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Paper short abstract

This paper examines the way Moroccan youth, especially women, transform silence into digital folklore. Through veiled critique, coded symbols, fragmented narratives, and strategic ambiguity, silence becomes a powerful mode of activism, reshaping political expression in the Global South.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the way Moroccan female content creators transform Instagram into dynamic sites of digital folklore and subtle activism. Using netnography, visual analysis, and discourse analysis, it investigates reels, memes, storytelling, and humor as tools to critique social norms, governance, and inequality. It highlights gendered strategies, participatory publics, and inventive modes of resistance, showing how traditional folkloric practices, such as satire, coded expression, and embodied storytelling, are remixed in digital spaces to negotiate visibility, agency, and political expression in the Global South. Using netnography, visual analysis, and discourse analysis, this paper shows the way Moroccan female content creators transform Instagram into dynamic sites of digital folklore and activism. Findings reveal inventive strategies: reels and memes function as humor and satire remix traditional folkloric forms, hashtags operate as shared digital proverbs, and visual codes, such as emojis, filters, and symbolic imagery, enable veiled dissent. Women also employ strategic silences and fragmented narratives, creating a poetics of discretion that negotiates visibility and safety. Through embodied gestures, dance, and performative storytelling, ephemeral posts become enduring cultural commentary, producing participatory publics that critique social norms, governance, and inequality. This study introduces the concept of folkloric feeds which refer to online spaces where folklore, gendered agency, and political expression intersect, highlighting the way youth invent new modes of resistance, solidarity, and creativity in the digital Global South.