The Communication Repertoire of the Wits #FMF Movement

Abstract

This article looks at the communication repertoire of the Wits Fees Must Fall (#FMF) movement of 2015–2016. It documents and discusses the different ways in which the students communicated during their movement activities. With many scholars often praising the use of Twitter in social movements, this article speaks to the importance of looking at more than one form of communication practice and technology to make sense of the different roles played by different practices in the life of a movement. There is no doubt that social media has changed the communication environment of movement activists. Social media has many benefits for activists, which are also mentioned in this article. However, even in this new digital world, one cannot dismiss the importance of interactions that take place through other means. By discussing these various communication practices and their roles in the Wits #FMF movement, the article highlights the key role of face-to-face interactions. It shows that movement activists use different platforms to perform various communication practices at the same time for different purposes. This article consults two frameworks that encourage such a holistic understanding: Emiliano Treré and Alice Mattoni's “repertoires of communication” and Marshall McLuhan's “media ecologies”.

Keywords:

• communication practices
• social movements
• repertoires
• protests
• strategies
• technologies