Framing Moments of LynchingiIn Ethiopia on Social Media: Revitalization, Inevitability, and Reversal
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Date
2023-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In 2018, Ethiopia welcomed a contestable political transition that is initially encouraging but
essentially rhetorical in nature, leading to unprecedented experiences of mob violence including
lynching (i.e. extrajudicial killing by groups of people, or mob justice targeting individuals or
few groups) across the country. The moments of the lynching attracted attentions of prominent
online activists from Amhara, Oromo and Tigray origin with important consequences. Lynching
is a less covered topic in the literature of violence in the context of Ethiopia. Thus, in-depth
qualitative investigation is important to understand how such frame narrations and
representations of the different episodes of mob violence unfolds among the key actors is
significantly impactful in popular interactions, perception, and practice of national political
narrative of the contemporary Ethiopia. Drawing on constructivist framework the research
followed qualitative case study to explore how the notable online actors frame the different
moments of lynching. Qualitative data are obtained from 9 key Facebook page posts of the
research informants, 3 from each of the key social media actors’ origin. The meaning-making
followed inductive content analysis. That is, specific contents of each of the qualitative data
collected are analyzed, and then the thematic-level analysis finally are abstracted into
conceptual patterns of frames. The research findings essentially indicates significant contrast of
frame narratives and representation, that is, the revitalization frame for the Amhara, the
inevitability for the Oromo, and the reversal frame for the Tigray Social Media actors. The
contending frames fundamentally reflects continued complexities and fragility of perception and
practice of ethno-nationalism, and politics of difference. The in-depth exploration contributes to
addressing knowledge gab, and it supplements discussions that have academic and policy
relevance. Further, notably the background thinking that this in-depth qualitative case
investigation findings suggests pervasive mob violence in the country is an emerging space of
narrative contestation.