Are Jordanians (still) 'humourless'?
VIEW FULL TEXT

Keywords

humour
Jordan
political opening
Arab Spring
social media

How to Cite

Barahmeh, Y. (2023). Are Jordanians (still) ’humourless’?. The European Journal of Humour Research, 11(1), 201–211. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR.2023.11.1.751

Abstract

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.   

https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR.2023.11.1.751
VIEW FULL TEXT

References

Abu Khalil, A. (2006). Exercises on [Jordanian] Satirical Writings (in Arabic). Amman: Al Ahliyyah.

Al-Kharabsheh, A. (2008). ‘Unintentional humour in the translation of Jordanian shop signs.’ Journal of Intercultural Communication 17, pp. 1–21.

Al-Khatib, M. (1999). ‘Joke-telling in Jordanian society: A sociolinguistic perspective.’ Humor. International Journal of Humor Research 12 (3), pp. 261- 288.

Al-Momani, K., Badarneh, M. & Migdadi, F. (2016). ‘A semiotic analysis of political cartoons in Jordan in light of the Arab Spring.’ Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 29 (4), pp. 507–538.

Annani, Z. (2011). ‘Tomaliah: cancer is a diligent secretary I hire in my body’ (in Arabic). The Al-Ghad, July 25. Retrieved 5 October 2022, from shorturl.at/bGNV1.

Bader, Y. (2014). ‘A linguistic and cultural analysis of pun expressions in journalistic articles in Jordan.’ European Scientific Journal 2, pp. 18–29.

Barahmeh, Y. (2022). ‘Laughing at revolutionary times: the socio-linguistic and pragmatic functions of Jordanian political humour after the Arab Spring.’ Contemporary Levant. https://doi.org/10.1080/20581831.2022.2105053.

Brand, L. & Hammad, F. (2012). ‘Just what does Jordan’s King Abdullah understand?’ Foreign Policy, January 17. Retrieved 5 October 2022, from https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/01/17/just-what-does-jordans-abdullah-understand/.

Farghal, M. & Shakir, A. (1993). ‘Gulf war jokes in Jordanian streets: a socio-semantic and pragmatic perspective.’ Journal of Arabic, Islamic, and Middle Easter Studies 1, pp. 15-25.

Ford, P. (1993, December 6). ‘Jordan political satire packs ‘em in with lampooning of Arab leaders.’ The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 5 October 2022, from https://www.csmonitor.com/1993/1206/06013.html

Hijwai, S. (2015). ‘Performativity and public space: interventions as performative gestures for political engagement in Jordan.’ Ibraaz, May 28. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.ibraaz.org/essays/129.

Khoshman, A. (2014). ‘Local satirists reflect on Jordanians’ sense of humour.’ The Jordan Times, January 14. Retrieved 5 October 2022, from http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/local-satirists-reflect-jordanians%E2%80%99-sense-humour.

Nassar, I. (2009). ‘Mohamed Tomalieh: an irony that touches public neutrality and challenges death.’ [in Arabic]. January 1. Retrieved 5 October 2022, from http://inassar.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post.html

Shunnaq, A. (1996). ‘Semanticity, pragmaticity and translatability of jokes in north Jordan.’ International Journal of Translation 8, 1–2.

Susser, A. (1994). On Both Banks of the Jordan: A Political Biography of Wasfi al-Tall. London: Frank Cass.

Tomalieh, M. (2007). Eyewitness (in Arabic). Amman: Ministry of Culture.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2022 The European Journal of Humour Research

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.