Chronicles of a Meme Foretold: Political Memes as Folk Memory in India

Abstract

While memes evoke the idea of image (and text) based digital artifacts, memes are not merely visual or textual. Focusing on the demonetization drive undertaken by the BJP-led government in India in 2016, this forum piece makes the case for memes as a kind of memory culture. By this, I mean not only the representation of historical events in memes, but also memes themselves as memorial objects. Memes made in 2016 resurface even now as a form of humorous political critique and demonetization memes are further folded into critiques of current events such as the ongoing farmers' protests. Through an examination of such processes of recontextualization, repurposing and resurfacing, I demonstrate how the seemingly fragmented form of the meme impacts the way we remember through digital media. In effect, meme-culture in India accrues a “sticky” temporality that makes them powerful forms of digital “folk” archiving.