Global Instapoetry

Abstract

Instagram started in San Francisco, yet it has been clear that its usage has spread worldwide. The influence of this global outreach is apparent not only in the platform’s general use, however, but in unique content trends as well. In particular, there is Instapoetry, the movement of minimalist poetry that has taken Instagram and the rest of the world by storm since 2018. Although Instapoetry was dominated by writers based in English-speaking countries at its outset, it has now become extremely popular across multiple nations and languages, a truly transnational and translingual cultural phenomenon. As these writers emerge from a vast cultural landscape, it has become critical to examine how the various Instapoets across cultures resemble each other in some ways, yet vastly diverge in others. This series of essays seek to examine how Instapoetry as a transglobal movement evolves within its capitalistic platform, studying the manner that users may escape or re-establish digital hegemonic structures. From Malawi to Greece, India to Norway, the First Nations to Latin America, these critical pieces show how Instapoets may alternatively use social media poems as tools of weaponry, commercialisation, protest, and healing.