Laughing at revolutionary times: the socio-linguistic and pragmatic functions of Jordanian political humour after the Arab Spring

Barahmeh, Yousef

doi:10.1080/20581831.2022.2105053

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The political context of the Arab Spring in Jordan has thus raised questions about the use of humour as a tool to challenge power and undermine the government discourse about reform and its processes, without necessarily challenging the status quo or undermining the higher power (the monarch). Such humour, Barahmeh (2022) found, has constantly called for reform of the government but not for regime change or revolution. It has regularly created a transitory carnivalesque politics, where the status quo is always returned afterward.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Jordanians (still) 'humourless'?

Barahmeh¹

2023

EJHR

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This article discusses the stereotypical misrepresentations held about Jordanians being ‘humourless,’ and how had the 1989 political opening affected the production and reception of humour in the country. I argue that the difficult economic conditions and increasing pressures after the 1989 political opening have produced more humour and carnivalesque resistance against power and the government in Jordan. Indeed, this political event along with other increasing economic problems and hardships from the 1990s have challenged the stereotypical notions about Jordanians being humourless and po-faced. However, it was not until 2011 that a large number of ordinary people and humourists began more fully engage with carnivalesque and subversive humour that resist power and demand change. Thanks in large part to the revolutionary moment of the Arab Spring and the development of social media technology, which has offered an alternative and independent platform for people to make fun of themselves and of the people in power.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Jordanians (still) 'humourless'?

Barahmeh¹

2023

EJHR

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“…These indications reflect some key moments of diversification in Jordanian society and its reception of humour, and how humour has been both reflective of and participative in this complex of cultural forces. This discussion matters because these jokes have later influenced, in ways explained in Barahmeh (2020;2023a;2023b), the development of Jordanian political humour from the 1989 political opening to the 2011 Arab Spring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The linguistic approach has taken a trajectory and included recently Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of carnival and the carnivalesque for thinking about Jordanian politics and political humour in social media spaces after the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions. Barahmeh (2020;2023a) has found that Bakhtin's 'marketplace' is no longer the streets and material public spaces, but rather the social media spaces. He provided examples of carnivalesque humour in social media spaces that target the government (but not the monarch) to cope with socio-economic inequalities and the absurdities of political power.…”

Section: Ethnic Humour Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jokes that made fun at the then Arab presidents were widely circulated in Jordanian streets as a way to vent anger and frustration about the consequences of the war that ultimately went against their ideological inclinations in supporting Saddam and Ba'athist Iraq at the time of the war. By the same token, Barahmeh (2020;2023a) has found that political humour in Jordanian social media spaces after the Arab Spring has provided Jordanians with a safety valve to release their tensions because it has provided them with a 'discharge' (to let off steam) for restive views about the government and the parliament without crossing the 'red lines' of criticising the monarch.…”

Section: Ethnic Humour Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identity politics and ethnic humour in contemporary Jordan

Barahmeh

2023

EJHR

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Following political turbulence and instability in the Middle East, Jordan has become a home for a large number of Palestinians, Iraqis, and Syrians, and now includes a significant number of Egyptians in its workforce. This growing diversity in the population has impacted the country not only socially and economically but quite noticeably in terms of identity politics and ethnic humour (how do indigenous people perceive the other(s) and how do others perceive the indigenous people?). This is explained through the rising tensions between Jordanians and Jordanians of Palestinian origin in relation to the formation of ethnic humour that is based on the idea of urban and rural division in Jordanian society. The discussion in this article argues that the people of Transjordanian towns, such as As-Salt, At-Tafilah, and As-Sarih, have ‘unexpectedly’ become the target of many ethnic jokes by the urbanites in Amman and elsewhere, who now make up the majority of Jordanians of Palestinian origin. The people of these Transjordanian small towns and villages have been the target of Jordanian ethnic humour because of their backwardness, lack of discretion, and stupidity, compared to the cleverness, modernity, and high culture of the Jordanian urbanites and their cultural superiority. However, since the 2011 Arab Spring, the people of these Transjordanian towns have developed a counter-superiority tendency to laugh at the powerful in urban centres and make fun of the government and its institutionalised discourse about reform and progress.

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“…In fact, very few 'carnival-goers' in Jordanian social media spaces have actually wanted to challenge (or change) the power of the King or the Hashemite royal family. The carnival humour in Jordanian social media spaces after the 2011 Arab Spring has performed what YousefBarahmeh (2023a) has called 'licensed disruption' because it has allowed ridicule of the government and members of the parliament but not of the monarch. In this case, the Hashemite regime has remained constantly 'crowned'…”

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confidence: 99%

The collective and individual expressions of humour in social media spaces

Barahmeh

2024

EJHR

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This article seeks to establish a theoretical framework for considering how the collective and individual expressions of humour in social media spaces have been used and presented in the socio-political context of Jordan after the 2011 Arab Spring. This framework moves from the collective to the individual and makes Mikhail Bakhtin and Sigmund Freud complementary to the study of Jordanian social media humour after the Arab Spring. It argues that Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of carnival and the carnivalesque (folk humour) have a functional similarity to Sigmund Freud’s theory of humour (release theory) because both seem to agree on the role of repression to influence the production of humour. Although repression is being understood differently (for Bakhtin it is political repression, which is usually a conscious decision, while for Freud it is self-repression, which is usually unconscious), humour can provide us with a strong mechanism for overcoming repression, or at least, giving the individual or the crowd the impression that they are challenging repression without necessarily challenging the status quo i.e., calling for regime change or revolution.

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Laughing at revolutionary times: the socio-linguistic and pragmatic functions of Jordanian political humour after the Arab Spring

Cited by 3 publications

References 18 publications

Are Jordanians (still) 'humourless'?

Are Jordanians (still) 'humourless'?

Identity politics and ethnic humour in contemporary Jordan

The collective and individual expressions of humour in social media spaces

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