Tweeting Jokes, Tweeting Hope: Humor Practices during the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine how humor practices on Twitter resist dominant emotion norms during an emerging disease outbreak. Humor may seem frivolous or irreverent but can constitute a powerful practice for channeling and managing difficult emotions – like anxiety and fear – during an outbreak. We find that the use of AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) and Black cultural references were widespread in Ebola-related tweets using humor. Together these communicative practices constitute Black Twitter. Humor can signal membership in Black culture while also performing and managing specific emotions in relation to epidemic risk in online spaces. Humor practices on Black Twitter were more likely to reimagine social connections despite the risks posed by the epidemic, whereas mainstream forms of humor emphasized retreat and self-isolation in response to an epidemic threat. These findings center the agency and creativity of this influential digital community while showing the variability of communication practices among a group facing disproportionate vulnerability to outbreaks and public health threats. The implications for public health messaging are discussed.