Speaker
Jeremy Trevelyan Burman (York University)
Title
The Misunderstanding of Memes: Biography of an Unscientific Object, 1976-1999
Abstract
When the ‘meme’ was introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1976, it was as a metaphor intended to illuminate a poorly-understood biological concept. By the late-1980s, however, we see from its emergence and use in major US newspapers that the meme had become a poorly-understood psychological concept: it had been made the equivalent of a virus of the mind; the cause of thought contagion; an atomic unit of cultural meaning. (In the UK, by contrast, this occurred slightly later: in the mid-1990s.) Yet this disciplinary shift – the meme’s move from biology to psychology and cultural studies – cannot be understood on the basis of the original proposal itself. Indeed, it is clear that the cause of its jumping disciplines was external to the original text. As a result, we must read the meme through lenses provided by its popularization—particularly through the influence of Daniel Dennett. But in doing so we must also be aware that this ‘meme’ is quite different from the original; reshaped by context to serve a new and different purpose. As a result, its changing meaning speaks more to the contexts through which it has been popularized than it does to the needs which originally informed its genesis.
Note
The paper that accompanies this presentation will be pre-circulated and should be read prior to attending the colloquium. If you wish to attend, but have not yet received a copy of the paper, please contact the Colloquium Coordinator, Jacy Young via email