Constructing Mediated Prospective Collective Memory: The Role of Independent YouTube Creators during the Manipur Conflict (2023-2025)

Abstract

This study investigates how independent YouTube content creators functioned as mediated prospective memory agents in the ethnic conflict in Manipur during 2023-2025. Grounded in Tenenboim-Weinblatt’s framework of mediated prospective memory (MPM), the study employs a systematic two-stage qualitative content analysis combining inductive open coding with directed, theory-informed coding of 46 publicly available YouTube videos uploaded between May 2023 and June 2025. A codebook operationalising five MPM dimensions (framing of the unresolved case, mediated reminding cues, directive dimension, windows of opportunity, and retrospective justification) was applied by two independent coders. Results show that 69.9% of videos framed the conflict as an ongoing, unresolved crisis (FOC-1); 76.1% articulated explicit future directed demands (FOC-2); 52.2% deployed time-based mnemonic cues; and 65.2% included directive speech acts demanding governmental action. Qualitative analysis identifies four temporal narrative phases — explanation and shock (May–July 2023), sustained outrage and reminding (August–December 2023), fatigue and renewed urgency (2024), and political transition and reassessment (early 2025) — each characterised by distinct configurations of MPM codes. Findings demonstrate that independent digital creators do not merely document violence retrospectively; they actively construct a “prospective to-do list” that links unresolved past injustices to anticipated future obligations. This study contributes to the growing literature on digital memory activism and extends MPM theory to non-legacy, platform-native media actors operating in ongoing conflict contexts.