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Humanities Syllabi NJIT Syllabi

Fall 2023

HSS-404 (019-021): English Seminar: Memes- Media Genres, and HSS-404 (019-021): English Seminar: Memes- Media Genres, and

Applications Applications

Johanna Deane

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HSS 404-019 Spring 2023

Wednesdays/Fridays 10am-11:20am

Central King Building 315

Course notes will be available via the Active Workspace.

Instructor: Johanna Deane

Email: [email protected] with subject heading HSS404-019

Office hours: W/F by appointment, in my office or via Webex.

Course Description

Memes have existed in some form since the early days of the Internet, but the modern memetic

concurrently as a co-requisite. Restrictions: Registration requires senior standing.

Learning Outcomes

During this course you will:

● Learn the underlying communication theory necessary for analysis of memes

● Analyze the rhetoric of memes, memetic discourse communities, and memes as

ideological practice

● Learn to navigate the scholarly literature on memetics

● Study a discourse community of your choice in order to interpret its memes

● Write an analysis of a topic in memetics

● Create memes tailored for a discourse community, building on the theory you have

You will be expected to bring an Internet-capable computing device to every class class; it will

Attendance

Participation in in-class activities, discussions, and workshops will contribute to your knowledge,

ability, and performance. At a minimum, this means showing up on time, being prepared, and

actively contributing to class discussions. Your level of engagement with the material will

subsequently impact how much you get from the class.

You may miss up to one week of class without penalty. Every subsequent unexcused absence

will result in a reduced participation grade. If you are absent for legitimate reasons (family

emergency) you must provide a doctor’s note or a note from your dean.

Do not come to class sick. I will excuse absences made due to illness, so be sure to email me

ASAP.

text for that class.

You will submit regular pass-fail projects based on the assigned readings and coursework.

If you have questions, contact me via email. I will respond to your emails within 24 hours,

except on weekends. Please plan accordingly. Remember to maintain an appropriate tone in all

school-related correspondence. This means to include an appropriate SUBJECT line and your

NAME in all emails. I will not respond to emails that do not include the sender’s name.

NJIT University Code on Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity is the cornerstone of higher education and is central to the ideals of this

course and the university. Cheating is strictly prohibited and devalues the degree that you are

working on. As a member of the NJIT community, it is your responsibility to protect your

action. This may include a failing grade of F, and/or suspension or dismissal from the university.

If you have any questions about the code of Academic Integrity, please contact the Dean of

Accessibility Needs

If you are in need of accommodations due to a disability please contact Scott Janz, Associate

Director of the Office of Accessibility Resources & Services (OARS), Kupfrian Hall 201, to

discuss your specific needs. A Letter of Accommodation Eligibility from the OARS authorizing

your accommodations will be required.

The Writing Center

The Writing Center (in the basement of Central King Building and online) is available for

one-hour individual and group appointments with professional writing tutors. This resource is

intended to help you improve your communication and writing skills. Tutors can help with

planning assignments, improving your writing, refining an essay or multimedia project, or other

● For an A (90-100), you will be expected to attend all classes (with no more than 2

unexcused absences), fully participate in all discussions and classroom exercises, engage

with your fellow students and the teacher throughout the semester, and complete at least

90% of in-class writing exercises at a satisfactory level.

● For a B (80-89), you will be expected to attend all classes (with no more than 3

unexcused absences), participate actively in most discussions and exercises, and engage

with your fellow students and the teacher for much of the semester. You will complete at

least 80% of in-class writing exercises.

● If you feel that your participation work may go unrecognized, please submit a summary

of your participation throughout the semester along with any extenuating circumstances.

You will be responsible for downloading, reading, glossing, and leading a ten-minute PowerPoint

presentation of the key points of the paper. Each student will need to sign up for one

presentation. Pick a paper on a topic in memetics that you are keenly curious about.

● For an A, you should make full use of all relevant analytical tools we have discussed at

that point in the semester, clearly articulate the context, thesis, and evidence of the

paper, and break down the memes discussed in the paper using the framework

provided by the author. You may freely disagree with their conclusions and argue your

own, but you must summarize their viewpoint first. You must provide an effective, clear,

easy-to-follow visual presentation, and must show comprehension of the paper.

● For a B, you should make some use of relevant analytical tools discussed at that point in

the semester, and should explain the context, thesis, and evidence of the paper reasonably

how key concepts apply to memetics. The two Key Concept Tests will test your knowledge of

the concepts in memetics which we have covered, and will test your ability to apply that

knowledge. They will be open-book in nature, which will help you a lot more if you do the

readings.

Memetic Analysis Paper

You will write a sequence of interconnected assignments about a topic in memetics throughout

the semester. You will have to do both research into the existing memetic scholarship and

analysis of discourse communities and the rhetorical function of memes. Whatever topic you

select, you will need to complete certain milestones as you propose, research, write, and revise it.

These milestones are pass/fail events, allowing you to obtain credit as you research rather than

provide a working thesis. Additionally, provide relevant scholarship (minimum of ten sources),

each annotated with a paragraph of analysis explaining how it illuminates your topic.

You may use up to 2 chapters of Wiggins's textbook as cited sources, and you may use up to 3

works cited in Wiggins's textbook as cited sources. Determine which questions about your topic

cannot be answered by the analytical tools presented in the textbook, and then find relevant

scholarship that can help you answer those questions.

Examples of successful past topics include:

● An analysis of the r/marvelmemes subreddit and how it memed in response to the

releases of Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

● An analysis of #NBA Twitter's use of memes both to communicate about NBA fandom

and about #NBA Twitter users' lives.

● An analysis of meta-memes in the KnowYourMeme.com community as a way to

with other discourses and memetic ecosystems, etcetera) and will explicitly analyze memes from

the community or relating to the topic, contextualize them, break them down, and explicitly

Incompletes will only be given under considerable extenuating circumstances (physical/mental

health absences, military service, child care needs, etc.).

Schedule of Classes