Abstract
This paper presents a comparative multimodal discourse analysis of Instagram posts from May 2024 and May 2025 by two leading women political figures: Kamala Harris, then Vice President of the United States, and Tanzila Narbaeva, Chair of the Senate of Uzbekistan’s Oliy Majlis. Using the Social Semiotic theory of Kress & van Leeuwen (2006), we examine how visual framing, color, gesture, body language, caption style, text length, number of images, and hashtags are used as semiotic resources in their different political and cultural settings. Our analysis of actual Instagram posts shows clear differences in how these resources are used on each account. Harris’s posts are more personal and emotionally engaging, while Narbaeva’s posts focus on detailed institutional reporting. This research highlights how multimodal communication on platforms like Instagram can reflect cultural differences.
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