DIY-Online Reconciliation? The Role of Memes in Navigating Inter-Group Boundaries in the Context of Sri Lanka’s 2022 Political Crisis

Abstract

Social media is increasingly viewed as a venue for organized peacebuilding efforts. However, current research has paid little attention to the vast array of everyday, self-organized social media interactions that could help overcome societal divisions. This article analyses the role of online memes in everyday online reconciliation, using Sri Lanka’s 2022 political crisis as a case study. We argue that memes contribute to a DIY-approach to dealing with the past, helping to renegotiate inter-group boundaries in the aftermath of conflict. Memes articulate grievances, but they also engage with inter-group relations in a playful manner, thus enabling both a “sincere” and a “subjunctive” approach to group relations by describing them both as they “are” as well as how they “could be.” In combination, they can be used as a “weapon of the weak,” through which vulnerable social media users may communicate in ways that transcend dominant perspectives on group relations.