Juxta-(re)position: challenging U.S. military and women subject positions through Instagram posts

Abstract

Exploration of how U.S. military minority service members, including active-duty women, communicate personal and social identity remains an underexplored area of organizational communication research. Recent policy changes integrating women into all facets of military service has created an opportunity to observe how U.S. military women visually communicate their personal and social identity as members of the military. This study aims to better understand how personal and social identity is communicated on Instagram during a period of organizational change. Using juxtaposition on Instagram to challenge existing notions of military and women, women were found to create a juxta-(re)positioning that violated expected norms of both military and women. This juxta-(re)positioning resulted in expanding normative assumptions of both military and women subject positions. This study serves as a starting point for understanding how minority individuals, through the use of juxtaposition, can capitalize on existing social media norms to (re)position themselves within an organization.