Memification of Students’ Experiences at South African Universities
A Critical Examination of Meme Value within UCT Just Kidding and Wits Just Kidding Memes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21605869 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gcina Mgcina (0000-0002-5609-0063, University of the Witwatersrand), Ufuoma Akpojivi (0000-0002-9349-2977, Policy, Research and Learning, Advocates for International Development, London, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 332-349 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Creative Communications (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0973-2586 • E-ISSN: 0973-2594 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/09732586241262132 |
| OpenAlex | W4402336154 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 24 |
Memes are considered a communication tool that allows groups of individuals to form a community and express themselves through three semiotic resources: visuals, text and humour. They provide new references that contribute to the construction of identities. This is especially true within university student communities. In this study, we use two students’ meme pages in South Africa, UCT Just Kidding (@uctjustkidding) and Wits Just Kidding (@witsjustkidding), as case studies to investigate how students use memes to highlight their everyday experiences and the values attached to these memes. We also explore how memes portray significant issues affecting students’ development and progression within the broader South African higher education institutions. Using semi-structured interviews conducted with 7 meme creators and administrators, textual and visual analysis of 14 memes from both pages and Marx’s labour theory of value as a theoretical framework, we argue that students use memes to communicate and raise awareness on salient issues affecting them. We, therefore, underscore memes as a powerful tool for constructing social, political, economic and cultural realities among university students in particular and communities in general
Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociology · Statistics · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Digital Communication and Language · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Mathematics · Psychology
Remix
Applied Thematic Analysis
Marx’s Argument for the Labor Theory of Value
My life is a mess
Capital
Textual Analysis
Critical Political Economy of the Media
Internet Memes and Society
Digital Labour and Karl Marx
Memes in Digital Culture
Fickle focus
The nature of procrastination
Laughing across borders
The everyday politics of being a student in South Africa
Revenge by photoshop
Value, Rent, and the Political Economy of Social Media
Co-creative prosumer labor, financial knowledge capitalism, and Marxist value theory
Student factors affecting academic success among undergraduate students at two South African higher education institutions
Labour
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |