Building and Shifting the Discourse
Using memes to change the discourse
Dear collaborative discussion friends,
This week we are highlighting a playful activity that helps participants understand the concept of discourse through the use of memes. Participants discuss how ideas shape our perspective about the world and everyone in it. This activity also explores different methods that are used to make particular ideas gain momentum or become part of the discourse. It encourages participants to imagine how they can creatively challenge such methods and create change by shifting the discourse around a particular topic.
This activity is contributed by Timothy Ruback, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern Maine. It is one of the many activities in the Civic Collaboration Module.
If you missed the previous activity plan newsletter, Recognizing Power Imbalances in Decision Making, you can access it and our other weekly newsletters by subscribing below.
This week's activity:
Activity 5.6 – Building and Shifting the Discourse
Using memes to change ideas about the world
This activity introduces participants to the concept of discourse. Participants discuss memes and how they can be part of discourse. Participants then brainstorm strategies for creating memes and work in small groups to create memes for the scenario assigned to their group. Each group then share their memes with the full group.
Prepare for the Activity
Create your own scenarios or share these Scenarios for Memes with each group as handouts or a shared document.
Organize participants into three small groups (4-8 ppl). Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity:
Understand how ideas shape our worldview and identify hidden assumptions.
Recognize tactics used to make ideas gain traction and consider how these could be creatively challenged.
Facilitator Tip: If you have the time to do so, this activity works well over two sessions. One advantage of breaking up the activity into two sessions is that you can ask participants to send you electronic copies of their memes prior to the second session. This allows you to check each group's memes for appropriateness and prepare them to be shared with the whole group.
Introduce the Activity and Discuss Memes
Share this short introduction to the activity:
For many, our experience of the world is dependent on our worldview. In some ways, this is exciting because it can be easier to imagine people changing their minds than it can be to conceptualize large, systemic material change. But it can also be unsettling because ideas and beliefs may sometimes be based on factually incorrect information, or unstated assumptions that have important consequences. In this activity, you will be challenged to change the world by changing ideas about the world.
Start a brief conversation about memes:
Where do we see memes?
When, if ever, do we share them?
What are some of our favorite memes?
Introduce the Concept of Discourse
Introduce the concept of discourse as a series of ideas, shared in many different places, that communicates some important meaning about the world and peoples’ place in it. Talk about the ways in which memes may be a part of discourse. Important points here include:
Each meme is only a part of a larger whole.
It seems unreasonable to think that any one meme can shape how people think about things.
But when similar ideas are repeated often enough, they seem to become normal.
Share Instructions and Scenarios for Memes
Explain that participants will be working in small groups to generate a series of original memes designed to change peoples’ minds about an important issue. They can caption their creations by using an online meme-making site like Meme Generator.
Remind participants that their captions must be original captions written by the group. They have the option of captioning their own images or using a popular image (e.g. Kermit drinking tea, Distracted boyfriend, etc.). ALL meme content must be appropriate for a classroom or group setting.
Assign one of the three scenarios to each group. Ask the groups to read through their respective scenarios.
Facilitator Tip: Be prepared to answer technology questions about how to create memes. Some participants will do this quickly, others may not. Rather than giving them a set number (like 6 or 10), encourage the groups to make as many memes as they can.
Brainstorm Strategies for Creating Memes
Before small groups start to create their memes, brainstorm strategies as a full group about ways to create memes that can shape discourse. Possible important points you can share to spark ideas include:
Don’t advocate for a specific policy position, if it’s very far from what most people currently believe.
Think about the unstated assumptions behind your preferred outcome. What do people need to believe before your position will seem reasonable?
Ask yourself – how do you change those assumptions?
Think about appealing to emotions – both positive and negative ones.
Think about whether you want your memes to be based on the facts you know, or whether you want to stretch the truth.
Break into Small Groups and Create Memes
Invite participants to break into the three small groups (4-8 ppl) and start creating their memes. While working on their memes together, ask them to use the following questions to guide them:
Who is the audience you’re trying to convince? What values are important to them?
What do they currently think about the world and their place in it?
What do you want them to think about the world and their place in it?
What needs to change before people will accept your point of view? How do people need to think differently?
How do your memes contribute to the discourse? Which ideas are you trying to change with your memes? How are you doing it?
Do your memes fit the facts that you know, or are you trying to contradict those facts? If you are trying to fake the facts, how are you doing it, and why?
Which of your memes seems to you to be the most effective? Why do you think it is effective?
It may be helpful to share these questions on a board, shared screen or other surface visible to the whole group for participants to refer to as they create their memes.
Debrief as a Full Group
Invite each group to present their memes in order (i.e. group A, B, and then C). Discuss the following questions:
Where do you see common themes and strategies?
What important differences do you see?
When considering all the memes together as a collection, how would you order the memes for the greatest effect?
In addition to these debriefing questions, the full description of Activity 5.6 Building and Shifting the Discourse includes reflection questions, a practice journal prompt, and additional resources to help participants dive deeper.
Dive Deeper by Pairing Activities Together
Activity 5.6 can be paired together with Activity 2.5 Cultivating a Willingness to Play. Both of these playful activities help participants flex their creative muscle and practice using different methods to pitch solutions or ideas. While Activity 5.6 uses memes, Activity 2.5 introduces participants to Monroe’s Motivated Sequence, which is commonly used in advertisements. Memes and Monroe’s Motivated Sequence are both a type of short form content that pushes participants to think outside the box in order to convey an idea and persuade others while working within the constraints of using a limited number of words and images. By using these techniques, participants are also able to reflect on how and why these methods work and how to also creatively resist or challenge them.
If you try out this activity, please share with us what you think:
We hope this toolkit activity helps participants understand how ideas shape our worldview, uncover the hidden assumptions behind these ideas, recognize different methods used to make ideas gain popularity or enter the discourse, resist these tactics in creative ways, and change the world by transforming ideas about it.
Looking forward to collaborating,
Ritu Thomas & the Collaborative Discussion Team