M. Tech. (Department of Fine Art, Faculty of Human Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Botswana is considered to be one of the better welfare states, though it has selective social development, and a close connection between the economic and political elite, offering potential power conflict. However freedom of expression for political and social critique are said to be under threat in Botswana. The research focuses on the period from 2008 to 2018 when the president of Botswana was Lieutenant General Sir Seretse Khama Ian Khama. It is also a period in which Botswana is seen (by the outside world) as a model for democracy in Africa and is characterised by many changes. Commentary on and critique of these changes often occur in editorial cartoons. The primary aim of the study was to construct a possible analytical model for editorial cartoons, and then to analyse and justify a selected number of editorial cartoons from Botswanan newspapers that make commentary on emerging issues around Botswanan social and economic development. The study develops an analytical system which is applied to interpret the choices made in the cartoons. To accomplish this, the study first provides an exposition of Scott’s theory of hidden transcripts (1990; Munro 1997). Specifically, the project presents Scott’s notions of onstage and offstage discourses, suggesting that the cartoon is a method of entering the concerns of the powerless into the onstage discourse where powerholder and powerless meet. Having set the power model of analysis, the dissertation demonstrates how power relations manifested in the history of social and economic development in Botswana. It then presents important approaches that are instrumental in the creation of editorial cartoons such as historical/contextual events, cartoon theory, metaphor, metonymy and satire. Using these theoretical frames the interrogates what analytical and creative dynamics can be used to inform a visual system, such as editorial cartoons, that comments on cotradictions between social and economic development claims/promises and actions, as they manifest in a particular country. The dissertation therefore presents Scott’s theory and related theories on power. It then outlines the dynamics of social and economic development as a construct, and the role of editorial cartoons as modes of critique. By triangulating these dynamics, the project then analyses selected Botswanan editorial cartoons using this triangulated model in search of meaning, and therefore, by extension, the efficacy of the model. The research found that, by using Scott’s concepts of onstage and offstage discourses to outline the power dimensions evident in social development issues in Botswana, editorial cartoons that engage with potential cotraditions in the political space can be effectively analysed, and therefore, extention be used effectively by editorial cartoonists.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

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Guided by Sonja Foss' (2005) theory of visual rhetoric, this thesis is an exploration of political cartoons from Bangladesh, published between October 2016 - October 2020. The study is framed by the Digital Security Act (DSA), an anti-freedom of speech law enacted by the ruling Awami League government in October 2018. The cartoons analyzed in this study are divided into two sets – 16 published in a two-year period prior to the enactment of the DSA, and 16 published within two years after the enactment of the law. A criterion-based sampling technique was used to select cartoons published online by two Bangladeshi cartoonists' – Mehedi Haque and Sadatuddin Ahmed Amil. A thematic analysis of the cartoons revealed that corruption and threats to freedom of expression are recurring themes in both sets of data, while cartoons published pre-DSA also contain commentary on the prime minister and the government's feelings of contentment. Declining democratic practices is a major theme in cartoons published post-DSA. By utilizing the method of visual rhetorical analysis on six cartoons, the study delved deeper into the cartoons' construction of visual arguments for each theme. Finally, a comparative analysis of the themes and visual arguments in cartoons from each data set revealed that cartoons published after October 2018 are differentiated by disappearing characters and storylines, the use of indirect language, and implicit visual arguments, as well as increased usage of metaphors. Cartoons published post-DSA also have a sharper focus on specific news events as indicators of national issues. This study contributes to a growing body of research on the DSA, highlights how a specific medium of expression can be affected by anti-freedom of speech laws, and provides implications for media industries facing legal challenges. / MACOM / Bangladesh, a country in South Asia, is currently following a democratic parliamentary system where Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina is the leader of the government. Her party, Awami League (AL) has been in power since 2008. Since AL's enactment of the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) in October 2018, a culture of fear has persisted within the country's media industry as well as the public, as the law's vague wording allows people to be charged for the mildest criticism of the government and the PM. Guided by the theory of visual rhetoric (Foss, 2005), this study is framed by the DSA in its analysis of editorial cartoons published online by cartoonists Mehedi Haque and Sadatuddin Ahmed Amil between October 2016 – October 2020. A thematic analysis of cartoons published before and after the enactment of the law shows the major topics that emerge from Bangladeshi political cartoons, such as corruption, threats to freedom of expression, contentment of the government, and declining democratic practices. Visual rhetorical analysis performed on one cartoon that best represents each theme explains in detail how the cartoons use visual arguments to convey their message. Finally, a comparison between the pre- and post-DSA data sets shows that cartoons published after October 2018 are marked by disappearing characters and storylines, the use of indirect language, and implicit visual arguments, as well as increased usage of metaphors. Cartoons published post-DSA also have a sharper focus on specific news events as indicators of national issues. This study adds to developing scholarship on the DSA, highlights how editorial cartoons are affected by anti-free speech laws, and offers insights on the media sector encountering legal challenges.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T19:33:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Tereza Cattacini Blois.pdf: 2016172 bytes, checksum: c929b1f60890841b929f3bffdb3feae3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-27 / This study aims to identify and analyze referencing as a strategy in building humor in editorial cartoons. The above mentioned objectives were motivated by the observation of political cartoons regarding the mensalão scandal, in which we found the recurrence of referencing in cartoons creation process, thus revealing the writer s communicative purpose and guiding the reader in the construction of meaning. To achieve our purpose, we built up the corpus of this study with eleven cartoons from the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, selected between August and October 2012, about the judgment treated by the media as the biggest corruption case in the Brazilian political history, and we proceeded the analysis based on the referencing studies as those performed, today, in the field of texts studies in an interactional sociocognitive perspective as well as on humor studies. In this investigation, we found out that referencing builds the humorous speech through different modalities of language, allowing the construction of the subject in the cartoon review also influencing the meaning effects promoted by the written media. Moreover, we have observed the mensalão - which is the main topic of the cartoons - and we have found out through the present analysis that the subject is classified and reclassified in the discursive activity, in which the politician image is projected, thereby influencing the opinion of newspaper readers / Objetivamos, neste trabalho, identificar e analisar a referenciação como estratégia na construção do humor em charges jornalísticas. Tais objetivos foram motivados pela observação de charges políticas referentes ao mensalão, nas quais encontramos a recorrência da referenciação na produção da charge, revelando assim, o propósito comunicativo do escritor e orientando o leitor na construção de sentido. Para atingir nosso propósito, constituímos o corpus do trabalho com onze charges do jornal Folha de S. Paulo, selecionadas de agosto a outubro de 2012, acerca do julgamento que foi tratado pela mídia como o maior caso de corrupção da história política brasileira, e procedemos com a análise baseando-nos nos estudos de referenciação tal como realizados, hoje, no campo dos estudos do texto, em uma perspectiva sócio-cognitiva interacional bem como nos estudos do humor. Nesta investigação, verificamos que a referenciação constitui o discurso humorístico por meio de diferentes modalidades da linguagem possibilitando a construção do referente na crítica da charge, e influenciando os efeitos de sentidos promovidos pela mídia escrita. Além disso, observamos o mensalão - que é tema das charges e constatamos que, na análise realizada, o referente é categorizado e recategorizado na atividade discursiva, no qual é projetada a imagem do político, influenciando, assim, a opinião dos leitores do jornal

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2002. / Advisor: Dr. Kathleen Burnett, Florida State University, School of Information Studies. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 3, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

Many people assume that editorial cartoons are easily understood by the bulk of the population. For this reason, editorial cartoons are often used as teaching materials in the classroom. Recent research, however, raises doubts as to the effectiveness of this practice. Investigations by Bedient (1971) and DeSousa & Medhurst (1982) determined that the majority of students (grade 5 through college) could not interpret editorial cartoons. These investigators went on to suggest that a logical next step would be to determine if editorial cartoon literacy can be taught. The cognitive style of the participants was examined to determine if the different teaching strategies were differentially effective vis-a-vis field dependence and field independence. Two presentations (treatments) were designed to model methods of reading editorial cartoons. The Whole Cartoon Analysis presented 25 editorial cartoons along with a 100-200 word interpretation of each cartoon. The Parse Analysis Treatment was accomplished in three steps rather than the one for the Whole method. In step one, the whole cartoon is presented with a short gloss of the meaning. In step two all of the cartoon is visually suppressed except for one visual meaning element. This element of the cartoon is discussed and then the next element of the cartoon is added, and so on until the entire cartoon is back on the screen at which point the overall meaning is discussed. The dependent variable of the investigation was the two-part Editorial Cartoon Interpretation Task. Part A asked each participant to enumerate the symbols in the cartoon and define them as to meaning. Part B asked the participant to write a short thematic interpretation of the cartoon. A two-way Analysis of Variance on the data revealed no significant differences in either the main effects or the interaction. / Ed. D.

During Zimbabwe’s 2008 harmonised elections the country’s media laws had a direct impact on the way editorial cartoonists expressed themselves. Although the online newspapers were unregulated and the print media published under Zimbabwe’s media laws, Public Order and Security Act and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy act - the editorial cartoons from both sources show deliberate bias towards one candidate and contempt towards the main rival. The study contextualises the understanding of the editorial cartoon, as practised in an environment of freedom of speech and defined by the four categories identified by Press (1981) and Manning and Phiddian (2004), and delineates the effect of media laws on the newspaper industry in Zimbabwe. The four categories of editorial cartoons identified are descriptive editorial cartoons, laughing satirical editorial cartoons, destructive satirical editorial cartoons, and savage indignation editorial cartoons. The study reviews eight editorial cartoons, read using a semiotic framework investigating non-verbal communication, as defined and suggested by Du Plooy (1996), and a text and language grid, as suggested by Leech (1974), according to the criteria of symbols/metaphors, exaggeration/distortion, stereotypes, caricature, irony, captions, and background knowledge, as developed by Fetsko (2001). A comparative analysis of the cartoons reveals that objectives and functions of the unregulated zimonline.co.za and the regulated the Herald newspapers are the same. They constitute propagandistic representations of Zimbabwean politics that are more an extension of political ideology than they are a reflection of the country’s sociopolitical landscape.

This problem's investigation deals with gauging the artistic influence, if any, pioneer editorial cartoonist John Knott had on his successors, Ficklen and McClanahan. Information was gathered through interviews and the pages of the Dallas Morning News. Organization is as follows: introduction, biography and art of Knott, biography and art of Ficklen, biography and art of McClanahan, summary and conclusion. The study found minimal artistic influence by Knott on the cartoons of Ficklen and McClanahan. Compared to Knott, Ficklen and McClanahan had different art backgrounds, cartoon styles, personal and political beliefs. Knott's successors admired different artists, drew during a different editorial page emphasis and had more freedom in cartoon selection than Knott did. Neither Ficklen nor McClanahan listed Knott as an artistic influence.