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In the halls of Eaton, a building more than a century old, Michael Kiang and Aidan Rowan (both Class of 2020) are exploring the impact of a phenomenon sweeping the forefront of modern culture: a viral outbreak known as the meme. Inspired by their own first-year Explorations course experiences, the two initially joked about creating a course on memes after one of Aidan’s own went viral on the university meme page, reaching nearly two thousand likes on Facebook. Memes seem like the perfect subject for a student-taught course. They have become the language of high school and college students across the globe, so who better to describe this hallmark of youth culture than the youth themselves?
Aidan Rowan and Michael Kiang, Instructors of What Does it Meme? Memes in American Culture and Media
While it may seem strange to bring memes into the academic sphere, the practice of studying memes (or mimetics) first appeared outside of the social scene and within the world of evolutionary biology. Coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, the term “meme” was derived from the Greek tradition of mimesis to represent how the transference of cultural ideas evolved through imitation. A meme was not an object per se, but the thought behind a specific practice, often externalized through language or objects. However, the story of the meme is largely a story of the expansion of information technology. With the advent of the internet, the sharing of ideas—and in turn, their imitation and evolution—exploded like never before. Text became code, code became images and videos, and eventually, that esoteric process of mimesis lead to the creation of iconic memes like Pepe the Frog, or Success Kid. But what makes a meme successful, and why have memes become a cornerstone of youth expression?
Michael and Aiden run with these questions in their course, What Does it Meme? Memes in American Culture and Media. The course includes four broad units, each of which is designed to help students answer one key question: what makes a meme? Beginning with meme terminology (which of course there is plenty), the class analyzes how memes become successful within youth culture, and the ripple effect of memes into other fields like politics, marketing, or communications. Students not only analyze memes, but also create their own, thereby explicitly joining the mimetic process. “They made some great memes,” Michael commented after their most recent class, “mostly meta memes about being in meme class.” While each class is hours long, meme creation can occur in mere minutes. It is precisely this ease of access and personalization that makes internet memes so popular, and provides an easy outlet for mass marketers seeking to subscribe to youth culture.
The two juniors are not alone in their desire to teach about Internet memes. In 2011, Northwestern University sanctioned the creation of a meme studies major, and Brown University released a course this past spring entitled, “Memes and the Language of the Internet.” Clearly, memes have staying power. Michael and Aidan are hopeful about the future of memes at Tufts:
“It’s such a major part of youth culture in America, so just ignoring that would be a major disservice to a topic that is actually really fascinating…Film and Media Studies? That started in ExCollege. Who knows? Meme studies, here we come!”
About the Author
Emma Hodgdon is a senior studying English literature. Apart from reading Gothic fiction, she can be found practicing cello for the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, or dancing with the university’s ballroom dance team. She spends her free time experimenting with calligraphy, learning to speak Chinese, and caring for her succulents, Verotchka and Geraldine.
Works Cited:
Gleick, James. (2011, May). What Defines a Meme? Retrieved from
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-defines-a-meme-1904778/.
Jackson, Chelsea. (2018, June 1). This College is introducing a Meme Studies Department & BRB, I’m Transferring There. Retrieved from https://www.hercampus.com/news/college-introducing-meme-studies-department-brb-i-m-transferring-there.
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