MPhil Research Proposal

Abstract 

This study investigates the role of Facebook memes as pragmatic tools of resistance in contemporary Bangladesh. Amid state censorship and violent crackdowns on student-led protests, social media has emerged as a key platform for dissent. In particular, humorous and satirical memes offer a subversive discursive space, enabling users to critique authority, mobilize support, and express solidarity. Drawing on a multimodal framework that combines Attardo’s General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) and Forceville’s theory of multimodal metaphor, this research aims to analyze how language, image, and cultural references interact within memes to construct political critique. The study will curate and examine a corpus of 100–150 widely circulated Facebook memes, including those from the July 2024 uprising, using qualitative discourse analysis. It seeks to identify the verbal and visual mechanisms of humor, satire, and symbolism embedded in the memes and how they operate as strategic acts of digital resistance. This research contributes to the scholarly understanding of political humor, digital activism, and multimodal communication in semi-authoritarian contexts. It also serves as a linguistic documentation of contemporary Bangladeshi meme practices of political resistance.

Keywords: Political Memes, Digital Resistance, Pragmatics, Multimodal Discourse, Humor and Satire, Bangladesh, Contemporary Facebook Memes