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Article published In: (Inter)Cultural Dialogues
Edited by Răzvan Săftoiu
[Language and Dialogue 13:3] 2023
► pp. 407–426

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Ethnic humour in cartoons

A dialogic perspective

 | Transilvania University of Brașov
 | Transilvania University of Brașov
Published online: 12 September 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00159.saf
Abstract
Cartoons are designed as a response to a social event and aim to create a humorous effect in the audience through their multimodal discourse. The interpretation requires contextual and cultural information which has to be shared by the cartoonist and the audience. Our research focuses on the dialogue of humorous cartoons between the West and the East. From a dialogic perspective, the action, i.e., the cartoons published in the French and Swiss media, generates a reaction in the Romanian media. We discuss the transfer of national stereotypes at a European level and show that, although the cartoons target a particular out-group, they ricochet to another group. Thus, new boundaries are set up and humour functions as a divisive social activity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research on cartoons
    • 2.1From illustrations to complex forms
    • 2.2Some Romanian contributions
    • 2.3From editorial cartoons to ethnic cartoons
  • 3.Theoretical perspective and methodology
  • 4.Data analysis
    • 4.1Historical and social context
    • 4.2Playing with stereotypes
    • 4.3The dialogic dimension of cartoons
      • 4.3.1The Swiss cartoon
      • 4.3.2The Romanian response
      • 4.3.3The French cartoon
      • 4.3.4The Romanian response
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
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