Making way for memes in the social science classroom: How generational media preferences may impact discussions of racial inequities

Abstract

This pilot study analyzes student responses to two political cartoons which satirize racism in varying national contexts. Eight moderated focus groups viewed political cartoons then shared reactions via survey and discussion. We found that participants responded negatively to a French cartoon which they perceived endorsed racist attitudes. Participants had more positive responses to an American cartoon which they perceived to “punch up” at the racial hierarchy. A third, unanticipated set of findings relates to participants' spontaneous feedback that though they welcomed the use of popular comedy in teaching, political cartoons felt less engaging than other media formats. This left us with a new question to explore in a future second phase of our project: How can instructors consider generational differences regarding media preferences when selecting popular comedy materials for use in classroom discussions of racism? We speculate that memes, rather than political cartoons, may provide a more effective springboard for discussion. We plan to incorporate memes in the second phase of this project, a cross‐national study regarding the use of popular comedy materials as springboards to classroom discussions about racism.

“That's funny but…!”: University students, humor, and critical consciousness about anti‐black racism

“…Leo Kant and Elisabeth Norman have enumerated the limitations of BVT including failures to: (1) clearly distinguish among joke tellers and listeners; (2) adequately account for power imbalances; (3) adequately account for cultural contexts. We found support for Kant and Norman's claims regarding power imbalances (and competing norms) and extended their list with generational differences regarding humor formats as a factor impacting receptivity to comedic/satirical materials (Poudel et al, 2024).…”

“…But a specific question could prompt all students to rate their answers about useability. And, as indicated in Poudel et al (2024), our choice of comedic materials should include political cartoons and memes.…”

“…Each focus group views a brief PowerPoint presentation explaining concepts and some potentially offensive elements in the comedy materials they are about to view. Then, students view 2 political cartoons and 3 comedy videos (the cartoons are discussed in Poudel et al, 2024). After each viewing, participants answer survey questions rating how "Funny" (simply amusing or laughable) and "Satirical" (ironic, ridiculing, exaggerating to impart a point or raise an issue) cartoons/videos are on a scale of 1-10 (1 being not funny/satirical and 10 being extremely funny/satirical).…”

“…On the con side, humor offends and distracts, thereby impeding learning. On the pro side, humor enhances learning, improves student-to-professor engagements, and provides effective springboards for discussion (for the full review see Poudel et al, 2024).…”