the largest nationality among Latin Americans in the UK, further understanding the presence of Brazilian culture in the UK paves the way for better grasping the social and linguistic composition and diversity of contemporary Britain. Hence, this research explores the social interplay and convivialities emergent through discursive practices taking place around Brazilian food online. Drawing on data such as Facebook posts, comments, reviews, notes, websites, and interviews, it analyses how communicative practices in the translingual online space intersect with food, identity, community, and social media use in the context of superdiversity. Given the interdisciplinary scope of this project and its developing fields of enquiry, it also makes a methodological contribution in qualitative digital Modern Languages research design. The data informing this research was collected before the Covid-19 pandemic crisis of 2020-21, and therefore its findings are situated within pre-pandemic professional and social communication practices.