twerk background: The earliest use of the word "twerk" on record was produced in a local New Orleans recording by DJ Jubilee. After its beginnings in the 1980s, "twerking" became a synonymous term for "bounce" outside New Orleans and in other local scenes of Southern hip hop.[5] A Google Trends search reveals that interest in the word "twerk" arose on the web in November 2011.[6] The diffusion of the dance phenomenon began earlier via local parties and eventually strip clubs often associated with mainstream rap music and video production aired by video cable television shows that featured rap and R&B music. Popular video-sharing channels amplified interest since the advent of digital social media platforms. In 2013, the dance became a viral sensation beyond black culture. Miley Cyrus appropriated the dance in a video that was uploaded first to Facebook and then Youtube in March.[7] Though twerking began trending as a web searche in November 2011, and despite its origins in the bounce culture of New Orleans in the late 1980s, the word twerkwould be added to the Oxford Dictionary Online[8] and attributed to Cyrus following her appearance at the MTV VMA Awards in August 2013. It became the number one "What is" Google search that year[9] as those outside the culture questioned the popularity of the booty-popping dance that showed up across social media feeds worldwide. The word was a runner-up to "selfie" in the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013.[10] The term and dance has become the subject of discourse about cultural appropriation, white superiority and privilege, and misogynoir in the video cultures of new mediaespecially concerning the exploitation of black and female cultural forms and practices. Parallel discussions can be found in earlier discourse about crossover between dominant and marginalized artists in the music industry.