The Life Stage of Meme Research: Conversations in a Fledgling Field

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Proposal

Abstract

This high density roundtable brings together leading participatory media scholars to contextualize and complicate internet memes and viral sharing. ‘Memes’ are media texts created, circulated, and transformed by countless cultural participants, while ‘virality’ labels accelerated content sharing within online networks. Both can facilitate broad public engagement across broad contexts. Protesters in Hong Kong photoshop umbrellas into scenes from the film 300 and share them on Tumblr; activists in Ferguson, MO hashtag ‘#HandsUpDontShoot’ selfies on Instagram; participants on Facebook raise millions for ALS research by dumping ice water on their heads. In these examples and beyond, cultural participants make their world through shared texts. This panel is about the ‘life stage’ of meme research; it’s about assessing what we can learn from these prolific practices.

The roundtable threads together three strands. First, it discusses the theoretical edges of meme scholarship. Limor Shifman ties memes and viral sharing to two classic conceptualizations of communication: the ‘ritual’ and ‘transmission’ models. Brad Wiggins utilizes structuration theory to assess the reciprocal influence between memes shared and memes created. Ryan Milner argues that the logics foundational to internet memes subsume broader facets of mediated cultural participation, significantly expanding the applicability of the term.

Second is the “mainstreaming” of once-niche memetic content. Kate Miltner addresses the branching paths taken by ‘internet culture’ and ‘memes’, and the ambiguities left in the wake of their ostensible divide. Whitney Phillips catalogues the subcultural policing of memes gone ‘lamestream’, asking how researchers can produce relevant scholarship when the cultural resonance of memetic texts is fleeting.

Third is the influence of memetic texts and viral sharing on public participation. Karine Nahon assesses how memes and viral content can challenge traditional structures of power. Katy Pearce chronicles how memetic humor is used as a tool of dissent. Patrick Sharbaugh argues that seemingly innocuous reappropriation can foster political participation in authoritarian societies where such activity is otherwise discouraged. Lisa Silvestri discusses the balance between performance and altruism in ‘charity memes.’ In these cases, populist practices are employed to enhance public voice.

The goals for this roundtable are a better theoretical understanding of memes and virality, of the boundaries between ‘internet subculture’ and ‘mass culture’, and of participatory public power. Moderator Jean Burgess will connect these essential themes across presentations. The ultimate aim of this conversation is an assessment of the current state of meme research, anticipating the future of a fledgling field.

Sub Unit

• Popular Communication

Individual Presentations

• Memes as Ritual, Virals as Transmission? In Praise of Blurry Boundaries - Limor Shifman, Hebrew U - Jerusalem

• Crimea River: Memes as Genre and the Russia-Ukraine Conflict - Bradley Earl Wiggins, Webster University Vienna

• The Memetic Internet - Ryan M. Milner, College of Charleston

• “I Know It When I See It”: Internet Culture as Structure of Feeling - Kate Miltner, USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism

• Cool Story, Bro?: Relevance, Timeliness, and the Problem of “Lame Memes” - Whitney Phillips, U of Oregon

• The Challenges of Traditional Structures of Power by Virality of Memes - Karine Nahon, U of Washington

• Memes as Tools of Dissent - Katy Elizabeth Pearce, U of Washington

• Lulz Will Find a Way: Mimetic Culture as Dissent in Authoritarian Asia - Patrick Elliot Sharbaugh, RMIT U - Vietnam

• Socially Mediated Acts of Kindness: Exploring the Potential of Online Charity Memes - Lisa Silvestri, Gonzaga U

Respondent

• Jean Burgess, Queensland U of Technology