Social Voices of the Deaf Community in Memes

ABSTRACT Given the relevance of memes in Internet culture, this study aims to analyze how visual memes reflect discursive positions and construct meanings based on the social voices of the deaf community. This is a qualitative study that involved participant observation of a community account on Instagram called “surdalidades” [“deafties”]. From this account, a sample of three memes was selected and then analyzed with the support of discourse analysis. Results indicate the presence of confrontational positions, which reflect tension with listeners and with the Portuguese language, as well as the need to assert their own linguistic and cultural identity. Thus, memes are configured as forms of political expression, since the style, thematic content, and compositional structure of this genre reveal how different voices from the deaf community express themselves and position themselves through this form of visual communication.