ART 80F - MODULE 3 LECTURE CONTENT
Memes as tactical media - why its not just a joke analysis
Why Study Memes?
An assumption underlying this study is that Internet memes on racism should be investigated as a site of ideological reproduction.
analyze the racial discourse embedded in popular Internet memes and explore how colorblindness is ingrained within them.
On Colorblindness
Bonilla-Silva (2006) calls colorblindness “a new racism” that reproduces inequality through “subtle, institutional, and apparently nonracial” ways (p. 3). As “a revealing metaphor for the dominant ideology of race in America,” colorblindness hinders people from seeing race as a significant factor in equity and social justice (Rosenberg, 2004, p. 257).
contributing to a collective ignorance, but also reduces the fight against the impact of racism.
4 Central Frames of Colorblindness
Abstract liberalism
Naturalization
Cultural racism
Minimization of racism
Weaponized Mechanics
Perpetuation of stereotypes
Embodied Racism / othering
Minimize or deny racism, especially structural racism
Tools for Analysis + Counter Memes
where and how certain memes were most likely acquired;
what effects these memes have on decision-making, mindsets, and action;
the effects these memes may have on other people;
and what ethnical decisions must be made with respect to passing on, or not passing on, certain memes.
