‘I’m not blue or green. I’m black’. The participatory entextualization of translingual memes and metapragmatic comments in transnational sociopolitical discourse

Mei Ya Liang, Shiou Ping John Pan, I. Ting Tsai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article examines sociopolitical discourse in the democratic network society of Taiwan from translingual and transnational perspectives. Ten multimodal memes from two YouTube videos and the associated metapragmatic comments were analyzed. This study combined a discourse-historical approach and translingual analyses of YouTube users’ meme-related discursive strategies, which link historical and political rhetoric to recently circulated linguistic ideologies and cultural stereotypes. This study suggests that the discursive processes of meme-making and interpreting on social media can be understood as networked publics’ performative acts in participatory entextualization with larger sociohistorical formations. The results may provide insights into the translingual practices in the specific multilingual society of Taiwan and into broader everyday democratic participation in a globalized transnational network.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)445-461
Number of pages17
JournalDiscourse and Society
Volume34
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2023

Keywords

  • democracy
  • discourse-historical approach
  • entextualization
  • meme
  • metapragmatic stereotypes
  • network society
  • sociopolitical discourse
  • translinguality
  • transnationality

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