Digital Kinship: Memes as Cultural Connectors in Digitality for People from Elementary Age Onward
{{ time.start_TS | TS2dateFormat('MMM') }}
{{ time.start_TS | TS2dateFormat('YYYY') }}
| Free Admission |
| Duration: 120 min |
| German |
| Ground Floor, Hall 3 |
| Part of: Lecture series “Family Matters” |
The concept of digital culture (Stalder 2017) expands the notion of kinship: people interact by responding to digitalized content from one another, constantly forming new communities often shaped by algorithms. Memes serve as connective elements in these digital communities; they allow people, often humorously, to show which cultural references they identify with and to what extent they feel a sense of belonging (Shifman 2014). Professor Anders’ Center for Poetic Digital Education at Humboldt University builds on this digital culture, supporting individuals from elementary school age in developing their own senses of belonging and becoming empowered members of online communities. Various school projects reveal that children enjoy exchanging meaningful content through memes and demonstrate impressive interpretative skills when engaging with the literary ambiguity in children’s literature (Anders 2024).
Participants
Prof. Dr. Petra Anders (Humboldt University of Berlin, Institute for Educational Sciences)
Prof. Dr. Daniel Tyradellis (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Dr. Alia Rayyan (Humboldt University of Berlin)
Dr. Laura Goldenbaum (Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss)
Petra Anders studied German, History, and Philosophy at the universities of Göttingen and Vienna from 1992 to 1999. After completing her teacher training in Berlin, she worked as a teacher in Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, and Hamburg. In 2010, she earned her doctorate at the University of Bremen with a dissertation on “Poetry Slam in German Instruction.” From 2011 to 2012, she was a Visiting Scholar at Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City (with a focus on Digital Storytelling and Cultural Studies). Her research interests include film and literature didactics, as well as education in a world that can also be shaped digitally. In April 2022, she received the Humboldt University of Berlin’s Teaching Excellence Award for 2021.
Anders, Petra (2024): “What different people see on the Whiteboard. Mehrdeutigkeit im multimodalen Literaturunterricht in der Digitalität.” In: Kruse, Iris/Kißling, Magdalena (Hg.): Mehrdeutigkeit als literaturdidaktische Schlüsselkategorie, Leseräume. https://urlis.net/muzovzgy.
Merlin, Dieter/Anders, Petra (Hg.) (2023): Kulturen des Digitalen als politische Herausforderung, MiDu 3/2023, https://journals.ub.uni-koeln.de/index.php/midu/article/view/2011.
Anders, Petra (2021): “Die Kultur der Digitalität und der Deutschunterricht.” In: Hauck-Thum, Uta/Noller, Jörg (Hg.): Was ist Digitalität? Philosophische und pädagogische Perspektiven. VS Springer. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-662-62989-5.pdf, 127-143.
This lecture is part of the “Beziehungsweise Familie” lecture series, which is the prelude of the Humboldt Forum’s annual program for 2025–26, under the same title.
The lecture series is being held as part of a collaboration between all institutions of the Humboldt Forum.
Head Curator for the Programme year 2025-26: Dr. Laura Goldenbaum
