It may seem daunting to work with theory, but in a simple sense, a “theory” is just a concept, framework, or key term definition—to name a few—that helps us to think about what we are already interested in. Note the directionality: We use theory to contextualize, support, develop our ideas, rather than merely using our ideas to support existing theories.
Both Katriona (“Tradwives Can Have It All Too: A Re-Examination of the Movement”) and Aeden (“Gramscian Hegemony and the Transition to Violence in the Nicaraguan Revolution”) begin with their own interests in their respective topics, which naturally leads them to seek out what other scholars have already thought about in relation to their questions. For Katriona, Judith Butler’s theory of gender performance and Moore et al.’s theoretical framework of online persona are especially useful for her to think about—she not only draws upon their ideas and connects them together but also builds upon their work by showing us how, together, they help us to better understand her specific topic of influencer tradwives. Aeden makes a similar move: Finding Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony very interesting and informative, he walks us through how Gramsci defines useful key terms—which he then applies to “the case of the Nicaraguan Revolution,” using Gramsci’s theory as a lens to better understand his chosen historical event.
The two papers are thinking about very niche instances of particulars: a certain demographic of people on a certain media platform in the modern day, a specific response to a specific regime during a specific period in history—this is what we mean by “case studies.” Each of the two writers engage in the move of “rethinking” by offering different ways of thinking about these case studies, from their unique vantage points, making creative connections that may not be immediately intuitive for their readers but, for this exact reason, make them important voices to learn from.
— Grace Kim ‘25