Source?: Memes as Spiritual Expression in a Post-Truth Landscape

Abstract

This thesis explores the prevalence of spiritual content in internet memes despite decreasing religious affiliation in America. Part I traces the relevant histories that make memes an effective mode of expressing and negotiating existential concerns, including postmodernism, capitalist realism, Web 2.0, and American political and religious traditions. Then, a methodology based on teleology and affect (as opposed to etymology and origin) is implemented to analyze the primary case study: a meme format in which users provide sources that are intuitive and unprovable. Part II creates a typology of these sources and explores their implications.