A multimodal analysis of Ethiopian memes on the Facebook group Ethiopian vs. Egyptian Meme War

Abstract

Internet memes are an emerging genre currently prevalent in computer mediated discourse (CMD). Image macro memes which consist of a still image with added text are now widely used to portray political ideologies, ethnic stereotypes as well as gender representation. In the present study, a sample of memes was purposefully collected from the Facebook group Ethiopian vs.Egyptian Meme War, posted by Ethiopian users in 2020 and 2021 in relation to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), with special focus on memes portraying Egypt and Egyptians. Drawing on Machin and Mayr's (2012) framework for Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA), the researcher analyzes the visual and textual elements of the selected memes with the aim of exploring the representation of Egypt and Egyptians on social media by Ethiopian meme makers against the backdrop of the GERD crisis. The findings reveal that selected memes may be distinguished as harmful memes since they depict Egypt and Egyptians in a derogatory and offensive way through both visual and verbal elements.