Grappling with Colonial Forces: Exploring the Use of Social Media Among Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Practitioners in China

Social media has changed how sports enthusiasts and athletes advance, particularly with the increased accessibility of information on techniques and skills in their sport. While studies have shown social media’s capacity to empower communities, critical scholars have pointed to the complex dynamics at play in the online communication spaces of social media, whereby entrenched power structures as well as reproduction of dominant discourses and practices, conversely disempower marginalized peoples. This is evident in sports-related social media communities, where there are asymmetries in knowledge flow and power that may be rooted in the history and development of a sport. This paper explores how a sport community in China (i.e., Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners) grapple with power imbalances in social media practices and behavior from a decolonial perspective, through mimicry and social media features such as danmaku.