There’s going to be a seminar on memes at the science site

There will be a lunchtime seminar on memes at 1pm in CLC047 tomorrow, Wednesday 31 January 2018, according to 'Digital Humanities Durham'.

With emails sent to undergrad students, is this an important look into the cultural phenomena we encounter every day online, or plain ridiculous?

This email was circulated to English first-years

The 'Digital Humanities Durham' Twitter page states: “Internet memes should be seen as a form of literacy [which] is not only needed in order to understand [them], but also functions as a gatekeeper, marking communal belonging to a group 'in the know.'"

After various rumours over the last few years about degrees in memes being started, and with The Tab Durham having appointed its first Meme Editor in 2017, perhaps it is time we embraced the clearly deeply academic field of memes, in a way that surpasses Durhameme?

The twitter advertising for this seminar (mostly done through the medium of memes) has, it has to be said, been pretty poor considering the potential.

Image Credit: Meme Editor, The Tab Durham.

One first-year student at Castle told The Tab: "It's an insult to the nation that produced Shakespeare, Byron, and Churchill, that we should have to put up with this nonsense".

Much of the psychological and digital jargon describing what will be spoken about in this seminar encapsulates the thing we all notice about memes: the almost depressing reminders of common affinity as you scroll through various pages on Instagram.

Memes make us realise that we are in fact, just like everybody else. The term 'meme' was originally coined by Richard Dawkins, to describe gene-like units of culture that proliferate in society.

Image Credit: Meme Editor, The Tab Durham.

Perhaps studying memes in the way the seminar promises will more academically rewarding than you think. So, meme lovers, get ready to go along to what will probably be one of the weirdest academic events of the year and enjoy.