Identity Construction and Representation in Education-Centred Internet Memes

Abstract

Internet memes are commonly associated with the communication of interests and opinions on social networking sites, and are used to share experiences and negotiate common ground through various contexts. Previous studies on identity construction and the use of Internet memes have not paid sufficient attention to identity construction in education-centred Internet memes. Hundreds of memes were selected from Instagram handles that contain memes on general issues out of which only seventeen representative education-centred Internet memes were selected to illustrate identity negotiation and construction in education-centred memes and to examine identity construction in educational contexts through memes. Adopting aspects of van Dijk's critical discourse analysis (CDA) complemented with Kecskes' sociocognitive approach to common ground, and Staszak's otherness as the framework for the study, data were subjected to discourse analysis. Memes give different representations and identities in the information of all and transformation of higher education through the online space.