Memification of Students’ Experiences at South African Universities

A Critical Examination of Meme Value within UCT Just Kidding and Wits Just Kidding Memes

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21605869
AutoresGcina 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, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume19
Fascículo3
Páginas332-349
Data de publicação2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Creative Communications (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0973-2586 • E-ISSN: 0973-2594
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09732586241262132
OpenAlexW4402336154
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas24

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