TRAJECTORIES OF A VIRAL TEXT IN DIFFERENT COMMUNICATIVE EVENTS: ENTEXTUALISATION, INDEXICALITY, IDENTITY PERFORMANCES AND ETHNOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT Based on an ethnographic study, this paper analyses the trajectory of a viral text though different communicative events. We aim at examining the recontextualisation processes of a video by Luisa Marilac – a trans-woman who identifies herself as a transvestite – in the identity performances of Luan - a black gay young man -, in Web 2.0 interactional practices and in his classroom. The focus is on language-in-movement as sociointeractional action, which is permeated by indexical values. These, on their turn, point to larger scale social phenomena. This research is guided by performance, entextualisation and indexicality theories and relies on a multi-sited ethnography. In the analysis, we have tried to understand how fragments of the video by Luisa Marilac are recontextualised in Luan’s interactions with his classmates and with his Facebook friends. The analysis points out that the study of the circulation of a text offers different possibilities of accessing identification processes, social hierarchies and power relations, which constitute contemporary interactional practices.