A multimodal critical discourse analysis of Ridwan Kamil’s weekly Subuh Berjamaah Instagram posts

Abstract

This study analysed Ridwan Kamil’s weekly Subuh Berjamaah (a congregational dawn prayer) Instagram posts. It focused on: (1) describing how he multimodally portrayed himself as a leader; and (2) revealing his leadership ideology in those posts. The posts comprised two different semiotic modes, namely visual images and captions, to communicate the messages and ideas to the followers. In the analysis, the Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) approach was utilised. The results showed that Ridwan Kamil multimodally portrayed himself as an Islamic and tolerant leader, and putting the Islamic values forwards was his leadership ideology found in those posts. His leadership ideology was then able to be socially and cognitively accepted by some followers on Instagram, to build his Islamic identity, and to contribute to his winning in West Java’s Governor Election in 2018.