Development issues are often described as important but dull, and ongoing stereotypical representations of a ‘distant other’ perpetuated by NGO’s and mainstream media create an increasingly disengaged public. In response to this, more creative means of communication are needed to increase engagement and counter dominant stereotypical narratives within the development sector. Humour is rarely considered as a communication strategy for development, but it has the potential to be an influential tool to lower societal barriers and challenge existing power relations. This explorative research aims to examine how humour could be potentially used to disrupt stereotypical narratives and form a site of resistance against concepts such as the White Saviour Complex. It aims to explore the ways humour can engage a broader audience and challenge stereotypical representations of aid, especially within the western media. Considering two primary case studies; online campaign RadiAid and tv mockumentary series the Samaritans, it will explore the ways humour can be used to persuade, raise awareness and increase likability, while also being used as a form of critique. Through the lens of social semiotics, it considers commonalities in how humour can be utilised and how audiences react to it. This research also aims to find the advantages and limitations of using humorous techniques in such contexts.

Scholarship on humour in the Indian context has hardly looked at how performative humour or comedy intersects with the different axes of social stratification to impact caste groups perched at a disadvantageous position. And although English stand-up comedy in the country is gradually being recognized as an important facet of contemporary popular culture, efforts to see how this genre of performative humour aids and abets caste discrimination is still largely missing in the academic discourse. This study is an attempt to address this knowledge gap. By considering English political stand-up comedy as a subgenre of the wider performative art form, it aims to determine how comedians use political humour to critique the dominant understanding of the nation that the Indian State is trying to peddle to its citizens, and more importantly, if caste forms an analytical tool that informs their critique. This study uses a qualitative discourse analysis methodology to study precisely how caste finds representation in the comedians’ critique of the nation. It selects six political stand-up comedians and examines all of their stand-up comedy clips available for viewing on YouTube. By using a range of theoretical concepts, this research attempts to recognize the important connection between caste and political humour in India. It finds that English political stand-up comedy in India is anti-ritualistic as well as hegemonic. Comedians raise difficult, politically charged topics, normalize the critique of important political developments through humour and in doing this, negotiate the boundaries of free speech. They promote new understandings about the nation that is in stark contrast to the dominant ideology. But at the same time, the domain of English political stand-up comedy is not representative of caste questions. Comedians hardly ever talk about caste, and even when they do, it is mostly a passing remark or a hurried reference. Caste is also not represented in the comedians’ identities since most of them hail from upper caste backgrounds. English political stand-up comedy, then, in spite of its democratizing potential, reflects and reproduces the caste bias inherent in the broader national public sphere. These research findings prompt a discussion on caste in popular culture and institute political humour as a legitimate entry point into the sociological analysis of Indian society. / Graduate / 2022-08-06

Establishing a decisive nexus between gender, laughter, and media, this article not only critically discusses the often contradictorily defined concepts of humour, the comic, and laughter but also introduces to the most important theories in these fields with reference to Henri Bergson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Baudelaire, Sigmund Freud, Mikhail Bakhtin, Helmuth Plessner, Anton C. Zijderveld, Judith Butler, Bernhard Greiner, Hans Robert Jauß, Peter L. Berger, and others. Basic concepts such as the “significantly comic” versus the “absolutely comic” or the “comedy of denigration and exclusion” versus the “comedy of valorization and inclusion” are interrogated and the link between comedy, citationality, performativity as well as parody is established. Moreover, this article explores the sociological, psychoanalytical, bodily and theological dimensions to laughter and questions notions such as the carnivalesque and the grotesque. It is argued that the liberating potential of “full laughter” can be understood as the return of the body, of the repressed, and of the Other, and that if it is precisely this ‘other realm’ which ultimately makes laughter possible, laughter simultaneously is humankind’s best means of dealing with it.

Background: The nurse is responsible for all care concerning the patient. The care must be person-centered with a focus on the creation of interpersonal relationships. With sympathy for the patient, the relationship can become more meaningful and humor is allowed to be introduced. Can humor be a contributing factor to a more beneficial care? Aim: The purpose was to describe how humor can be used in nursing in the relationship between nurse and patient. Method: A literature review where we examined 13 qualitative and quantitative research articles published between the years of 2000-2021. These were analyzed with thematic analysis. Results: Five main themes were identified for the results, which were: relationship building, humor as a tool, individuality, humor as a management strategy and a feeling of context. The main themes were divided into eight subthemes. All of these themes were based on the use of humor. The results showed that the use of humor facilitated the lives of patients, reduced their anxiety and gave them a sense of maintained quality of life despite the circumstances they faced. Conclusion: Humor has proven helpful for most purposes in a caring situation, for both patients and nursing staff. Given individual factors and how they affect how humor is received, the phenomenon would be valuable to be able to take part of already in the basic education for nurses.

As my diploma thesis I created a series of expresive figurative paintings. The series tells fragments of stories from romantic fantazy sceneries combined with contemporary subcultural and life style motives. My inspiration comes from a strong game play experience and a deep emotional bond with the central european landscape. The story is situated somewhere between a fairy talish past and a dystopic future.

Is resilience effortlessly innate or is it an acquired skill developed through the endless battle between thriving and self-destruction? The first goal of the present research is to identify mechanisms of resilience. The second goal of the research is to identify mechanisms of resilience, solidifying and expanding upon previously identified mechanisms and examining novel mechanisms. The third goal is to clarify the resilience process as a whole by examining the order of mechanisms that individuals use to foster their resilience within the workplace. It is hypothesized that (1) Autonomous motivation will be the primary foundational mechanism of resilience; (2) Emotional intelligence, challenge appraisals, positive humour and risk-taking will be important mechanisms of resilience and mediate the relationship between autonomous motivation and resilience; (3) The order of mediators will be important in the process of developing resilience; (4) Emotional intelligence will precede challenge appraisals, and risk-taking will precede positive humour. This research project is comprised of 5 studies. Studies 1-4 use linear and multiple regressions to conduct multiple mediation models to evaluate and examine mechanisms of resilience. Study 5 uses a deductive content-analysis approach to analyze qualitative data, to help better understand the nuances of resilience that quantitative data cannot illustrate. Resilience research has many discrepancies relating to its process and mechanisms thus, this research project offers important potential fundamental contributions. By identifying and solidifying mechanisms of resilience, training, counseling, and education will be better informed to have greater success in fostering resilience within individuals and across contexts.

Le seul consensus autour de la poésie féminine contemporaine est celui d’une grande diversité. Sur le plan thématique et formel, autant que du point de vue de l’origine des poètes, il semble difficile de réunir sous un paradigme unique les œuvres écrites par des femmes. C’est également l’un des aspects que soulignent l’ensemble des ouvrages consacrés à l’humour : le terme renvoie à des phénomènes si différents qu’il est presque impossible de le réduire à une définition qui recouvre l’ensemble de ses manifestations. C’est pourtant précisément en raison de cette difficulté définitionnelle que l’humour constitue un prisme de choix pour parcourir la poésie féminine contemporaine. Par nature protéiforme, l’humour est « transgenre » ; il subvertit l’ordre social et les instances de pouvoir réel ou symbolique, mais remet aussi en question les identités génériques et sexuelles. Rien d’étonnant à ce que les femmes poètes y voient une arme pour s’attaquer aux idées reçues, aux stéréotypes et aux métaphores figées, notamment celles qui prétendent définir l’identité féminine. Mettant en adéquation ce qui se passe sur le plan de l’énonciation, de la réception, de la rhétorique et de la prosodie, l’humour est donc envisagé comme une modalité d’écriture, c’est-à-dire un ensemble de formes traduisant un positionnement particulier. Cette posture, qu’elle prenne le nom d’irrévérence, d’incongruité ou de décalage, témoigne à la fois des liens complexes que les femmes entretiennent avec la tradition poétique et des stratégies qu’elles ont développées pour y parvenir, dans lesquelles se dessine une même volonté, en explorant les lieux communs et les espaces de consensus, de redessiner les contours de la poésie contemporaine. / The only consensus around the question of contemporary women poetry is that of its diversity: the themes and forms of the poems written by women are almost as varied as the origins of the poets themselves. Diversity is also one of the aspects underlined by most of the publications on the subject of humour. The term applies to so many phenomena that it is virtually impossible to reduce it to a final definition. Yet it is precisely because humour is so difficult to define that it constitutes a particularly appropriate prism to approach contemporary women poetry. Humour is by essence “transgender”. It subverts social order as well as instances of real or symbolical power, and challenges sexual and generic identities. Unsurprisingly, women poets have seen it as a choice weapon to attack received opinions and stereotypes, especially when those aim at defining femininity. Humour should therefore be considered as a form of writing, or rather a set of forms, expressing a specific positioning and operating on the level of enunciation, reception, rhetoric and prosody. This posture, which can be interpreted as irreverence, incongruity or difference, testifies of the complex ties women have established with the poetic tradition. But to do so, women have also developed strategies which enable them to explore common knowledge and accepted truths, and thus redefine the contours of contemporary poetry.

Cette thèse porte sur l’émergence des groupes subalternes, particulièrement des minorités ethnoraciales et des femmes, sur la scène télévisuelle de l’humour, depuis Coluche jusqu’à nos jours. Elle interroge l’état des discours au moment de leur apparition et les capacités d’agir de l’humour. Elle articule le passage du comique en humoriste. Dans les années 1970, le comique bouffon incarne une figure de contestation d’un système de pouvoir centralisé, dont il est un observateur critique. Il se transforme avec la montée de l’individualisme en acteur d’un monde dont il produit une vision subjective. L’analyse d’un corpus de sketches tirés de douze émissions de talk show montre que les humoristes femmes proposent des personnages aux identités de genre fluctuantes et multiformes, à la charnière du masculin et du féminin, à travers des procédés parodiques et un jeu d’incarnation basé sur le corps. Les humoristes issus des minorités ethnoraciales proposent des contre-modèles à l’intégration républicaine avec des récits « authentiques ». Ils ouvrent la voie à l’expression de subjectivités non blanches et à la dénonciation des discriminations sur la base de la couleur de peau. Leur humour s’actualise en 2006 avec l’appropriation du stand-up, la mise en scène de la diversité et des multiples territoires de l’identité. Cette thèse conclut sur un processus de contre-offensive, ou backlash, contestant aux groupes subalternes les avancées conquises durant la période précédente. Ce backlash se manifeste à partir de 2007 par un humour basé sur des commentaires d’actualité et des caricatures. Il favorise les visées hégémoniques blanches et masculines dans l’humour et l’éviction des politiques des identités. / This thesis deals with the emergence of subaltern groups in mainstream television, from Coluche until today. It focuses on two groups, female humorists and ethnic minorities. It questions the agency of humour and its power of displacement of hegemonic media representations, as well as the state of discourses at the moment of the appearance of subaltern groups. It articulates the transformation of comedian into humorist. The buffoon of the late 1970s stands for the figure of contestation of a centralized power, which it comments with a critical gaze. The growth of individualism and expressions of identities turn the comedian into a humorist that assumes a role of actor of the world and a subjective gaze. The analysis of sketches in television talk shows reveals that female humorists expose multiple subjectivities and destabilize the binary system masculine-feminine, by resorting to body acts as parts of humoristic mechanisms. Humorists from ethnic minority groups denounce discriminations and perform hybrid bodies and identities that destabilize the republican model of integration. Their appropriation of stand-up comedy genre renews in 2006 the staging of diversity and of the multiple territories of identities. The period 2007-2010 shows a counter-offensive, a backlash that marks the return to dominant values in the field of humour and denies to subaltern groups the advantages they’ve gained during the previous period. It is characterized by a renewal of humour based on news comments and caricatures, by the hegemonic power of masculine white humorists and the eviction of identity politics.

Cette thèse porte sur les bouffons rituels (kɔrɔdugaw) de la région de Ségou au Mali, elle analyse d’une part leur place dans la société malienne, d’autre part les procédés qui leur permettent d’élaborer cette forme bouffonne reconnaissable quelle que soit l'aire culturelle considérée. Caractérisée par un type de comportement à première vue contraire aux conduites sociales ordinaires, la figure du bouffon captive l’attention par des intrusions à la fois ludiques et subversives dans la vie quotidienne comme dans les cérémonies. Qualifié au Mali de « sans honte », ce type de comportement bouffon soulève plusieurs questions concernant ses mécanismes, son efficacité, l’équilibre entre norme et transgression, ou encore le positionnement dans la structure sociale d’une catégorie qui transcende à première vue tous les cadres.Pour y répondre, la bouffonnerie est appréhendée ici à partir des acteurs et de la description minutieuse de leurs interventions, de manière à explorer la manière décalée dont ils investissent la société. Les activités des bouffons sont tout d’abord mises en regard avec celles d’autres intervenants cérémoniels, comme les griots, les chasseurs et les forgerons avec qui ils partagent certains attributs, producteurs de musiques et de danses, gens de savoir, contre-sorcier ou encore agents suscitant des dons. En second lieu, la focale est mise sur la forme bouffonne par l’étude des situations forgées, des procédés récurrents mobilisés, et de leurs usages dans des contextes cérémoniels particuliers. Enfin, la morphogenèse de la catégorie sociale kɔrɔdugaw est analysée de même que la manière dont elle se positionne dans la structure sociale. Il se dégage de l’analyse un mode de présence complexe et processuel à la frontière entre l’individu et la société, par lequel émerge un pouvoir-faire adapté aux différents rôles sociaux qui leurs sont attribués. / This research is about the ritual clowns (kɔrɔdugaw) of the region of Segou, in Mali. It analyses both their place in the Malian society and the processes that allow them to develop this recognizable clowning form observed in every cultural areas. The figure of the ritual clown is characterized by a type of behaviour that seems in opposition to the ordinary social conducts. Both playful and subversive, it’s intrusion in everyday life or in ceremonies captivates the attention of all participants. This behaviour, qualified in Mali as "shameless", raises several questions concerning its mechanisms, its efficiency, the balance between standards and transgressions, or the positioning in the social order of such a category which, at first sight, transcends all the frames. To explore the unconventional way ritual clowns invest the society, the analysis rely on the meticulous description of these social actor’s interventions. Firstly, the activities of the clowns are compared with those of other ceremonial participants, such as the griots, the hunters and the blacksmiths, people with whom they share certain attributes as producers of music and dance, people of knowledge, agents against witchcraft, agents generating ritual gifts. Secondly, the focus is put on the clowning form through the study of the situations they create, their recurring processes, and their uses within particular ceremonial contexts. Finally, the morphogenesis of the social category kɔrɔdugaw is analysed as well as the way it positions itself within the broader social structure. Ritual clowning appears from the analysis as a complex and processual mode of presence that is on the border between the individual and the community, by which emerges a capacity to act, adapted to the various social roles it endorses.

Ce travail examine les aspects particuliers de la traduction journalistique, plus précisément, la traduction de l’éditorial, en fonction de la nature propre de celui-ci ainsi que de l’écriture journalistique et s’efforce d’en déduire quelques observations éclairant la traduction des textes journalistiques d’opinion du français vers l’arabe. L’analyse des stratégies de traduction appliquées dans un corpus d’éditoriaux du magazine français Le Point fait apparaître l’impact important de la composante culturelle dans la traduction de ce type de textes. On a ainsi observé que les titres des éditoriaux étaient très marqués par le genre discursif et par la tradition journalistique dans lesquels ils s’inscrivent. Ces segments courts exigent une construction de sens complexe et rétroactive de la part du traducteur. L’éditorialiste français a tendance à mettre en œuvre différentes stratégies et techniques de persuasion dans son intitulation dont l’humour. L’étude du corpus montre que le traducteur doit tenir compte tout aussi bien des conventions d’écriture (en fonction du genre) que des stratégies de communications utilisées ( jeux de mots et intertextualité) pour rendre une traduction adaptée au contexte culturel du public cible. Notre recherche souligne également le poids de la culture de départ pour orienter la démarche globale des traducteurs face aux éditoriaux à traduire. / This study deals with particular problems arising when translating a journalistic text,particularly an editorial, depending on its specific features as well as journalistic prose;its purpose is to bring out a few remarks clarifying the French-Arabic translation of opinion journalistic text. The aim of this research is to study the translation strategies applied in a corpus made up of editorials taken from the French magazine Le Point.The study shows the important impact of culture in translating editorials. Thus, we firstnoticed that editorial headlines are influenced by the discourse genre and the journalistic tradition in which they are produced. The interpretation of these short textual segments requires a complex construction of meaning on the part of the translator. There is atendency of the French editorialist to use various strategies and techniques employed for persuasion in his editorials and headlines including humour. The study shows that the translator should be sensitive not only to conventions applying across genres in Arabicjournalistic culture, but also to humour effects and cultural citations in order for theintended effect to be achieved. Our research highlights as well the important role of thesource culture to determine the global translational behaviour.