KOM Higher Seminar - Investigating social resilience in media and communication research

Presenter: Hui Zhao, Postdoctoal Researcher, Department of Communication, Lund University

Abstract: In this seminar, I bring together three interrelated studies from my postdoctoral research, all centered on the theme of crisis communication and social resilience. These projects explore how marginalized communities and ordinary citizens experience and respond to crises—through institutional frameworks, digital platforms, and everyday communicative practices.

The first study (co-authored with Jesper Falkheimer), published as a book chapter, focuses on ethnic minority communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a case study of the “Neighborhood Mums” in Helsingborg, we developed a model of community-based crisis response through the lens of communication inequality. The study reframes resilience not as an individual attribute but as a collective process—one cultivated through trust, participatory engagement, and the strength of local networks.

The second ongoing study (co-authored with Åsa Thelander) shifts the focus to digital culture and examines how citizens co-construct understandings of the global energy crisis through internet memes. By analyzing the most widely circulated memes on Twitter between 2021 and 2023, we identify two primary strands: political and policy-oriented memes, and everyday life memes. Both function as communicative strategies for coping, bonding, and making sense of uncertainty. This study highlights how seemingly trivial or humorous digital expressions can, in fact, hold affective and political significance—offering shared critique, emotional relief, and alternative imaginaries of resilience.

The third study (also in collaboration with Jesper Falkheimer) is a systematic literature review, currently in progress, that maps how resilience is conceptualized within communication research—particularly in relation to marginalized groups. The review underscores the enduring impact of communication inequalities—such as language barriers, institutional mistrust, and digital exclusion—in amplifying social vulnerability.

Together, these studies invite a rethinking of resilience as a dynamic, communicative, and culturally embedded process. They advocate for a crisis communication approach that is inclusive of diverse voices, grounded in everyday practices, and sensitive to the contexts and power relations that shape how crises are experienced and navigated.

Presenter: Martin Lundqvist, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Communication, Lund University 

Abstract: In this seminar, I discuss a book chapter on memes and social resilience that has come out of my postdoctoral fellowship. The study is concerned with how contemporary Belfast riots are represented in digital culture, with a specific focus on how social resilience is discursively cultivated (or hindered) through memes about said political violence. While a substantial amount has already been written about everyday practices in post-conflict Belfast, less is known about how digital narratives represent and make sense of the recent outbursts of sectarian violence there, and what the implications of these narratives are for the discursive cultivation of social resilience in the city. This is problematic as it is increasingly acknowledged by social resilience scholars that digital practices may be both a driver of disinformation and polarisation, as well as a tool for building more socially resilient societies. Given that memes are one of the dominant digital communication practices of the day it is urgent that we explore social resilience from this analytical perspective. The findings demonstrate that memes about political violence may be both destructive and productive of the discursive cultivation of social resilience in Belfast.