“Meme-Ing” Peace in Northern Ireland: Exploring the Everyday Politics of Internet Memes in Belfast Riots

Authors

  • Ivan Gusic Department of Government, Uppsala University.
  • Martin Lundqvist Department of Communication and Media, Lund University.

Keywords:

political violence, Internet memes, humor, everyday peace, Belfast, postwar

Abstract

How do Internet memes about political violence in postwar Belfast speak to or against the peacebuilding process in Northern Ireland? Our findings demonstrate three dominant ways in which memes engage with such violence: (a) poking fun at violence, (b) poking fun at rioters, and (c) normalizing violence. Memes poking fun at violence destabilize the banal nationalism underpinning the conflict in Northern Ireland, whereas memes poking fun at rioters position the sectarian (and/or socioeconomic) “other” as inferior. Memes that normalize violence do not necessarily entail a defeatist resignation to political violence—even if that might often be the case—as they also provide comic relief by constructing a shared identity in an otherwise divided city.

Author Biographies

Ivan Gusic, Department of Government, Uppsala University.

Ivan Gusic is an assistant professor at the Department of Government, Uppsala University, Sweden. 

Martin Lundqvist, Department of Communication and Media, Lund University.

Martin Lundqvist is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Communication and Media, Lund University, Sweden. 

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Published

2023-10-14

Issue

Vol. 17 (2023)

Section

Articles

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