[Air-L] Book Publication: The Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic Tacticality

[Tom Divon]

Hello, Digital Culture thinkers!


Thrilled to share this recent publication by the Institute of Network
Cultures in Amsterdam (INC) - *The Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic
Tacticality* (edited by Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz).


The INC Reader series is derived from the Institute’s conference
contributions and ties together many academic and non-academic thinkers
dealing with the (political) power of memes beyond virtual images. This
collection emphasizes the ability of memes to serve as tactical “weapons”
in times of conflict. The multimodal novelty of memes has proven its
efficiency in mobilizing people in events like the Capitol riots, sparking
memetic violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and playing a
substantial information delivery role in the war in Ukraine. It seems that
in times of conflict, memetic warfare becomes more immediate and accessible
than real-life demonstrations, and the distinction between the virtual and
‘real life’ no longer applies, or perhaps was never there?


This collection delves into the current events that have driven the spread
of memetic responses through digital infrastructures, policies,
regulations, and bodies. Furthermore, this collection envisions the concept
of "memetic tacticality" as a catalyst of a cultural revolution and raises
important questions such as what kind of labor would require to
materialize this reality? What kind of tools and principles would we need?
And what if the memetic logic of spreading information were applied to
promote the dissemination of progressive ideas that could pave the way for
a better future?


Get the full book here (PDF):

https://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Critical-Meme-Reader-II_Memetic-Tacticality_INC-2022_INC-Reader-16.pdf

*Book Content:*



Preface / Geert Lovink

Introduction / Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz

*Part 1: MEMETIC AMMUNITION*

# Political Meme Toolkit: Leftist Dutch Meme Makers Share Their Trade
Secrets / Chloë Arkenbout

# Benevolent Edgelords: Specters of Benjamin and Memetic Ambiguity / Pierre
d’Alancaisez

# Semiotics of Care and Violence: Memetization and Necropolitics During the
Brazilian 2018 Presidential Elections in the Action #MarielleMultiplica /
Isabel Lögfren

*Part 2: SUBVERSIVE MEMES TO THE RESCUE*


# ‘Let’s Go Baby Forklift’: Fandom Governance in China within the Covid-19
76 Crisis / Jamie Wong

# Playful Publics on TikTok: The Memetic Israeli-Palestinian War of
#Challenge / Tom Divon

# Memes as Schemes: Dissecting the Role of Memes in Mobilizing Mobs 106 and
Political Violence / Bhumika Bhattacharyya

# Like a Virus / Daniel de Zeeuw, Tommaso Campagna, Eleni Maragkou, Jesper
Lust and Cwarlo De Gaetano

*Part 3: MEMES AND (MENTAL) LABOR*


# I’m Not Lonely, I Have Memes: The Cognitive (Disembodied) Experience of
140 Depression Memes / Laurence Scherz



# EVERY MEME MAKER WE KNOW IS EXHAUSTED / Anahita Neghabat and Caren
Miesenberger


# Not Like Other #Girlbosses: Gender, Work & the #Gatekeeping of Meme
Capital / Christine H. Tran

*Part 4: A WORLD CRITICIZED THROUGH MEMES*


# Memes in the Gallery: A Party Inside an Image Ecology / Marijn Bril Get
in Loser



# We’re Criticizing the Art World: Memes as the New Institutional /
Critique Manique Hendricks



# The Rise and Fall of Web4U (2033-2063) / Jasmine Erkan and Emma Damiani



# Oprah Memes, or Dis-articulations of Affect / Katrin Köppert



# Speculate — or Else! Blockchain Memes on Survival in Radical Uncertainty
/ Inte Gloerich

*Part 5: AT THE END OF THE ROAD, THERE’S MEMES*



# Memeing Reading // Reading Memeing / Jordi Viader Guerrero



# You’ll Never Feel Alone — Thoughts on Relatability / Florian Schlittgen



# The Promise of Memes: The Case of Fotonski Torpedo / Mariana Manousopoulou



# ‘Then We Could Explore Space, Together, Forever’: On Hope and Memes /
Savriël Dillingh