“Meme-Ing” Peace in Northern Ireland : Exploring the Everyday Politics of Internet Memes in Belfast Riots
(2023) In International Journal of Communication 17. p.6312-6334- Abstract
- How do Internet memes about political violence in postwar Belfast speak to or against the peacebuilding process in Northern Ireland? Our findings demonstrate three dominant ways in which memes engage with such violence: (a) poking fun at violence, (b) poking fun at rioters, and (c) normalizing violence. Memes poking fun at violence destabilize the banal nationalism underpinning the conflict in Northern Ireland, whereas memes poking fun at rioters position the sectarian (and/or socioeconomic) “other” as inferior. Memes that normalize violence do not necessarily entail a defeatist resignation to political violence — even if that might often be the case — as they also provide comic relief by constructing a shared identity in an otherwise... (More)
- How do Internet memes about political violence in postwar Belfast speak to or against the peacebuilding process in Northern Ireland? Our findings demonstrate three dominant ways in which memes engage with such violence: (a) poking fun at violence, (b) poking fun at rioters, and (c) normalizing violence. Memes poking fun at violence destabilize the banal nationalism underpinning the conflict in Northern Ireland, whereas memes poking fun at rioters position the sectarian (and/or socioeconomic) “other” as inferior. Memes that normalize violence do not necessarily entail a defeatist resignation to political violence — even if that might often be the case — as they also provide comic relief by constructing a shared identity in an otherwise divided city. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d73a2bc9-e9a1-40d2-a75b-d2734cafd0c0
- author
- Gusic, Ivan and Lundqvist, Martin LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-10-14
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- political violence, Internet memes, humor, everyday peace, Belfast, postwar
- in
- International Journal of Communication
- volume
- 17
- pages
- 23 pages
- publisher
- USC Annenberg Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85177173336
- ISSN
- 1932-8036
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d73a2bc9-e9a1-40d2-a75b-d2734cafd0c0
- alternative location
- https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20910
- date added to LUP
- 2023-10-18 18:13:20
- date last changed
- 2024-01-10 10:50:01
@article{d73a2bc9-e9a1-40d2-a75b-d2734cafd0c0, abstract = {{How do Internet memes about political violence in postwar Belfast speak to or against the peacebuilding process in Northern Ireland? Our findings demonstrate three dominant ways in which memes engage with such violence: (a) poking fun at violence, (b) poking fun at rioters, and (c) normalizing violence. Memes poking fun at violence destabilize the banal nationalism underpinning the conflict in Northern Ireland, whereas memes poking fun at rioters position the sectarian (and/or socioeconomic) “other” as inferior. Memes that normalize violence do not necessarily entail a defeatist resignation to political violence — even if that might often be the case — as they also provide comic relief by constructing a shared identity in an otherwise divided city.}}, author = {{Gusic, Ivan and Lundqvist, Martin}}, issn = {{1932-8036}}, keywords = {{political violence; Internet memes; humor; everyday peace; Belfast; postwar}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{10}}, pages = {{6312--6334}}, publisher = {{USC Annenberg Press}}, series = {{International Journal of Communication}}, title = {{“Meme-Ing” Peace in Northern Ireland : Exploring the Everyday Politics of Internet Memes in Belfast Riots}}, url = {{https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20910}}, volume = {{17}}, year = {{2023}}, }