WhatsApp coup jokes and the dialogue on Zimbabwean politics

Mangeya, Hugh; Tagwirei, Cuthbeth

doi:10.1080/02589001.2021.1933398

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…Such studies exist (for example, Mangeya & Tagwirei 2021), but most of these studies on jokes in Zimbabwe largely focus on what Musangi calls the political joke. Whereas Musangi (2012) and Rodwell Makombe and Grace Temiloluwa Agbede (2016) focus on cyber or internet jokes and memes about Mugabe, Hugh Mangeya and Cuthbert Tagwirei (2021) interrogate jokes about the 2017 military coup in Zimbabwe. Similarly, Wendy Willems (2008, 2010 focuses on political jokes, specifically newspaper cartoon strips that mocked the elite and everyday jokes by ordinary people that critically commented on the country's political-economic crisis.…”

Section: Humor Health and Repression In Quotidian Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laughing through the Virus the Zimbabwean Way: WhatsApp Humor and the Twenty-one-day COVID-19 Lockdown

Chibuwe¹,

Munoriyarwa²

2022

Afr. Stud. Rev.

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In many African countries, jokes represent one of the many means used by citizens to cope with a crisis. Chibuwe and Munoriyarwa explore how Zimbabweans utilize WhatsApp jokes, which are anchored in the concept of the “everyday,” to cope with pandemic-induced lockdowns. COVID-19 jokes provide citizens momentary relief from fear and function as a defense mechanism against COVID-19 and its effects, enabling citizens to confront and rationalize fear, death, and suffering. Chibuwe and Munoriyarwa argue that jokes are also a means of speaking truth to power by disgruntled citizens attempting to cope with a health crisis, in a context characterized by corruption, state repression, and bad governance.

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Section: Humor Health and Repression In Quotidian Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%