Political Memes as Tools of Dissent and Alternative Digital Activism in the Russian-language Twitter
Item
Title
Political Memes as Tools of Dissent and Alternative Digital Activism in the Russian-language Twitter
Creator
Anastasia Denisova
Abstract
This research has analysed the role of Internet memes in the contemporary
Russian alternative discourse. It has identified memes as the Internet common
language that users exploit to communicate on all topics and also utilise as the mindbombs to influence the political discourse. This project focused on the employment of memes in the deliberation of the Crimean crisis in the Russian Twitter in 2014. Progovernment
and anti-government activists have used this format of texts to promote their agenda and interpret the events, discuss political leaders, contest symbols of state
propaganda and alternative narratives. The study is highly original as it followed the development of memes in real time; the interviews collected with the prominent meme makers and sharers stand out as the testaments of direct participants of this process. The subsequent in-depth analysis of the distributed memes unveiled the prevailing
themes, narratives and symbols that shape the political and social discussion between the elites and resistance in contemporary Russia. This research on the role of the Internet memes in political deliberation of the Crimean crisis contributed to the understudied field of political uses of memes in a non-Western authoritarian environment.
Russian alternative discourse. It has identified memes as the Internet common
language that users exploit to communicate on all topics and also utilise as the mindbombs to influence the political discourse. This project focused on the employment of memes in the deliberation of the Crimean crisis in the Russian Twitter in 2014. Progovernment
and anti-government activists have used this format of texts to promote their agenda and interpret the events, discuss political leaders, contest symbols of state
propaganda and alternative narratives. The study is highly original as it followed the development of memes in real time; the interviews collected with the prominent meme makers and sharers stand out as the testaments of direct participants of this process. The subsequent in-depth analysis of the distributed memes unveiled the prevailing
themes, narratives and symbols that shape the political and social discussion between the elites and resistance in contemporary Russia. This research on the role of the Internet memes in political deliberation of the Crimean crisis contributed to the understudied field of political uses of memes in a non-Western authoritarian environment.
Date
June 2016
Language
EN English