Kenyan Online Memes as Social Discourse

Abstract

The internet memes enhance a faster exchange of ideas, information and even cultures globally through their remixing and sharing. Netizens 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 in their day to day lives. The study of memes is an emerging field in literary works not only in Kenya but also universally. This study purposed to look into the meme culture in Kenya with the intention of establishing what memes reveal about the contemporary issues affecting Kenyans. The objectives of the study therefore were to examine the dominant aesthetic features of memes in Kenya; to establish stereotypes and clichés expressed through memes in Kenya and finally to analyze the contemporary political, economic and sociocultural issues in Kenya as expressed in memes. Data collection was done through the Facebook and WhatsApp platforms in Kenya. A textual elaboration and analysis of data was done using the tenets of postmodernism and semiotic theories. The study adopted a qualitative research design that sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the kind of data examined in this research. A sample size of 60 memes selected through purposive sampling was examined in the study. Content analysis of the memes was then carried out from the sample to find out what it revealed about contemporary issues in Kenya. The findings of the study indicate that memes, like other forms of literature, are characterized by aesthetic features like satire, irony and metaphors among others. The study also discovered that the memes shared by Kenyans express certain stereotypes and clichés. The study further noted that memes reveal contemporary political, economic and sociocultural phenomena in Kenya. This study makes significant contributions to the field of literature by examining memes shared by Kenyans as a new form of literary text, from a postmodern and semiotic angle. The study also creates awareness about the role of memes as social in commentaries in the society. Future studies should focus their attention on drawing comparisons between the meme as a literary text and the traditional short forms of literature. Scholars should also reconsider examining the internet memes from the psychoanalytic and meta-modern perspectives.