Hyper-Nationalism in Indo-Pak Social Media Memes on Indo-Pak Conflict 2025: A Comparative Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

This study critically investigates hyper-nationalism in Indo–Pak social media memes shared during the 2025 Indo–Pak conflict using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA). It examines how memes construct hyper-nationalist narratives, national identity, and representations of the rival nation through visual, textual, and symbolic elements. The study adopts a qualitative, interdisciplinary approach and analyzes a purposive sample of 14 memes (07 Indian and 07 Pakistani) collected from Instagram, Facebook, and X (Twitter). The theoretical framework is based on Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities (2006) and Teun A. van Dijk’s Ideological Square (1998). The findings reveal that memes from both countries promoted national superiority, glorified military strength, mocked the opposing nation, and mobilized public sentiment. Visual imagery, captions, and cultural symbols reinforced hyper-nationalist discourse. The study concludes that social media memes have become influential tools for constructing and disseminating hyper-nationalism in contemporary digital culture.