Memory policy on the Internet memes: from visualization of history to fakes

Memory policy on the Internet memes: from visualization of history to fakes



Article received: 2020.03.15. Accepted: 2021.07.02
DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2022.05.06

For citation:

Artamonov D.S, Tikhonova S.V. Memory policy on the Internet memes: from visualization of history to fakes. – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No. 5. P. 75-87. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2022.05.06


The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project № 20-09-42063 “Peter I in the historical memory of modern Russia: representation of the image in the digital media”.


Abstract

Digital technologies are changing the way historical memory is constructed. Today, the masses of Internet users with the help of social networks have the opportunity to demonstrate their ideas about the past in the media environment. “Smart crowds” create their own version of history using the tools available to them, one of which is an Internet meme. The purpose of the study is to consider the process of visualizing images of the past with the help of Internet memes that form historical representations, combining them with mass cultural stereotypes. A historical Internet meme is a variation of a political meme containing a reference to the past or a representation of a historical fact. Addressing the problem of constructing historical memory in Internet memes makes it possible to overcome the methodological gap in memory studies between the study of the memory policy conducted by actors (politicians, scientists, opinion leaders, major media) and how it is reflected in the mass segment of public consciousness. The meme format allows one to give an arbitrary interpretation of the past, radically changing the image of a historical event or hero, and its endless variations and viral distribution contribute to the perception of a fake image of a mass audience. Memes have become a convenient and simple tool for creating and implementing a political myth, since its semantic structure contains myth elements that are recognizable by most Internet users. Historical memory is formed by various social and political forces that use a wide range of tools, and Internet memes play an important role in this process. 

Keywords
memory policy, memes, Internet meme, historical memory, digital society, media environment, images of the past, memory studies.


References

Blackmore, S. (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Brodie, R. (1996). Virus of the mind: the new science of the meme. Seattle, WA: Integral Press.

Davison, P. (2009). The language of internet memes. In M. Mandiberg (Ed.), The Social Media Reader (pp. 120-134). New York, London: New York University Press.

Hobsbawm, E., & Ranger, T. (Ed.). (1983). The invention of tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hofstadter, D.R. (1986). Metamagical themas. questing for the essence of mind and pattern. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Johann, M., & Bulov, L. (2019). One does not simply create a meme: conditions for the diffusion of internet memes. International Journal of Communication, 13, 1720-1742.

Nijakowski, L.M. (2008). Polska polityka pamięci. Esej socjologiczny. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Akademickie i Profesjonalne.

Piata, A. (2016. When metaphor becomes a joke: metaphor journeys from political ads to internet memes. Journal of Pragmatics, 106, 39-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.10.003

Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in digital culture. Massachusetts: MIT Press. 200 р.

 

Anikin, D.A. (2018). Memory policy in a networked society: risks and prospects. Science and Education Today, 12, 77-79. (In Russ.)

Barthes, R. (2003). Le systeme de la mode. Essais de semiologie de la culture. (Russ. ed.: Barthes, R. Sistema mody. Stat’i po semiotikekultury. Moscow: Publishing house of them. Sabashnikov Publ.).

Bourdieu, P. (2007). Sociologie de l’espace social. (Russ. ed.: Bourdieu, P. Sociologiya socialnogo prostranstva. Moscow: Institute of experimental sociology; Saint Petersburg: Aletheia).

Chugrov, S.V. (2019). Epoha postpravdy kak novaya real’nost [The post-truth era as a new reality]. In L.S. Salnikova (Ed.), Strategicheskie kommunikacii v cifrovuyu epohu. Novye tekhnologii: uchebnoe posobie [Strategic communications in the digital age. New technologies] (pp. 45-59). Moscow: Publishing House Scientific Library. (In Russ.)

Efremova, V.N. (2016). State policy in the field of holidays in Russia: reviewing the grounds of identity? Bulletin of the Perm scientific center of URO RAS, 5, 93-98. (In Russ.)

Golovanova, E.I., & Chasovsky, N.V. (2015). Internet meme as an element of visualization in the media. Bulletin of the Chelyabinsk state University. Philology. Art criticism, 5, 135-141. (In Russ.)

Kirchanov, M.V. (2016). Taming the past: historical politics and memory politics (European historiographic experience and Latin American contexts). Political changes in Latin America, 3, 73-86. (In Russ.)

Leontieva, O.B. (2015). “Memorial turn” in modern Russian historical science. Dialogue with time, 50, 59-96. (In Russ.)

Malinova, O.Yu. (2015). Aktualnoe proshloe: simvolicheskaya politika vlastvuyushchej elity i dilemmy rossijskoj identichnosti [Current past: symbolic politics of the ruling elite and dilemmas of Russian identity]. Moscow: Political encyclopedia. (In Russ.)

Miller, A.I. (2013). Role of expert communities in memory politics in Russia. Politeia, 4, 114-126. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.30570/2078-5089-2013-71-4-114-126

Morozov, I.L. (2020). Historical memory as a political category in modern Russia. Society: Politics, Economics, Law, 1, 12-18. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24158/pep.2020.1.1

Panchenko, N.N. (2013). Fake news in the aspect of reliability. Theoretical and applied aspects of the study of speech activity, 8(1), 164-169. (In Russ.)

Ponamareva, A.M. (2018). Historical memory and historical politics: introduction to the thematic section. Social and human Sciences. Domestic and foreign literature. Series 11: Sociology. Abstract Journal, 3, 6-14. (In Russ.)

Popp, I.A., & Shakhnovich, I.S. (2018). State policy for preserving the historical memory of citizens of the Russian Federation: legal aspect. Pedagogical education in Russia, 12, 42-49. (In Russ.)

Rastimesina, T.V. (2012). Cultural heritage in the Russian state memory policy. Power, 10, 60-64. (In Russ.)

Savorskaya, E.V. (2018). Politicheskie seti v processah nadgosudarstvennogo regulirovaniya: evropejskij i mirovoj opyt [Political networks in the processes of supranational regulation: European and world experience]. Moscow: IMEMO RAS. (In Russ.)

Sharkov, F.I. (2017). Media convergence of the space of the political sphere of society. PolitBook, 2, 47-57. (In Russ.)

Shestov, N.I. (2020). Myth of historical memory’s political functionality in the present context. Izvestiya of Saratov University. Sociology. Politology, 20(3), 324-332. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.18500/1818-9601-2020-20-3-324-332

Shomova, S.A. (2021). Meme chronicler: representation of the pandemic news agenda in the Runet memetic content. Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes, 5, 399-424. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2021.5.1977

Voroshilova, M.B. (2013). Politicheskij kreolizovannyj tekst: klyuchi k prochteniyu [Political creolized text: keys to reading]. Yekaterinburg: Ural state pedagogical university. (In Russ.)

Yakimov, A.E. (2020). Post truth and everyday life. On the problem of defining the concept of “posttruth”. Philosophy and Culture, 9, 1-8. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.7256/2454-0757.2020.9.33801 

Content No. 5, 2022

See also:


Latov Yu.V.,
Paradoxes of Memory of the Recent Past: USSR Under Brezhnev, Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin in Perception of the Current Generation of Russians. – Polis. Political Studies. 2018. No5

Bykov I.A., Hall T.E.,
Digital divide and the Internet-users political preferences in Russia. – Polis. Political Studies. 2011. No5

Malakhov V.S., Letnyakov D.E.,
The collapse of hegemonial normality: migration and the politics of memory in the U.S., UK and France. – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No1

Zarubina N.N., Noskova A.V.,
Images of Russia: Reflecting on the Eras of Change. – Polis. Political Studies. 2019. No2

Popkov Yu.V.,
On archaization in social transformations. – Polis. Political Studies. 2015. No1


Screen version