“Keep calm and…”: The power of creating humorous and relatable history memes in the classroom

Nena will first introduce the general idea of using memes in the classroom and the two different, yet both controversial and emotionally loaded contexts where the tool has been tested.

You will then be introduced to this lesson plan hands-on by going through it yourself. First, you will be then introduced to the “internet meme” as a concept or idea expressed through pictures, gifs, symbols, words, or anything else that is relevant to the creator of the meme and the audience they are sharing it with. Then, by making your own memes, you will be able to explore in what way this tool requires critical positioning toward the topic; releases creativity and fosters empathy but is at the same time fun, entertaining and engaging method, particularly close to the needs of today’s digital generations. Furthermore, you will learn how the tool of memes and the method of learning by creating memes allows to explore the ways of translating the controversial historical events through humor and by constructive confrontation of conflicting emotions, images and media.

The workshop is inspired by the pilot version that was delivered by Tea Sindbaek and Tippe Esner in Denmark in 2019 in the frame of Again Never Again project funded by European Commission. This pilot project addressed histories of mass murder and genocide in relation to processes of othering and dehumanization of today. The second inspiration of this workshop was the upscaling of another project (done by Nena herself) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This project dealt with the controversies related to the collective memory of the 1990s wars in the divided classroom in Mostar.