Memes and the casting of a nation: A postmodernist study of the aesthetics of memes created and circulated in Kenya
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Abstract
The study of memes is an emerging field in literary works not only in Kenya but also internationally. This is attributed to a paradigm shift in the study of literature where focus has now moved to other forms of cultural productions that are literary in nature. As a sub-genre of social media, memes have enhanced a faster exchange of information and culture globally through their remixing and sharing. Consumers of the social are able to interact by sharing their feelings and thoughts on particular issues touching on social, political and economic dimensions across the globe by constructing and exchanging memes. Through memes, people can disseminate information, satirize or mock political leaders, express disappointment or disgust with regard to issues affecting their day to day lives. This paper mainly focuses on memes circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp, as they are the main popular platforms accessed by majority of Kenyans who have smartphones. This study ventures into the meme culture in Kenya with the intention of examining the dominant aesthetic features of memes. A textual elaboration and analysis of data was done using the tenets of literary postmodernism and the theory of semiotics. The study adopted a qualitative research design, which was instrumental in achieving a detailed comprehension of the data examined in this paper. A sample of 8 memes selected through purposive sampling was examined. The study found out that memes, like other forms of literature, are characterized by aesthetic features like satire, irony and metaphors among others.
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