“What’s in a meme?” A thematic analysis of memes related to COVID-19 in Jordan

Abstract

In modern time, man has changed the ways to communicate, connect, and express thoughts. Using memes is one of the modern human means to sending messages and interacting. This study aims to investigate the thematic content of internet memes in Jordan during the first two months of COVID-19 pandemic. To accomplish this, a total of 337 memes were collected, analysed, and discussed. This study is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. It uses qualitative content analysis methods to analyse its data. The study reveals that memes in Jordan in this period of time have different thematic content. The following themes have emerged from the data: lockdown, society and culture, politics, online education, family relations, health, religion, and China. The study shows that the most common themes in the data have been lockdown and society and culture, whereas the least common themes have been China and religion. Investigating memes offers a better understanding of the relationship between language and culture. Further research has been suggested in this study.

تسمية محطات فلترة المياه في الأردن

“…The last two names refer to a traditional red-and-white headdress worn by Jordanians to symbolise their loyalty and belonging to the country and its heritage. Previous research shows that Jordanians often use this theme in various public domains, such as graffiti, car inscriptions, and shop signs (see Al Rousan, 2005;Darwish & Al Rousan, 2019). As in most societies in the world, the theme of patriotism sells and is often used as a marketing strategy, as in shop signs and products.…”

The Aesthetics of Employing Conglomerates (Pebbles) in the Plastic Achievements of the Artist Hajar Al-Tayyar

“…There is also an intentional balance by the artist in the direction of the camel's convex hump with the arc arising from the meeting of the two palm trees at the top. However, the artist created an intentional anxious balance through the number of dates in the arjun of each palm, where it appears in the arjun of the right palm (13) dates and the fallen on the ground (4), so the total is (17) dates, while the arjun of the second palm on the left contains only (8) dates, And there is nothing on the ground of dates. Here, the artist used her intelligence to leave the interpretation to the viewer himself, as she knows without a doubt that she was raised in this rich heritage, and knows that camels love dates just like humans, so this camel fell on the dates that fell on the ground and ate them without a doubt about that.…”