Newton Mobility Grants
Scheme 2016
British Academy &
Office of Higher Education
Commission, Thailand
Centre for Contemporary Social and
Cultural Studies, Faculty of Sociology
and Anthropology, Thammasat University
Media Ethnography Group,
Department of Media and Communications,
Goldsmiths, University of London
research seminar
30 May 2017 | 13.00 – 18.00
Professor Stuart Hall Building, Room 305, Goldsmiths, University of London
Know your Political Meme: Ways of speaking politics online in Thailand
Arthit Suriyawongkul
Foundation for Internet and Civic Culture
This article explores ways Thai internet users expressing their opinions, on political issues that may sensitive or could face legal risk. Political parody and sarcasm pages become popular in Thai Facebook since at least 2012. Many of these Facebook pages are heavily picture-based, some use readily available “image macro”, some draw their own characters. I argue that ‘meme literacy’, which include sense of humor, language competency to pun things up, and ability to communicate with memes, allows sensitive issues to be discussed and shared further. Tools like ‘meme generator’ lower the barrier for one to participate in this graphic-based conversation. Observing what are intentionally omitted from these graphics and conversation also illuminates the real limits of freedom of expression in Thailand.