Memes to Movements: How the World's Most Viral Media Is Changing Social Protest and Power

When I think of internet memes it’s silly ones like the nope octopus or lolcats that immediately come to mind, so I was intrigued by the idea that they are becoming a serious and powerful driving force behind social movements. This book explores how they are remixed and transformed, how they foster narrative building and cultural shifts, how they mirror, reflect, amplify and distort culture, and how they move from the digital world to the physical world. I never paid memes much attention before but will from now on!

I was familiar with most of the American memes so it was interesting to read about their origins and effects, as well as to learn about memes from other countries (China, Mexico, Uganda, etc.) that were new to me. It was show more also interesting to learn about the various forms internet memes take.

I was surprised that, despite being about a visual subject, this book included no images. On the one hand, the memes were well described and are easy enough to google if needed. On the other hand, many people (like me) read physical books in order to take a break from screens, so including some images would have been convenient and appreciated.

The one bad part of the book was the coverage of the “Hands up! Don’t Shoot!” (and #BlackLivesMatter) memes inspired by the death of Michael Brown. The author says they “echoed early testimony that had suggested Brown had died with his hands up” (pg 81). Witnesses did say that, but those witnesses ultimately admitted to lying and the officer was found to be justified in defending himself. At first I figured the point of the book is how memes push social movements, so going into the details of how a specific meme was built on lies might have been a digression. But a later chapter focuses on memes founded on falsehoods that spread misinformation, so why wasn’t the Brown story brought up again there? Social injustices deserve attention, but it’s also an injustice to ignore when deceptions are used to fuel protests. Perhaps this rush to blindly ignite outrage is why Jussie Smollett thought he could get away with staging a hate crime recently?

Other than that it was a good book, so I would recommend it albeit with reservations that the book may have some glaring omissions as far as historical fact goes.

(Please note that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.) show less

A lively and informed survey of how meme culture intersects with social and political movements around the world in an accessible analysis that doesn't shy away from big ideas but also takes the time to provide definitions and context. I appreciated the author's authoritative account packaged so that it didn't have the heaviness and theory-laden texture of an academic book. This is not to say it's light weight. It's just well communicated.

That's actually especially difficult when discussing memes, which are highly contextual, often playful, quite frequently signalling membership in an in-group that understands the message. An Xiao Mina provides that context and lets us in on what both familiar and unfamiliar memes actually mean.

There show more have been a lot of excellent books published recently about social media and digital culture. Rarely do they have the global perspective as this book. (Zeynep Tufekci's Twitter and Teargas is an exception.) The author not only introduces readers to Chinese, Ugandan, and Mexican memes, she connects them thematically to the points she wants to make about how memes reflect and contest meaning as we negotiate what kind of society we want to live in. She touches on how hard it can be for oppressive states to control the spread of memes but also on how states can enter the field to sow their own havoc or punish offenders and suppress speech. She also does a good job of connecting the playfulness of memes to social movements and how they establish themselves visually and virally. Fascinating survey of how memes play a role in social movements in the past and today. show less

Even if you're already familiar with memes as a concept, this book will likely expand your understanding about what memes "do" for us and how they begin. It will definitely expand your appreciation for memes as an important and growing force across the world. If the strategy of using memes began among suppressed movements, Mina shows how authoritarian governments quickly became adept at using and diluting memes. Memes tend to travel on the most adored, familiar creatures common to their local culture. Perhaps that phenomena means it will be hard for any one force to commandeer control over humanity's latest means of communicating.

This is a scholarly look at how memes have changed the internet, and emerged as a political force, focusing primarily on the U.S. and China, although it mentions other countries as well, such as Mexico, or several Latin American countries. In China, memes have been particularly valuable, as Chinese censorship practices often make straightforward political posts difficult or impossible. The book also mentions how meme culture can work as a polarizing force, which certainly seems to be something that you see here in the U.S. Memes are uniquely suited to helping people find their tribe, which can be both a good thing, as a unifying force for like groups, and a bad thing, as once everyone is sorted into tribes, it is difficult to find show more common ground.

The book also elaborates on how new technologies, like AI and bots, or other internet inventions, like hashtags, have helped to shape meme culture, and how the sharing of online memes can lead to real world action. This book seems well suited to a college political science class, and I can certainly see it leading to thoughtful discussion about how memes are used, and what their potential may be from here. show less

A very sound analysis of the ways in which memes impact, expand and influence social movements on both ends of the political spectrum. It’s an interesting book even if you aren’t a political scientist or a technologist.

An Xiao Mina demonstrates how memes are not merely fun and silly, but also have real-world political ramifications. They can help spread dissent, both in nations with a vibrant political culture of free speech and those that are quite repressive. Alas, Mina's work is too filled with academic jargon and will be hard for a popular audience to wade through. It also lacks the kinds of images one would expect in such a book.

This was not the book that I though it was going to be. It was a little dry, but I was able to get through it. I did want to read something outside of my normal, and this was it. It was interesting to see where certain memes came from and how much power they had to sway people into becoming social political movements. When you think something is just a funny gif or picture, sometimes there is a whole story behind it. I don't think I can look at certain memes the same again.