Indigenous Memes_Conference Paper_PDF
ABSTRACT
In 2016, Indigenous activists launched a Facebook page Blackfulla Revolution (BFR) to increase awareness about the impact of colonialism in past through to the present-day Australia. BFR produced and shared a set of memes to illustrate the discriminatory events of colonialism and to invite a wider community to gather online to show solidarity for Indigenous both past and present. Meme creation is one way to produce replicable and spreadable cultural ideas, messages or meanings to like-minded audience or supporters. Studies have focused on the way visual content – including memes – can be used positively and negatively. The study of meme production and engagement amongst Indigenous social media users require further investigation. This paper argues that Indigenous memes creation is worth examining. Key findings include how memes are created and utilised for truth telling and recollection of colonialism; the impact of BFR memes on shared experience and solidarity; and how Indigenous voices and representation are much needed in mainstream media and social media.
INTRODUCTION
POPULAR USE OF MEMES
Memes have become a pervasive form of entertainment in the eyes of everyday Internet users (Drakett et al, 2018). From the Drake to Distracted Boyfriend meme templates, Internet humour, inside jokes, parodies and rumours have become highly visible messages that can be remixed, spread, and shared by everyday users in the participatory online environment (Shifman, 2013; Wiggins et al, 2015). Research conducted by Imgur, a meme generator website, reveals billions of user-generated bite-size fun can reach 250+ millions Internet audience on a monthly basis (Imgur, n.d.). Such growth is aligned with Shifman’s observation on memes as a highly visible and pervasive form of social interaction afforded by the distinctive structures and agencies of Internet and social media sites (2013). Real-time social interaction is accelerated and popularised by social media networks, personal devices, and online stock templates and meme generators, such as Adobe, Canva, Mematic and Imgur. Audiences respond to hidden, yet recognisable, signs, meanings, and in-jokes (McSwiney et al, 2021) by viewing, liking, retweeting, or forwarding a meme to their families, friends, and networks. Other users are motivated to participate meme production for love, glory, and money (Malone et al, 2009), to convey a mood, make a friend laugh, or carry out political agendas. Users are invited to create, remix, deconstruct, re-interpret, and propagate stories, meanings and messages in ways that make sense and available to them.
MEMES AS GENES
The term meme was first conceptualised by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 who assessed the similarities between genes and memes. Dawkins argues that the spreadable nature of memes is fundamental to the progression of cultural meanings and ideas, just as Darwinian selection is essential to the process of biological reproduction and survival. Dawkins argues that memes are a “small cultural unit (or idea) that sought replication for the purpose of its own survival” (Wiggins et al, 2015, p.1889). It implies that the process of variation, selection, retention, copying, remixing, imitation, and propagation is necessary to the reproduction, circulation, and survival of memes (Shifman, 2012). Memes are inherently self-serving, competitive, disruptive, and political to purposely “infect individual minds and use those minds as vehicles for replication” (Wiggins et al, 2015, p.1889). In this view, carefully crafted memes can influence our thoughts, behaviours, and mindset towards a certain person, narrative, or social movement (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007) and to attract like-minded supporters and target audiences. The survival and spreadability of memes rely heavily upon creators’ decision around tactics, textual and aesthetic choices, participatory practices, and social media platforms. Thus, carefully crafted memes have the potential to influence the way that viewers make sense of messages and narratives, contributing to the transformation of cultural and political ideas over time.
VISUAL CONTENT, SOCIAL MEDIA & CRAFTIVISM
Kumari (2021) explains that the Internet-mediated environment has become the centre for political tension, activism, protest, trolling and propaganda in the digital age. From #BlackLivesMatter to Arab Spring, from #FreeBritney to #NoAsianHate, online activism can drive change and deliberation to raise awareness about racism, social injustice, democracy, conservatorship, and wellbeing. In these campaigns, visual and textual content are creatively and politically engaged by passive and active participants towards what Esteves (2018) theorises as “craftivism” (p.188) in which everyday amateurs are invited to contribute to the creation and circulation of social action content generated by participants. Participants understand the way that text, images, memes, hashtags, podcasts, t-shirts, banners, and social media are intertwined to establish meanings, communications, and narratives to foster a sense of belonging, promote emotional bonds and form social identities (Delanty, 2018). Thus, the success of social movements relies on well-crafted textual content for supporters (or non-supporters) to interpret, recognise, investigate, decode, argue, and responded to (Storey, 2006).
Conversely, harmful content can be carefully curated by bad actors to cause damage to marginalised communities. Consider Aboriginal Memes, a Facebook group, in which Indigenous peoples were depicted as welfare abusers, child molesters and alcoholics in a series of racist memes. Aboriginal Memes is one of the examples as seen on the Internet that illustrates the way that hate speech can be constructed under false pretences of humour and satire (Kumari, 2021). Perpetrators engage in meme-making, misusing and weaponising innocent looking animals, cartoons and characters in children’s books to amplify misogyny and racism (Askanius, 2021; Matamoros-Fernández & Farkas, 2021). Racist rhetoric is designed to attract like-minded users as they meet online to exchange racially motivated content about Indigenous peoples (Al-Natour, 2021).
INDIGENOUS SOCIAL ACTIONS
The spirit of this paper is to emphasise the way that Indigenous communities are using social media creatively and positively to increase visibility and awareness of Indigenous culture, political struggles, and modern lives. Through a ‘show, don’t tell approach’, online protects such as the #SOSBlakAustralia campaign utilises Facebook and Twitter to mobilise supporters to pressure state and federal governments to stop forcefully removing Indigenous people from their communities. The #IndigenousDads movement sees Indigenous fathers demonstrating the positive use of hashtags, tweets, and photos as they share experiences of fatherhood to reject the racist rhetoric of Bill Leak’s cartoon on The Australian newspaper. A media and training organisation, IndigenousX, is founded to promote the diversity of Indigenous peoples. Through featured articles, social media presence and podcast, it continues to raise awareness of Indigenous languages, injustice, arts, health equity and equality, and black queer community – Indigenous topics that have been neglected by mainstream media. Social media is demonstrated to have enormous power to advocate important Indigenous issues. Indigenous social movements are extended from a street level to online space to promote social actions, challenge colonialism, rally against public policy, and describe the true history of Australia.
MEMES FACILITATING A COMMUNITY-LED CONVERSATION
In a socio-cultural environment, meme creation is one of the means to produce replicable and spreadable cultural ideas, messages, or meanings. Meme production is one of the approaches to encourage a community-led discussion, and to facilitate collective action, political expression, self-representation, emotional bonds and fostering cultural belonging (Delenty, 2018; Lumby, 2015). In the context of Indigenous communities, emotional bonding and a sense of belonging are enhanced by sharing visual and textual accounts associating with family history, tremor, injustice, anger, and frustration (Carlson et al, 2017). Together with traditional ways of storytelling using painting, dancing and songs, the ubiquitous nature of Internet memes and the affordances of social media offers Indigenous audience new possibilities to engage in storytelling. By extending their presence and political engagement to the online environment, it brings forth a conversation and acknowledgment about Indigenous past, present and future contribution to the society. By spreading and propagating social media content created by Indigenous producers, the organisation challenge mainstream political conventions as Indigenous-produced content is utilised to express Indigenous voices and narrations.
THE CASE OF BFR
The BFR Facebook group is a meme-based campaign that exposes the truth and brutality of the colonial settlement of Australia. Through Indigenous memes by Indigenous hands, campaign organisers start a “mass movement of support from non-Indigenous brothers and sisters who value the knowledge, custodianship, spirituality, culture and perspectives of First Nations peoples” (BFR, 2016, np). Through the participatory practice of memes creation, BFR producers deconstruct and render colonial ideological notion of “there have never been people here” (Deleuze, 2013, p. 217). BFR memes become a powerful storytelling tool to “record evidence about past actions and share their culture, heritage and history” (Pol, 2021), which is an important part of the reconciliation and healing process in Australia. BFR facilitates a new community experience as producers and Indigenous audiences co-present their true selves and voices amid the mainstream media landscape.
BFR organisers are aware of the way that participatory tools and social media content can increase the visibility of their cultural and identity struggle as well as trauma. On the Facebook page, BFR displaces and arranges historical events in the form of memes chronologically to demonstrate Indigenous resistance and struggle. These events include the arrival of Captain James Cook; enslavement of Indigenous peoples; children being forcefully removed from their families; Indigenous over-representation in the criminal justice and health system; and prohibition of Indigenous cultures and languages are revealed in the form of memes (Frazer & Carlson 2017). Using cultural elements such as archived photos coupled with text, BFR memes become a powerful and honest narration tool for sharing traumatic ancestral accounts.
As Douglas (2014) observes, memes as image macros are meant to be used and remixed by amateur producers without any well-defined aesthetic intention. BFR follows amateur practices to produce a series of memes, using authorised archived photos that depict Indigenous peoples in chains and on their own lands; colonial paintings; and state-sanctioned dialogues, events, and ideologies to critically challenge historical and contemporary notions and practices of colonisation (Frazer & Carlson, 2017). BFR primarily uses archives images and purposely stays away from the sanitised, visually appealing digital content in their meme-making approach. The rawness and authenticity are critical to the construction of shared identities. Archives images are essential to the reclaiming of Indigenous voices, culture, identities and power from dominant politicians, public figures, settler commentators who define, limit, constitute the identities of Indigenous people (Kennedy, 2021). By using original achieve images, it underscores the significance of the pursuit of belonging and acknowledgment of Indigenous peoples in colonial Australia.
The BFR campaign enhances the way stories are told through the eyes of Indigenous peoples, Indigenous media, and Indigenous memes about the notion of the peaceful settlement of Australia. The fundamental principle of colonialism is to deny Indigenous peoples’ claim of their own land, languages, cultures, and identities. By declaring a peaceful settlement, it diminishes the presence, existence, innovation, and progress of Indigenous peoples. BFR memes reject this notion and criticise that the settlement was never peaceful. Memes are used as a reminder about colonial violence, traumatic events, frustrations, anger, and injustice that Indigenous peoples face every day (Carlson et al, 2017). BFR memes are demonstrated to be a powerful form of truth-telling, necessitating shared recognition and the understanding of discriminatory events of colonialisation. As an educational and knowledge sharing tool, BFR memes provide photographic evidence and the opportunities for audience to share their family accounts to reinforce the fact that there were peoples here.
As demonstrated by the BFR campaign, online community tie is an extension of family traditions, shared experiences, community spirit, Indigenous history, and culture. Opposing to the notion of the establishing of the modern society in the expense of separating traditional Indigenous authorities and values (Yuan, 2012). BFR receives support and comments from Indigenous from Australia, North America, Europe, and New Zealand as audience draw on their own personal experience of colonialism. One Indigenous Facebook user shares a first-hand ancestral account about her great grandmother and great great grandmother were forcefully removed as children from their families (Frazer & Carlson 2017). A Native American Facebook user signs off a comment by using hashtags #WeAreStillHere and #IdleNoMore. A First Nations woman based in Canada describes the forced institutionalisation of children. Non-Indigenous audiences also comment on the lack of truth-telling in mainstream education and societal narrative in which the sanitised version of a peaceful settlement mask over the brutality of colonialism (Frazer & Carlson, 2017). A worldwide audience engagement demonstrates that not only there were Indigenous peoples here in Australia, but there were also Indigenous peoples across the world.
THE IMPACT OF INDIGENOUS MEMES
The impact of Indigenous memes can be explained in several ways. Indigenous meme creation is at the interception of Indigenous culture, colonialism, traditional and online community, technology, and craftivism. Indigenous people use digital text and images to reject the ideology of colonialism. Indigenous memes function as a truth-telling means to bring forth awareness about Indigenous history and the brutality of colonialisation. The making of missing peoples has become an online movement led by a local and global network of Indigenous peoples and supporters. The BFR movement fosters a sense of togetherness as audience embrace a sense of duty to share ancestral stories, political and cultural history in their respective regions. The BFR movement highlighted those traditional social relations can be extended from face-to-face setting to online environment as supporters are mobilised for social actions. BFR illustrates that this Facebook group is a thin community in which social participations are led by loose networks of local and global strangers. It also brings people together and establishes new relations as history, culture, politics, and identity intersect.
THE NEED FOR INDIGENOUS NARRATIVES IN MODERN AUSTRALIA
Internet memes have become a ubiquitous part of acknowledging traditional owners of the land, social change and raising cultural awareness. Participatory practices such as meme-making invite and encourage Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to find new ways to express solidarity and support. Networks and user-generated content become increasingly important to mobilise supporters and promote Indigenous issues in a society in which the diversity and representation of Indigenous peoples in local and state government agencies, and the business and media sectors are still lacking (Duarte, 2017). BFR adds to long line of positive social campaigns that elevate Indigenous diversity and voices in modern Australia. BFR is one of the examples that demonstrates the positive use of political arts and social networking sites to complement traditional forms of collective action and political expression (Bennett & Segerberg, 2012). In looking at social media content, production and participations associating with truth-telling and social action, it also reflects the need for Indigenous expressions, narrations, and representations in mainstream media and social media to increase diversity and drive change.
CONCLUSION
The study of meme production and engagement amongst Indigenous social media users require further investigation. This paper has argued that Indigenous memes creation is worth examining by discussing how memes are created and utilised for truth telling and recollection of colonialism, the impact of BFR memes on shared experience and solidarity, and how Indigenous voices and representation are much needed in mainstream media and social media. This paper has demonstrated that memes are a powerful visual and cultural response to acknowledge the presence and existence of Indigenous peoples. This paper is intended to invite conference participants to consider the impact and the important role Internet memes can play in the context of Indigenous communities, and how a campaign such as BFR is made possible by an online community that values ancestral history and acknowledges those who came before them.
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Hi Magdalen, this is an interesting perspective, thanks for the piece.
I have always seen memes as a way to build inside jokes and are mostly shared within a community, not between them. You mention the need for more mainstream attention, do you think memes can be leveraged to do this?
I had a look through the Facebook page and didn’t find much. If you have any links with good examples of memes I would love to see them.
Hi Raymond, thank you for reading and your comment. You have some great points there. I think memes, in the context of Indigenous culture and history, speak to community members as they have shared experience and trauma. With social media, like Facebook, people found each other and share their family stories whether it be Australia based communities or North America. These memes are certainly not the Distracted Boyfriend types, Indigenous memes have a cultural meaning that is very close to the heart of Indigenous peoples. I guess, in TED Talk term, these are stories that worth spreading. This is essentially what memes are.
In terms of mainstream attention, I think social media affordances can certainly increase Indigenous representation. One hashtag can be powerful, one IG post can be powerful, and organisation such as IndigenousX is utilising social media and the Internet to ensure Indigenous voices are heard – they are very much focused Indigenous narratives (articles and podcast created by Indigenous producers), which is still lacking in mainstream media.
Not sure if this helps. Here is the link to the BFR Facebook group. The paper written by Frazer and Carlson can also shed light on Indigenous memes.
Many thanks
Mags
Hi Mags
Congratulations on a great paper, and thank you for helping me discover Blackfulla Revolution, a really positive use of social media if ever I’ve seen one. As you say above, the great thing about memes is they are so spreadable, and in the space of Indigenous activism can be such powerful political tools, using humour to soften the blow of truth-telling. The more indigenous peoples all over the world utilise the Internet in such ways, the better their stories will be told, and no doubt the stronger their communities will be. And hopefully relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples will be strengthened.
You may have already come across the “Indigitube” app in your travels, but I highly recommend it if you haven’t, lots of fantastic music, videos and podcasts.
Hi Diana, thank you for your comment. Really appreciate.
I will check out this “Indigitube” app, I haven’t come across before. It sure will be very helpful as I am really interested in Indigenous media. It is a new topic area for me. I also really like the work that IndigenousX is doing, I just wish to see more representative in everyday life (social media and offline) and in the media. Also I think Indigenous language is important. Like in NZ, speaking and learning Maori is increasingly common (I see it at conferences, gov website)… would really like to see similar actions here in Australia. Anyway… going side track. But I really learn a lot by looking at this topic.
Thanks again for your comment. I really enjoyed your paper too.
Cheers
Mags
Hi Mags, I really enjoyed reading your paper. I had not heard of BFR before but will certainly keep eye out for their memes. Re telling the true history of this nation is important work. I read through the Carlson and Frazer article that you cite.. How do you feel about their summary that the “colonial assemblage” still exists in Australia, only in a different form? Do you agree or disagree?
Hi David, thank you for your comment.
Colonial assemblage is such a key topic of discussion in the Carlson and Frazer article. I do think it still exists in Australia. I didn’t get to use Klein’s article (The Indigenous development assemblage and contemporary forms of elimination in settler colonial Australia), but she dives into the colonial assemblage discussions on how policies and legal frameworks, discourse, actors and corporations interconnect with each other in the contemporary forms. Carlson and Frazer cited Buchanan’s observation, which I think is worth thinking about. Buchanan claims “assemblages always strive to persist in their being [. . .] they are subject to forces of change, but ultimately they would always prefer not to change” (2017, p. 463). Real change comes from deliberation, openness, understanding and representation (and not a photo op or a PR speech). Indigenous way of thinking is different from Western thinking, yet, how often do society acknowledges Indigenous perspectives which are valuable and cannot be ignored – see Yunkaporta’s Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World and Zoe Todd’s An Indigenous Feminist’s Take On The Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ Is Just Another Word For Colonialism. I wish I could dive into this more and connected these points in my essay.
Thank you for your comment again.
Cheers
Mags
I agree with you Mags, Id never thought of Australia being a consistent assemblage of colonialism, but it makes sense. If you think about it in that way, it helps you see things from an indigenous point of view. Change is a hard thing to bring especially with something so ingrained. Hopefully, with movements like the social media examples that you have mentioned, we can start to see more understanding and a shifting in attitudes.
Hi Mags,
I enjoyed your paper. I always thought of memes as inside jokes and dark humour that those in the community could utilise, however is often inappropriate for those outside the community – as you illustrate in the example with the FB group.
I must say, I’m not too familiar with BFR or indigenous movements before this paper.
I like how the use of memes can be seen as a continuance of visual story telling.
Hi Ruby, thank you for your comment. I learnt a lot from writing this paper and honestly did not know about Indigenous memes and BFR. In thinking about what to write and from what perspectives, I think this is a useful example to include as a case study.
Cheers,
Mags
Hi Magdalen,
Thank you for writing and sharing such an insightful paper. It was enlightening to learn about how the use of memes has shown positive results in advocating for key Indigenous causes and combating colonialism. It was also interesting to learn the origin of the word Meme, which I had no idea about!
It was disappointing to read about the use of memes used to cause damage to marginalised communities, do you believe there is a need for a better response from platforms such as Facebook to more effectively address online hate?
I found this statement released from Facebook stating what they are doing to tackle online hate:
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/what-were-doing-to-tackle-online-hate
Thanks for a great paper!
– Sami
Hi Sami,
Thank you for your comment. I find it interesting to link memes to genes. I just wish I could dive into this further. In thinking about your question about if I think there is a need for a better response from platforms such as Facebook to address online hate more effectively. Short answer is yes. Facebook offers mechanism to help users such as blocking profiles/ accounts, message controls and comment controls to help users to manage harmful content themselves. But the damage is done, this is damage control. Harmful content is still created, spread and circulated, and cause harm to marginalised community.
Facebook is reluctant to do more, as the company wants to balance moderation and freedom of expression. It becomes difficult when some perpetrators are anonymous and pseudonymous, and hide behind jokes and humours, making it hard to hold them accountable for their actions. The Aboriginal Memes Facebook page as mentioned in this paper, Facebook did not delete the page but it was classified as ‘‘controversial humour”. https://www.smh.com.au/technology/contents-removed-from-racist-facebook–page-20120808-23tr1.html – It seems that jokes, anonymity and pseudonymity will always get away.
Facebook can’t rely on AI either as AI isn’t perfect. AI can work faster, but not in real time. https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/13/21562596/facebook-ai-moderation. Users or media reporting therefore becomes an important way to take down harmful content but the reviewing process isn’t perfect either. In the case of the Aboriginal Memes Facebook page, Facebook basically did nothing. By adding a disclaimer ‘‘controversial humour” on the page, it makes things worst.
Thanks Sami for your question. Happy to hear your thoughts too.
Cheers
Mags
Hello. I have found your paper to be interesting. The Indigenous community being part of the minority group end up facing negative stigmas. I went to check out the cartoon made by Bill Leak, and it was pretty misinformative and as they display hate speech and racist representation of the Indigenous communities. It’s cool to know that there are people trying to fix this representation like the Blackfulla Revolution and are trying to hear out the voices of the Indigenous communities. The thing what was fascinating was the fact that Indigenous Australians take these memes which are normally used for the purpose of entertainment and position them in a way to tackle deeper serious issues and advocate.
Could you say that the memes are the main culprit to the spread of these negative stereotypes, or would you say that they are heavily inspired by other content posted on the internet?
You are welcome to check out my paper where I discuss the how another minority group (Muslims) use their social media platforms to tackle islamophobia and other negative stigmas put forth on them.
THE LINK: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/780/muslim-women-identities-against-islamophobia/
Regards
Asli
Hi Asli, thank you for your comment. I think memes can be used positively or be misused – just as other visual medium (print, videos, deepfakes). It depends on how technology/ image is used and who are the actors, what is the hidden agenda, what is the context and what attitude is being conveyed. I do think participatory tools and practices are only going to get easier to be used (and misused), it can inspire and support, destroy and cause damage. The tension is there and will always be there. I think the second part of your question is interesting, do ‘bad’ memes inspire others to create? In a way yes. Memes are designed to be spread and like, creators want their content to be like and be popular. Can good memes outrun bad memes? I hope so.
I look forward to reading your paper. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Mags
Hi Magdalen,
Great paper! Really interesting topic and read. I did not know much about the use of memes with the Indigenous community or much about BFR and other Indigenous movements. I learnt a lot from your paper especially the discussion of memes used negatively for those outside the community it is targeted at. I also thought your discussion of how memes can be a way to form modern day story telling was a topic I never though of and such a positive trend to bring to the online community.
Great paper displaying an Indigenous perspective to social media culture online!
Cheers,
Lorena
Hi Lorena, thanks for your comment. Glad you find it interesting. I find BRF an thought-provoking case study (and certainly there are others too, such as #IndigenousDads and Indigenous initiatives being carried out by IndigenousX) because I’ve read so many papers about memes in the context of racism and online harassment. I thought BFR offers a different perspective (to me anyway) that worth exploring. I really want to contribute a paper to this stream. It’s been a good learning experience.
Thanks again
Mags
Hi Mags. I enjoyed your paper. quite provocative. Mad me think of many things but I particularly found myself wondering, “Why MEMES?” When I think of the rich variety of cultural expression through the arts, from music and dance to storytelling and painting. I would like to hear more about the successes or failures of these extensions of indigenous cultures online. Certainly, in Australia particularly, humour has always been a great social lubricant. In my lifetime i have watched Italian, Greek, Asian, Indian and Muslim comics break down barriers and encourage a celebration of their cultural identity. So I wonder whether you think memes fit into this landscape? I hadn’t heard of BFR. If you can offer any useful links, I’d love to have a look. You might like to read my paper: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/300/me-2-0-the-ability-for-individuals-to-perform-multiple-selves-online-allows-greater-freedom-than-ever-to-explore-their-identity-at-a-cost/ I’d be interested in your comments.
“
Hi Brendan,
Thanks for your comment. In thinking about your question: ‘why meme’, in this particular context, I would think that BFR is seen as a movement that responds to Australian Memes (a Facebook group that posted racist memes depicting Indigenous peoples negatively). Australian Memes was reported but Facebook classified it as “controversial humour”. Australian Memes were certainly not controversial humour – they were offensive. https://www.smh.com.au/technology/contents-removed-from-racist-facebook–page-20120808-23tr1.html
My second observation on “why memes” follows Dawkins’ view about memes as genes, it’s linked to the evolution & survival of a cultural idea/meaning. By using memes as text – in the age of social media – has the potential to spread that a cultural meaning/narrative. In the context of BFR memes, these memes are functioned as a reminder about colonial violence, traumatic events, political struggles etc. BFR memes also served as a reminder that there was never a peaceful settlement.
I do consider BFR a positive and successful movement, and certainly attracts academic’s attentions. As indicated in the research conducted by Frazer & Carlson (as cited in my paper), the authors mentioned that at the time of writing in 2017, BFR images were liked about “300 times and shared 137 times. A total of 269 comments from dozens of users were generated, ranging from 2 to 299 words in length” (Frazer & Carlson, 2017, p.13). Instead of looking at the campaign as a qualifiable success based on numbers or by comparing to other standard (if any), Frazer & Carlson were more interested in community responses and evidence relating to solidarity. Good to know that BRF is still alive and kicking today (link to follow). If we only look at likes and followers, as of now, BRF has 190,174 page likes, and 188,667 followers.
In thinking about your comment on the role comics play in breaking down cultural barriers and encourage a celebration of cultural identities, in the context of BFR memes, the purpose is to educate a wider audience about Indigenous history and modern struggles. These memes serve as a reminder about colonial violence, and call out racist rhetoric. Content produced by Indigenous media and Indigenous hands can facilitate Indigenous perspectives to be known and heard. Together with initiatives by IndigenousX and movement such as#IndigenousDads, BRF plays an important role in to foreground Indigenous issues and struggles in the media AND social media landscape in which Indigenous representation and perspectives are underrepresented.
Links:
Frazer & Carlson, 2017 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2056305117738993
BFR https://www.facebook.com/ourcountryourchoice/?ref=page_internal
Thanks again. I look forward to reading your paper.
Cheers
Mags
I am a big fan of Richard Dawkins. And I think his concept of memes adds an essential ingredient into our understanding of the evolution (exactly the right word) of culture. I have been thinking a lot recently about this human anthill and our extraordinary interconnectivity. Imagining what AI is going to bring and how this may accelerate a shared consciousness, shared, collective memory, shared values. It sounds like science fiction now, but looking at the rate of change technology has wrought on culture in the past 50 years, I actually think we’ll see something like this in our lifetime. How individuals handle this, how young minds cope, how it empowers, and who it empowers waits to be seen. Can you see any downside to this evolving interconnected consciousness? I’m thinking, as a stunning example, the level of shared consciousness globally over the invasion of Ukraine.
Hi Brendan, thanks for your comment. Agree, I think Dawkins’ gene/ meme theory is fundamental to understanding how cultural meanings and narratives spread and survive.
That’s very Asimovian in a way 🙂 AI is quite real and not very sci-fi at all. Technology that makes AI automation functional is already here.
In reality, I hope that businesses, users and even the law can focus on AI’s fit for purpose and how companies can use human rights by design, and where do the law and ethic fit into this, or educating people about consequences will ultimate guide us to be smart about it, be prepared, monitor and deliberate. I also think education and raising awareness about the use of technology can young minds and not so young minds.
In terms of interconnected consciousness, it can help us, it can challenge us, it can bring us together or hate each other – depends on context. One example comes to mine. Some reality TV shows allows viewers to vote and the one who has the lowest votes gets eliminated; people sharing Wordle on Twitter; or use of hashtags to support Ice Bucket challenge. In this context, our interconnected consciousness is commercialised, it’s a capital, it’s all part of the shared value ecosystem. Throwing social media affordance into the question, how long our consciousness will be interconnected? A day or a week? What’s next? It will collapse and rebuild again taking another form.
Cheers
Mags
Hi Magdalen, I found your paper to be really interesting and I learnt a lot of things! the Bill Leaks comic is something that I was aware and have actually studied in other units! I didn’t know that the #IndigenousDads movement was a result of the comic however! I had a look into the hashtag more and it was really great to see a positive movement stem from a disgusting cartoon. I also really enjoyed the lay out and format of your paper, the headings made it really easy and enjoyable to read.
Hi Eleanor, thank you for reading my paper. I also learnt a lot too from my research and from engaging with other participants here. As David has commented, I hope social movement such as BFR can create more understanding and a shifting in attitudes about what the struggles Indigenous peoples are facing. As shared with others, the BFR Facebook page is still live, worth checking out how much they have progressed since its launch.
Thanks again,
Mags
Hi Magdalen,
This was a very interesting read, I learnt a lot from this paper as it was not a topic I knew much about previously. I think from your paper that the Blackfulla Revolution is a great use of social media and memes. Using memes as a form of storytelling is a great way for others to pay attention. It was also educational to see how the memes can be used to advocate for Indigenous causes and combating colonialism. Great work.
– Rebecca
Hi Rebecca, thanks for your comment. This is such an important topic, one that I look forward to exploring further in the future. I hope to shift the focus to Indigenous media, and read/ watch with great interest about media operation such as IndigenousX.
Cheers
Mags
Hello Magdalen,
Well I’m really glad to have read your paper. It was a very refreshing one, well-written with insightful discussion, and even if I am not specifically an Indigenous person, I have learnt a lot about the Indigenous communities through the examples such as BFR you have used, so thank you for that. I believe that indeed the Internet has become a powerful tool for people to bond and create communities, but also engage in advocacy when their cause are been ‘looked down upon’. However, I don’t know if you agree with me, but memes usually convey a sense of humor, usually dark humor, don’t you think this would be inappropriate for Indigenous people to see their culture being portrayed through mediums used to make people laugh ?
Best,
Julie
Hi Magdalen,
I enjoyed reading your fresh perspective on memes! Although, I think that society often describe memes as an image of a “joke”. I would like to hear your thoughts on whether people will be able to get the message that is put inside the memes and take the concern seriously? Or do you think that social media posts or YouTube video will be more effective in speaking out one’s opinion?
Thank you!
Brenda
Hi Magdalen,
I learned a lot from your paper, thank you for this fantastic piece of work.
I did not know abou the Blackfulla Revolution, it’s indeed a positive use of social media. Indeed the use of memes and its spreadability has demonstrated that it can be a massive tool for Indigenous communities in combating colonialism in a peaceful and humoristic way. Unfortunately, I think it does not get enough visibility as people talking about those memes outside of the community might felt like its degrading or harmful.
In an era where social media influencers have a significant audience and reachability towards different audience, it would have been enriching to see if they might reshare such memes in advocating for Indigenous causes. However, with cancel culture and spread of misinformation, I can see why they won’t put their reputation at risk as it might seen inappropriate for some people.
Thank you again,
Shivam
Hi Magdalen,
This was quite an insightful read! It’s interesting how new technologies have been utilized by people from different cultures in similar ways. Although some racist ideologies are cruelly behind many internet memes it’s nice to recognize that some good is coming from this online trend.
Zoe