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Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students

Shorthand phrases and meme culture have become rampant among university students when expressing their experiences in institutional spaces. This thesis explores the use of such phrases and memes among students as they navigate the various pressure and stressors of being undergraduate students during...

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Main Author: Mathobie, Roxanne
Other Authors: Macdonald, Helen
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Social Anthropology 2023
Subjects:
Social Anthropology
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access_status_str Open Access
author Mathobie, Roxanne
author2 Macdonald, Helen
author_browse Macdonald, Helen
Mathobie, Roxanne
author_facet Macdonald, Helen
Mathobie, Roxanne
author_sort Mathobie, Roxanne
collection Thesis
description Shorthand phrases and meme culture have become rampant among university students when expressing their experiences in institutional spaces. This thesis explores the use of such phrases and memes among students as they navigate the various pressure and stressors of being undergraduate students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the findings of this fieldwork I argue that the use of memes and phrases are central to students coping in this space as it allows for light humor and joking around the often tense and stressful circumstance. This use of humor offers up a release that while not changing the circumstance at hand allows for a suspension of tension just enough to allow students to keep going (pushing and working) through the semester. Aside from being useful as a release and breath through the tense time the use of memes and shorthand phrases has also allowed for the creating of space and community online during a time when many students have been isolated and physically distanced, unable to create new friendships. Overall, this research has found that among the nine participants use of memes and phrases such as ‘in the pits' allows for a distancing of the emotions and personal from the stressful circumstances phased, leaving enough room for light sharing that does not cost the user or listener further strain.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37592
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:27.383Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Social Anthropology
publisherStr Social Anthropology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37592 Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students Mathobie, Roxanne Macdonald, Helen Social Anthropology Shorthand phrases and meme culture have become rampant among university students when expressing their experiences in institutional spaces. This thesis explores the use of such phrases and memes among students as they navigate the various pressure and stressors of being undergraduate students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the findings of this fieldwork I argue that the use of memes and phrases are central to students coping in this space as it allows for light humor and joking around the often tense and stressful circumstance. This use of humor offers up a release that while not changing the circumstance at hand allows for a suspension of tension just enough to allow students to keep going (pushing and working) through the semester. Aside from being useful as a release and breath through the tense time the use of memes and shorthand phrases has also allowed for the creating of space and community online during a time when many students have been isolated and physically distanced, unable to create new friendships. Overall, this research has found that among the nine participants use of memes and phrases such as ‘in the pits' allows for a distancing of the emotions and personal from the stressful circumstances phased, leaving enough room for light sharing that does not cost the user or listener further strain. 2023-03-31T07:02:57Z 2023-03-31T07:02:57Z 2022 2023-03-29T12:02:57Z Master Thesis Masters MSocSci http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37592 eng application/pdf Social Anthropology Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Social Anthropology
Mathobie, Roxanne
Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students
title_full Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students
title_fullStr Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students
title_full_unstemmed Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students
title_short Speaking Distress Out of Being: An Exploration of Memes and Expressive Phrases as Jokes and Coping Mechanisms for University Students
title_sort speaking distress out of being an exploration of memes and expressive phrases as jokes and coping mechanisms for university students
topic Social Anthropology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37592
work_keys_str_mv AT mathobieroxanne speakingdistressoutofbeinganexplorationofmemesandexpressivephrasesasjokesandcopingmechanismsforuniversitystudents

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