Episode 50: Memes to Movements with An Xiao Mina

Welcome to December How Do You Like it So Far? fans! We can’t believe it ourselves, but we only have two more episodes left for the season! This week Colin and Henry are joined by An Xiao Mina, a scholar, activist and author of the book Memes to Movements: How the World’s Most Viral Media is Changing Social Protest and Power. In her new book, Mina discusses how memes can be considered a form of “street art” of the web where they are a prominent part of the discourse in today’s society. Mina unpacks memes as a distinct feature of pop culture and how they not only work to amplify today’s politics, but also continue conversations around important and socially relevant issues. She goes in-depth around the meme culture surrounding Chen Guangcheng and Ai Weiwei, but also the global meme movements involving Arab Spring and other political movements. Mina’s reveals how memes may seem disarming and fun, but finds they are intertwined with how we view the world, each other, and build narratives. She uncovers parallels between the protests in Hong Kong to other protests worldwide. Her book unveils the transformative power of memes and wonders where the memetic culture will take us next. Any cat fans out there? Mina goes into depth about how the Internet is made up of cat memes! What about goats? She argues that these animals are gaining visibility as new regions gain greater access and voice online. Listen in as Mina talks about how memes were not created from marketing meetings but emerged from playfulness and experimentation.

Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:

Cat memes
How cats won the internet
Cute Cats to the Rescue?
How Cats Became Rulers of the Interwebs

Historic stigma against cats
15th century – Pope Innocent VIII decree declared cats were an unholy creature
Chinese culture – Zodiac animals (dog but no cat)

Cartoon cats
Garfield
Heathcliff

How Cats Took Over the Internet by Jason Eppink – exhibit at The Museum of the Moving Image

Cat Celebrities

Memes – part of a culture, part of a discourse

Richard Dawkins – Memes as self replicating culture

Limor Shifman – Memes in Digital Culture
Henry’s Interview with Limor Shifman

Amanda Brennan – Meme Librarian at Tumblr

Kate Miltner – Building a community with LOLcats

Nevertheless, She Persisted – Elizabeth Warren
Merchandise for sale
boundary between digital and physical work