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- Convenors:
-
Izuu Nwankwọ
(University of Toronto)
Nkatha Kabira (University of Nairobi)
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- Stream:
- Language and Literature
- Location:
- David Hume, LG.10
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
From pre-colonial court times, laughter has always ensured communal unity in Africa. Recently, offence-taking has risen due to mounting sensitivities against jokes that abuse other than amuse. What are the legal, economic and/or socio-cultural implications of this to individual existences in Africa?
Long Abstract:
Edward Hall's claim that "an understanding of a people's sense of humor is one key to the structure of that society"; underscores the far-reaching implications humour has on every aspect of individual and communal existences within Africa. Humour builds bridges across cultures; intersects with diverse values/identities, while also destroying them through derision. Indeed, it illuminates and invisibilises deeply embedded societal structures. It can thus be inclusive and selectively exclusive. For its teetering position astride the amuse-abuse divide, it inherently connects and disrupts, foregrounds incongruences and insults; propped up mostly by audience's momentary suspension of offence. From pre-colonial court jesters to modern-day stand-up and cartoon comics, laughter has had much relevance to the socio-cultural wellbeing of Africans. Recently, however, growing irritation to ridicule globally has instigated increasing criticisms against humourists. From Nigeria's Basket Mouth's rape jokes to Jonathan Shapiro's sensational cartoons of South Africa's Jacob Zuma, and to Bassem Youssef's serial run-ins with the Egyptian government, audiences have expressed dislike for the disruptions of humour despite the characteristic emotional relief and unifying shared laughter satirists provide. The panel hopes to discuss varied perspectives on the prospects and limits of African humour through multidisciplinary, historical/contemporary viewpoints that examine the connections and disruptions; analyse the significance of humour in understanding African societies; and/or interrogate myriad economic, socio-cultural and legal consequences of the tensions between offence-taking and freedom of expression within humour-generating African performances, literature, political satire, etc.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
When uncensored, cartoons can become politically engaged forms of art and activism. In my paper, I will be looking at humour in Cameroonian society in present times of civil war. Can humour break the silence of the 'public secret' (Taussig 1999) ?
Paper long abstract:
Cartoons, par excellence, are carefully composed semiotic signs appealing to humour. They capture the reader's imagination through derision, mockery, ridicule and critic. James Scott even considered humour as a powerful weapon of the weak. However, when faced with repressive power relations, laughter may get stuck and humour may turn into anxiety. Then, Edward Hall's understanding of humour as key to understanding structure and society is subverted through intimidation and fear. Humour becomes the target of those who feel ridiculed, this may be a political regime or the society at large.
In my paper, I will be looking at the humorist divide of Cameroonian society in present times of civil war. Can humour break the silence of the 'public secret' (Taussig 1999)? Can it counteract the violence of military occupation and of militants as presently to be seen in Cameroon's extreme North (Boko Haram), Southwest and Northwest (Ambazonien). Embedded into the historical and contemporary context of political satire in Cameroon, I will present the case study of a cartoonist who became an activist by drawing cartoons on civil war and founding an artivist group that engaged in critical art on political violence. As a corollary, I will discuss the social mechanism of auto-censorship and thus the reification of the public secret through domesticated political satire.
Paper short abstract:
This paper tries to explore how gender, money and power are weaved into the narrative together with stereotypes and cultural references to produce humour and laughter as a form of subversive force and resistance and how this effects emotionally and socially and builds the imagination of the Other.
Paper long abstract:
Comedy show as an acute barometer of social contexts is imbedded in power relations and constructed as a space of resistance. A video clip of the Kenyan comedian "Sleepy David" in Churchill show is widely circulated when he and an amateur Chinese female "Lei" compliment each other on the stage without understanding each other. Reasons for this manoeuvring is rather obvious. Chinese engagements in Africa are difficult to be overseen by local artists. Kenya specifically has witnessed not only the opening of the Chinese-funded SGR (Kenya Standard Gauge Railway) prior to the general election 2017 and probably also a latent "feminization" of Chinese diplomacy in East Africa (Foreign Ministry's key spokesman, ambassador to Tanzania, and to Kenya in 2012, 2017 and 2018 respectively). It was backed by the female public figures, China proposed the levelling up of Sino-Kenyan relations to comprehensive strategic partnership. Ironically enough, the Churchill show (started by Daniel "Churchill" Ndambuki in 2007 on the network of NTV) hosted the interplay with a direct reference to the China-Kenya relations. Through the interactions and (failed) communications between the performers, the show exhibits, mimics and exposes an intertwined, intricate, and dynamic power relations within China-Kenya encounters through gendered representations. This paper tries to explore how gender, money and power are weaved into the narrative together with stereotypes and cultural references to produce humour and laughter as a form of subversive force and resistance and how this effects emotionally and socially and builds the imagination of the Other.
Paper short abstract:
This paper looks at how humour can be utilised for transformative outreach and welfare in relation to gender-based violence issues in Sierra Leone. This paper draws from research exploring whether employing humour can lead to in-depth discussions related to gender-based violence in rural areas.
Paper long abstract:
This paper looks at how humour can be utilised for transformative outreach and welfare in relation to gender-based violence (GBV) issues in Sierra Leone. Humour is often understood as a spin-off of other research, or not serious enough to study. However, humour is universal. It is a means of making the unsaid more explicit, acting as a liminal narrative space that can overcome existing hierarchies (gendered and otherwise), allowing for sensitive issues (such as gender-based violence) to be discussed more openly. While humour has been explored across a wide range of academic disciplines, it has not been fully explored as a tangible approach to community outreach in development-related activities. In Sierra Leone, humour has proven to be a culturally relevant means of engaging sensitive subject matter (such as during the Ebola outbreak) because it seemingly allows for topics to be discussed more openly than lecturing-style outreach activities. Working alongside an access to justice organization, this paper will analyse research conducted in rural Sierra Leone that examines whether employing humour can lead to more open, in-depth discussions about gender-based violence. I explore how the use of humour can help re-frame narratives that allows for sensitive subject matter to be discussed, and whether this approach to community outreach is transferrable across different issues and societies.
Paper short abstract:
The thin line between abuse and amusement is such a treacherous one that comedians often have to tread them carefully in order to stir up mirth other than offence. This paper examines how Nigeria's Basket Mouth and South Africa's Trevor Noah appropriate specific stage mechanics in amusing audiences.
Paper long abstract:
For its diverse uses and relevance, humour has attracted overabundant multidisciplinary academic enquiries. In spite of the resultant research findings, it is yet to be clear what exactly makes humans laugh, basically because people laugh differently depending on various socio-cultural peculiarities. For these differences, humour performances like stand-up comedy have often stirred up controversies especially when jokes are taken badly. Also, for being essentially one of the most confrontational live performances (one in which the performer, not only addresses audiences directly, but insults or denigrates them for fun), stand-up comedy has been much criticised for abusive and politically-incorrect actions against individuals and groups. In this paper, I am interrogating the thin divide between abuse and humour within stand-up comedy, as well as the performance mechanics Nigeria's Basket Mouth (Bright Okpocha) and South Africa's Trevor Noah deploy in, not only keeping their audiences on the side of humour, but also in occasionally breaching the boundary into the realm of insult, defamation, denigration and slander, and still stir up mirth instead of repulsion. The preferred method of enquiry is performance analysis and textual reading of select recorded events of the duo which will take a theatrical perspective for its aptness in appreciating the ensemble relevance of embodied actions of the comedians against the backdrop of their performance ambience as well as costumes and other paraphernalia of stage enactments. One finds in these two fine humourists, a litany of stage artistry that enables them to abuse and amuse simultaneously.
Paper short abstract:
Within post-apartheid South Africa, vernacular comedy could be interpreted as an activist slant against the pervasiveness of English. This paper deploys Jacques Rancière's notion of "the partition of the sensible" in studying this usurpation of dominant comedy spaces by vernac variants.
Paper long abstract:
In South Africa, up to 80% of the population speaks an African language (or some combination of the 9 indigenous ones) as their mother tongue, yet in practice, English still dominates in politics, commerce, education, mainstream media and sadly, stand-up comedy. African languages thus remain disempowered. Recently, however, live comedy has seen the increased presence of native language(s) routines - among them, Mashabela Galane and Noko Moswete who crack jokes in Pedi, and Sifiso Nene and Siya Seya who perform in Zulu and Xhosa, respectively. In light of the linguistic disparity in post-apartheid South Africa, vernac comedy could be interpreted as a type of performative resistance against the pervasiveness of English.
This essay deploys Jacques Rancière's notion of "the partition of the sensible" to interrogate such resistance as a form of radical emancipatory politics, which he calls "dissensus". Premised on the idea that the social-sensible world is (unequally) "partitioned" by lines of inclusion and exclusion, subordination and elevation, politics for Rancière is predicated on a given text's ability to reconfigure such hierarchical relations.
By way of interpretive textual/audio-visual image-sequence analysis of the mentioned comedians' performances in terms of a poststructuralist sign-oriented semiotic approach, I consider ways in which the usurpation of dominant comedy spaces by vernac variants, which alters what/who can be seen/heard, and further calls into question the distribution of roles and languages, could be understood as a manifestation of 'aesthetic dissensus'.
Paper short abstract:
Zimbabweans are facing 'unresolved' economic challenges and humor is being used as a reaction. Disseminated via the social media, humorous comments are being used to characterize their condition. Humor has been appropriated as a mechanism to share experiences and to reveal concealed feelings.
Paper long abstract:
Given the social effects Zimbabweans are facing against the 'unresolved' political and economic challenges, one wonders how they make it into the next day. Apart from a number of ways employed by the populace to deal with the myriad economic challenges, humor is one of the systems observable. Disseminated via the social media, humorous comments as well as responses to stances taken by the government in assuring the nation of better days, Zimbabweans have found it (humor) as an outlet to express and characterize their condition. This paper argues that humor has readily been appropriated as a mechanism not only to share their experiences but to reveal pent up and concealed feelings which they find difficult to express through the 'seriousness' it may deserve. Further, the paper demonstrates that, the social media platform has also humorously allowed exchange of information and basic information dissemination in a country whose laws may have one incarcerated for reacting 'undesirably' to the political order of the day. The paper seeks to submit that the Zimbabwean situation can also be understood through studying the satiric images, audio-visual clips, cartoons as well as excerpts from various documents and platforms. Further, the paper shows that humor has a forceful and robust place in Zimbabwean discourses.
Paper short abstract:
The Manden humor culture consists of different institutions: "joking relationship" is the main feature of the culture. The oral tradition has some special humorous genres: jokes and traditional satirical theatre.
Paper long abstract:
The humor culture is deep-rooted in West Africa. Looking through the communication in Mali or Guinea where the Manden people live one can find them bantering, chaffing each other and laughing all the time. First of all it is because of the system of special joking relationship between different dyamu (clans) and some relatives - senankuya. Today one can find that this model is used in different tense situations also.
If senankuya is the specific traditional form of tension reduction in Manden, anecdote (joke) is the universal oral literature genre. In Manden languages there is no special term for anecdotes, most often the words "joke" (yɛlɛko) or "funny story" (yɛlɛko baro) are used. But among these stories one can find full-fledged anecdotes as well as great number of simple stories, related to tales about animals or fools.
While stereotypes of other groups, its traditional or historical features of relations are ridiculed in senankuya communication, then in "funny stories" first and foremost such human qualities are ridiculed, though urban anecdotes can be based on the ethnic stereotypes also.
Some jokes relate to a visual-figurative type of thinking. They are based on comic situations, and represent the examples of stupidity, confusion, mistakes. Others relate to a verbal-logical type of thinking, those are based on some language errors, misreading, or they require using of more complex logical chains, associations, concepts, etc.
Another interesting phenomenon of the Manden culture of humor is traditional satirical theatre kɔ̀tɛba in Bamana or bara/ bala in Dyula.
Paper short abstract:
This study is about the import of voice in constructing meaning of Jibes in Nigerian standup comedy. Data from twenty Stand-up comedy shows of five Nigerian comedians will be searched for features like indigenized exclamations and analysed perceptually and instrumentally.
Paper long abstract:
Abstract
Researches on the significance of voice for the cultural construction of humour are still scarce. Much of the Nigerian society places a lot of value on the paradigm of pele lobi o lako (The masculinity and femininity of sorry). This twin paradigm theorizes that the tone of voice rather than actual words is what depicts humour or vulgarity and offensiveness among interlocutors. This often overlooked paradigm is integral to fostering an egalitarian Africa, hence this study. This paper is set to describe the phonological features of Jibes in Nigerian standup comedy so as to ascertain the ideologies that comedians express in their voice undulations. Data will be drawn from twenty Standup comedy shows of five comedians, namely Basket mouth, Bovi, Seyi Law, Buchi and AY, (four for each). The selection is fairly representative of Southwest, Southeast and South-south, Nigeria. All the comedians speak Pidgin fluently and their ages fall between 22 and 40 years (older Nigerians are rarely found in standup comedy). The texts will be annotated and searched for features such as indigenized exclamations, feminization, lengthening, focus marking and the stylistic use of adverbials as pleas rather than as commands. These features will be analysed, using perceptual, instrumental and taxonomic frameworks.