The visible virus: the pandemic through internet memes. An approach to the case of Uruguay

Abstract

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has disrupted the routines and daily certainties of millions of people. During the crisis, cultural practices and consumption had a relevant role in the symbolic elaboration of an unprecedented social event. Within the universe of cultural practices, memes were great protagonists of social media. These cultural objects had a catalytic effect on anxieties and fears due to the humor that characterizes them, but they also fulfilled other social functions, building identity narratives, making visible criticisms and mutual representations between social groups. In this paper we will explore the narratives of the Uruguayan experience of the pandemic through a qualitative analysis of a set of memes. We consider the period from March 2020 to February 2021, and we work with a sample of 165 memes that circulated on Facebook and Instagram. We propose that there was a story of the “Uruguayan exceptionality” built through operations of identity affirmation and distinction against “other external”, “other internal” and “other close”.

Keywords

• pandemia
• covid-19
• memes
• redes sociales
• consumos culturales
• uruguay