Pixel International Conferences

Abstract:

This study delves into the integration of internet memes into academic settings, particularly within literature courses and ethics classes, aiming to analyze their cultural significance and pedagogical potential. Drawing upon a survey administered to undergraduate students enrolled in Romanian-English programs, this research investigates the impact of memes on the study of canonical authors in literature courses and the analysis of behaviors in ethics classes. Employing both sentiment analysis and content analysis, the paper explores potential categorizations of memes ([1]; [2]; [3]), considering their societal impact and their ability to simplify complex concepts [4] while promoting critical thinking skills ([4]; [5]). Additionally, it discusses memes as a distinct genre [6] and their role as a “fundamental unit of cultural transmission” [7].

Keywords:

Internet memes, literature, ethics, , critical thinking, humour, teaching 

References:

[1] Smitha, E. S.; Sendhilkumar, S.; Mahalaksmi, G. S. (2018). “Meme Classification Using Textual and Visual Features”, in D. J. Hemanth and S. Smys (eds.), Computational Vision and Bio Inspired Computing, Lecture Notes in Computational Vision and Biomechanics 28, Springer, p. 1015-1031, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71767-8_87">https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71767-8_87.

[2] Taecharungroj, V., & Nueangjamnong, P. (2015). Humour 2.0: “Styles and Types of Humour and Virality of Memes on Facebook”. Journal of Creative Communications, 10(3), p. 288–302, doi:10.1177/0973258615614420.

[3] Sharma, S., Alam, F., Akhtar, M. S., Dimitrov, D., Martino, G. D. S., Firooz, H., ... & Chakraborty, T. (2022). Detecting and understanding harmful memes: A survey. arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.04274.

[4] Reddy, Rishabh; Singh, Rishabh; Kapoor, Vidhi; Churi, Prathamesh P. (2020). “Joy of Learning Through Internet Memes”. International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy (iJEP), 10(5), p. 116–133, https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v10i5.15211">https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v10i5.15211.

[5] Hartman, Pamela; Berg, Jessica; Fulton, Hannah R.; and Schuler, Brandon. (2021). "Memes as Means: Using Popular Culture to Enhance the Study of Literature," The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning: Vol. 26, Article 8. https://trace.tennessee.edu/jaepl/vol26/iss1/8.

[6] Wiggins, Bradley E.; Bowers, G. Bret. (2014). “Memes as genre: A structurational analysis of the memescape”. New Media & Society, 1–21, DOI: 10.1177/1461444814535194.

[7] Aunger, R. (2006). What's the matter with memes?. https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/11082/1/AungerDawkinsMemesFinal.pdf">https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/11082/1/AungerDawkinsMemesFinal.pdf