Citation

Asmolov G. Media War Conflict 2021; 14(3): 342-365.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1750635221989568

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Much attention has been dedicated to how digital platforms change the nature of modern conflict. However, less has been paid to how the changes in the nature of warfare affect everyday lives. This article examines how digital mediation allows a convergence of the domestic environment and the battlefield by offering new ways for participation in warfare. It contributes to the discussion of how new participatory affordances change the nature of conflicts and whether they empower users or offer institutional actors more control over users. To this end, this research explores the transformation of domestic spaces, mediated via memes, as digital artefacts of participatory culture (see Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, 2009, by Henry Jenkins). Building on the notion of domestication (see Domesticating the Revolution: Information and Communication Technologies and Everyday Life, 1993, by Roger Silverstone), the article conducts a discursive analysis of memes referring to the notion of 'sofa warfare' - an ironic description of internet users taking part in conflict without leaving their own sofas - in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Language: en

Keywords

critical military studies; digital militarism; domestication; memes; militarisation; participatory warfare