Portrayal of Women Through Zambian Memes
Keywords:
Internet Meme, Disparagement, Social Constructionism, Stereotype
Abstract
Among internet content produced by internet users, are memes. Facebook and WhatsApp have become an integral part of society in this age of social media where the young generation and older adults engage in social interaction. These memes, sometimes, carry wrong perceptions and messages that can create false consciousness among the people. The notion of gender is culturally and socially constructed. Social media sites have reinforced the concept of gender stereotyping through its content. These sites are invisibly controlling people’s lives by transferring the stereotyped ideology. Stereotypes have been a central theme in memes on social media. Some Facebook and WhatsApp memes are portraying women in the way gender roles have been represented. The study adopted a disparagement or superiority theory and social constructionism theory to examine the content of Zambian memes. Data for this article was drawn from general scanning of Facebook and WhatsApp. This study analyses how women are portrayed in Zambian memes on social media, particularly Facebook and WhatsApp. In this regard, this study used purposive sampling and selected 100 Facebook and WhatsApp memes as samples but only thirty were analysed in this study. Using thematic analysis of the sample, the representations of women in the Zambian memes sampled exhibited negative constructions of women and womanhood. Further, the findings showed that the language used in Zambian memes not only imparts joy and laughter, but also some statements that convey hatred, sarcasm, viciousness, and vulgarity to women.References
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40. Shifman, L. (2007). ‘Humor in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Continuity and Change in Internet-Based Comic Texts,’ International Journal of Communication. Vol. 1, pp. 187-209.
2. Braun, V., and Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
3. Cantor et al. (1973). Resentment Toward Victimized Protagonists and Severity of Misfortunes they Suffer as Factors in Humor Appreciation. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality 6, 321–329.
4. Chilala, C. (2006). An Analysis of Gender Issues in Zambian Literature in English. University of Zambia.
5. Chilala, C. (2003), ‘Marriage, Gender and Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House: A Zambian Perspective,’ in: Proceedings of The Relevance of A Doll’s House – Translation and Adaptation, International Ibsen Conference, Dhaka, Centre for Asian Theatre, 101-108.
6. Chilala, C. (2011), ‘The African Narrative Tale as a Tool of Education,’ in: Shifra Schonmann (Ed.). Key Concepts in Theatre/Drama Education, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 159-162.
7. Chilala, C. (2013). ‘Through the Males Eyes: Gendered Styles in Contemporary Zambian Fiction,’ in: Reuben M. Chirambo and J.K.S. Makokha. Reading Contemporary African Literature, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 91-108
8. Croteau, D., and Hoynes, W. (2003). Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences. London: Pine Forges Press. 14. Print.
9. Davison, P. (2012). ‘The Language of Internet Memes,’ in Michael Mandiberg (ed.) The Social Media Reader, pp. 120-134., New York University Press, New York.
10. Dawkins, R. (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
11. Dynel, M. (2016). ‘I Had Seen Image Macros!’ Advice Animal Memes as Visual – Verbal Jokes. International Journal of Communication (19328036), 10, 660 – 668.
12. Eagly, A.H., and Steffen, V.J. (2000). Gender Stereotypes Stem from the Distribution of Women and Men into Social Roles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 46 (4). 735-754.
13. Ferguson, M.A., and Ford, T.E. (2008). Disparagement Humor: A Theoretical and Empirical Review of Psychoanalytic, Superiority, and Social Identity Theories. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 21, 283-312.
14. Ford, T.E. (2000). Effects of Sexist Humor on Tolerance of Sexist Events. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 26, 1094–1107.
15. Ford, T.E., and Gray, J. (2013). The Role of Social Context in the Interpretation of Sexist Humour. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research, 26(2), 277-93.
16. Freud, S. (1960). Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. Trans. James Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
17. Galvin, R. (2003). The Making of the Disabled Identity: A Linguistic Analysis of Marginalisation. Disability Studies Quarterly, 23(2), 149-78.
18. Gergen, K.J., and Davis, K.E. eds. (1985). The Social Construction of the Person. New York:
19. Springer-Verlag. Hobbes, T. (1996). [1951] Levithan. New York: Oxford University Press.
20. Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Canada: South End Press.
21. Hornby, A.S. (2010). The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English.
22. Idle, N., and Nunns, A., (2011). Tweets from Tahrir. Egypt’s revolution As It.
23. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. Print
24. Jessica et al. (2018). Old Jokes, New Media Online Sexism and Constructions of Gender in Internet Memes. Feminism and Psychology, Vol. 28(1) 109–127.
25. Keith-Spiegel, P. (1972). Early Conceptions of Humour: Varieties and Issues: in Jeffrey H. Goldstein and Paul E. McGhee (eds.), The Psychology of Humour: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Issues, 4-39. New York: Academic Press.
26. Knobel, M., and Lankshear, C. (2005). ‘Memes and Affinities: Cultural Replication and Literacy Education.’ Paper Presented to the Annual NRC, Miami, November 30.
27. Krohn, F. (2014). A Generational Approach to Using Emoticons as Non-verbal Communication. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 43, 321 – 328.
28. LaFrance, M., and Woodzicka, J.A. (1998). No Laughing Matter: Woman’s Verbal and Non-verbal Reactions to Sexist Humour, in J. Swim and C. Stagnor (Eds.), Prejudice: The Target’s Perspective (pp. 61-80). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
29. Lemish, D. (2008). ‘Gender Representations in the Media,’ International Encyclopedia of Communication (Vol. V). Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 1945-1951.
30. McRobbie, A. (1994). Postmodernism and Popular Culture, London: Routledge.
31. Metz and Cade (2016). ‘Forget Apple vs The FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on Encryption for a Billion People.’ Wired. Conde Nast.
32. Millett, K. (1970). Sexual Politics. New York: Doubleday and Company.
33. Mutunda, S. (2016). Portrayal of African Women in Folklore: A Case Study of Proverbs among the Lunda in the Northwestern Part of Zambia. International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities. Vol. 4, Issue 2. Pages 508-527.
34. Mutunda. S. (2017). Through a Social Linguistic Lens: An Analysis of Luvale Proverbs, International Journal of Investigations. Vol. 4 No.5: 54 – 73.
35. Nasrina, S. et al. (2018). Analysing Threads of Sexism in New Age Humour: A Content Analysis of Internet Memes. Indian Journal of Social Research Vol. 59 (3) (355-367).
36. Nowshin, J.E. (2020). Global Journal of Human-Social Science: C Sociology & Culture.Vol. 20 Issue 7 Version 1.0 Year
37. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2010). Oxford University Press.
38. Rouse, M., and Dean, A. (2014). FACEBOOK: More than just a Social Networking Site. Retrieved 5 October 2017 from internet technologies glossary :http//whatis.techtarget. com/definition/facebook.
39. Santaella, L. (1996). A Cultura Das Mídias. São Paulo: Experimento.
40. Shifman, L. (2007). ‘Humor in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Continuity and Change in Internet-Based Comic Texts,’ International Journal of Communication. Vol. 1, pp. 187-209.
Published
2022-08-14
How to Cite
Imbuwa, M. (2022) “Portrayal of Women Through Zambian Memes”, Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 5(1), pp. 32-51. doi: https://doi.org/10.53974/unza.jlss.5.1.791.
Section
Articles