Makmende Amerudi: Kenya's Collective Reimagining as a Meme of Aspiration

Participatory Media Cultures: Virality, Humour, and Online Political Contestations in Kenya

“…The recipe used was to set up satirical factoids with absurdly exaggerated claims about Makmende's toughness, invincibility, fighting style, and masculinity (Kaigwa, 2017). While the #Makmende memes incorporated local cultural references, they also appropriated global icons to demonstrate the inferiority of these figures in relation to the Kenyan superhero (Ekdale and Tully, 2013). By doing so, the #Makmende narrative attempted to subvert the often unilateral communication flows from the Global North to the Global South and the cultural hegemonies perpetuated through Western media.…”

“…One such example is #Makmende. In 2010, a superhero Kenyan vigilante named Makmende became Africa’s first viral Internet meme (Ekdale and Tully, 2013; Kaigwa, 2017). Makmende was used in the music video Ha-He by the group Just a Band (2010), as the song’s protagonist.…”

“…In addition, #Makmende also well exemplified the fact that, in participatory cultures, audiences are active in the creation and spread of media content among online peers in an interactive, non-hierarchical process independent of elite-driven institutions (Jenkins et al, 2013; Kahne et al, 2015). Here, the participatory playfulness drew on spreadable and viral media to create and share stories and memes of inspiration through which Kenyans collectively reimagined a mythical hero from their teenage years who could lead the country towards political and economic stability at home, and cultural and technological dominance abroad (Ekdale and Tully, 2013: 284).…”

“…With the country still reeling from the political crisis and faced with a contentious constitutional referendum, fans created Makmende tales, videos, and artwork that re-imagined a hyper-masculine hero who embodied the hopes and vision of the country, going as far as picking him as their presidential candidate of choice (Ekdale and Tully, 2013). Online users re-imagined a superhero, marvelling at the skill and style of Makmende.…”

Beauty work

“…Via interviews, the study considered postfeminist notions of empowerment and increased upward mobility derived from subscribing philosophically to beauty as social capital, communally to YouTube's beauty vlogosphere, and financially to the necessary technological and product consumption. To do this it was necessary to engage transnational feminism to unpack the tacit assumption that YouTube and beauty ideals are centered in the U.S. patriarchy (Grewal, 1999), as beauty YouTubers are, in fact, employed all over the globe and are creating transnational communities that operate within the global economy, which ICON sought to tap into (Ekdale & Tully, 2013).…”