[Commlist] CFC: Ridicule and Humour in the Global South: The politics of laughter in the social media age

Reminder

Note from the editors: "In the previous call we might have given an 
impression that the focus of the book was Africa only. To make a 
correction, we are looking for chapters that focus on the global south."

*Proposed title: *Ridicule and Humour in the Global South:  The politics 
of laughter in the social media age

Ridicule and humour, while making people laugh and at times appreciate
their conditions of existence or even push them to make alterations – as
a capacitor for change – has been one of the accessible ways of coping
or bringing about change in society. In some cases it has been the
dictators’ ways of resisting change. Daily we encounter humorous
engagements thanks to the digitized public spheres which have made these
accessible on the click of a button. While humour, ridicule and comedy
could be seen as lighter and pleasant forms of and to human
communications, identity markers, they have the potential of engendering
hatred, violence and hatred based on social, political, ethnic or racial
lines. However, in some cases attempts at humorously depicting societal
ills and perceived realities have led to debates and attitudes that may
drive people apart, moreso in ethnically or racially fractious
communities like South Africa where the privileged few stained with
‘whiteliness’ and white privilege insist that the world be seen, and
understood to function only through the way they see and understand
it. Brazil also has seen a rise of race-based and gendered violence and 
humour. Besides, many different contexts find themselves having to 
contend with various types of commentary, some of which couched in 
humour so as to be palatable.  In other cases, humour has been critical 
at providing people with an
avenue to face their fears especially during disasters and pandemics
like the Coronavirus (Covid-19) and others, political crises such as
coups and stolen elections and many others.

This edited book collection attempts to link crucial nodal points in
politics, identity and humour in the digital age in the Global South.
This work is different from other seminal works on humour and politics
which have largely not focused on the digital age where ordinary
citizens’ agency has been amplified and they have participated in some
debates in ways unimagined before. For instance most researches on
humour look at newspaper cartoons, rumour and folklore and these are
disseminated through platforms whose reach is limited. This book project
therefore attempts at looking at how digital media have made debates and
spread of humour, politics and identity ubiquitous. The book will offers
a nexus between identity, ridicule, humour and digital media where
ordinary people’s engagements with those issues considered taboo such as
politics and identity are brought to the fore and engaged with. The book
is expected to draw a wide array of chapters that problematize and
theorise humour  and ridicule in the digital age. Underlying this humour
and ridicule are of course issues that deal with the political, be it at
national, global or even village level. Identity, too, has been a
critical aspect on the menu of the ridiculous and comical especially in 
the Global South where racial and ethnic tensions remain rife and 
pronounced. The
role of the digital media in this regard remains under-theorized in
academic works and this book partly covers that lacuna. Further the
chapters are to gauge how these discussions have liberated certain
debates and what this means for coping or encouraging agential
citizenship to foster change, cope with difficulties and how dictators
use different forms of humour as suppression or resistance strategies.

Topics expected to be covered include theories of humour and ridicule in
Global South in the digital age,

Humour in Global South politics,

Disparagement humour,

Hate speech and Humour,

Humour and disasters in the digital age

    Humour and ridicule in the digital cultures,

    Humour and ridicule,

Humour and desensitization,

Humour, identity, ethnicity and race,

Humour and art,

Humour and politics,

Humour and the marginalized,

Humour on social media,

    Humour, politics and culture,

Humour and ethics in the digital age,

Humour and taboo,

Humour as coping mechanism and humour as disciplining the political elite.

Please email chapter proposals of up to 500 words in length, as well as
brief author biographical information, to the volume editor at
(shepherd.mpofu /at/ ul.ac.za) 
<mailto:(shepherd.mpofu /at/ ul.ac.za)> <mailto:(shepherd.mpofu /at/ ul.ac.za) 
<mailto:(shepherd.mpofu /at/ ul.ac.za)>> and copy
(semang.mathobela /at/ ul.ac.za) 
<mailto:(semang.mathobela /at/ ul.ac.za)> <mailto:(semang.mathobela /at/ ul.ac.za) 
<mailto:(semang.mathobela /at/ ul.ac.za)>> . These
should be sent through by the 30^th of April 2020. Decisions on
proposals will be made and communicated to authors around May 20, 2020.



Cricket civilizes people and creates good gentlemen I want everyone to 
play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.Robert 
Mugabe
---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------