#rp25 speaker Annekathrin Kohout: I meme, therefore I am

Generational identities are a constant topic in our digital culture - from “Boomers” to “Millennials” to “Gen Z”. But why exactly is that? At #rp25, the cultural scientist and author talks about how digital meme communication has become a tool for negotiating identity conflicts.

The idea that people of the same age group share certain characteristics is not new. Back in the 1960s, Helmut Schelsky already coined the image of a “skeptical generation”. Nowadays, memes allow us to break down complex generational conflicts visually and transform them into easily shareable content.

However, memes  do not only comment - they actively shape what they claim to reflect . As a result, we are seeing an increasingly fragmented division into generations today, with each age group being assigned its own set of cultural traits . Where homogeneous attributions for people once seemed outdated , they are now resurfacing  through generational memes - with social consequences.

Annekathrin Kohout works as a freelance author and cultural scientist. She is co-editor of the book series “Digitale Bildkulturen” (Digital Image Cultures)  and the magazine “POP. Kultur und Kritik“ (POP. Culture and Criticism) and a member of the editorial board of the international ”Journal of Global Pop Cultures". She also publishes non-fiction books on net feminism, nerds and K-Pop. Since 2024, she has also written the monthly column “Feed Interrupted” for taz. In addition, she teaches at various colleges and universities, currently at University of Arts in Berlin.

The motto of re:publica 25 is ‘Generation XYZ’. What is your message for future generations with regard to the digital society?

Annekathrin Kohout: “Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. (David Foster Wallace)”