Memeingful memories and the art of resistance

Abstract

This article explores the rhetorical function of Internet memes as memory actants. It contributes to an ongoing conversation about the ways in which digital communication has transformed the relationship between media, memory, and the archive by disrupting predicable “decay times” and emphasizing memory as a “connective” process rather than a “collective” product. Through an analysis of memetic responses to affective flashpoints in the collective US experience, namely, the 9/11 constellation, this article explores the potential for memes to influence not only the content of public memory but also the attitudes with which we remember that content.