I'm a digital media professor preparing a new module on internet culture, and I want to dedicate a significant portion to analyzing meme culture as a form of contemporary folklore and social commentary. While I'm familiar with many popular formats, I'm looking for a robust theoretical framework to help students move beyond just identifying memes to understanding their propagation, mutation, and socio-political impact. I'm considering using concepts like Dawkins' original meme theory, but I know it's controversial in academic circles. For other scholars or educators teaching similar topics, what readings or case studies have you found most effective for a critical, non-sensationalist examination of memes? I'm particularly interested in resources that explore their role in social movements or as tools of misinformation.
Here's a robust starting framework and readings: begin with Dawkins' The Selfish Gene to introduce the meme concept, then move to Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine for critiques; for a rigorous modern treatment of memes in digital culture, read Limor Shifman Memes in Digital Culture; Henry Jenkins's Convergence Culture and Spreadable Media provide practical models of diffusion and adaptation across platforms; for social movements and digital activism, Manuel Castells Networks of Power and Zeynep Tufekci's Twitter and Tear Gas offer close examinations of platform dynamics and collective action; on misinformation and information disorder, Wardle and Derakhshan Information Disorder; Lewandowsky, Ecker, and Cook The Science of Fake News; Pennycook and Rand on cognitive biases and the contagiousness of misinformation; and for critical perspectives on representation and power in meme ecosystems, consider readings on racialized imagery and online culture. As case studies, you can anchor discussions with Pepe the Frog debates, the Ice Bucket Challenge, the Arab Spring meme cycles, Harambe, and the Doge meme to trace mutation, reception, and the politics of visibility.
Keep it short and focused: use a core reading list (for example, Shifman, Jenkins, Castells) plus one contemporary case study per unit to anchor discussion.
A detailed classroom plan: start with a weekly meme dossier where students pick a meme, map its platform diffusion, and describe how it changes as it travels across communities; use content analysis to catalog visual motifs, language, and references; add a discourse analysis layer to examine political framing; integrate network data by tracing shares or mentioning how communities reposition memes; include a module on misinformation, using the Science of Fake News or the Implied Truth Effect as a lens; assess with a two-part assignment: (1) a 6–8 page analytic essay on a meme's evolution and sociopolitical impact, and (2) a brief media literacy guide for the public that explains how to spot mis/disinformation in memes. Encourage ethical research, obtain informed consent when you analyze active communities, and discuss platform data access and privacy.
For a compact reading list and accessible sources, consider: Dawkins The Selfish Gene; Shifman Memes in Digital Culture; Jenkins Convergence Culture and Spreadable Media; Castells Networks of Power; Tufekci Twitter and Tear Gas; Wardle & Derakhshan Information Disorder; Lewandowsky, Ecker, and Cook The Science of Fake News; Pennycook & Rand on misinformation; plus accessible articles from the MIT Tech Review and the Conversation that dissect memes without sensationalism.