Using world news to humour audiences in Mauritius: POV’s political cartoons through the lens of postcolonial translation theory

Abstract

The humour of political cartoons is studied in multiple disciplines, and African political cartoons are no exception to academic scrutiny. Their satire, however, is prone to Western models of analysis. One subsequent gap is the dismissal of important postcolonial realities, such as African political cartoonists’ caricature of world news and not just domestic matters. To contribute theoretically to the study of humour in African political cartoons, I apply postcolonial translation theory to explore a selection of POV’s political cartoons, which address both domestic and world news. I argue that the political cartoonist is a translator, not of languages, but of ideas about foreign affairs, transposed through translation strategies to convey meanings for local audiences. African humour in political cartoons, therefore, is not restricted to domestic matters. African cartoonists’ engagement with foreign news invites the question about whether the humour is framed for Western audiences. I conclude that the occasional engagement with foreign ideas does not render an African political cartoon’s satire inauthentic or less African. Instead, it is possible to reconcile the translation strategies of foreignisation and domestication, ensuring the humour of these political cartoons – visually translated for African contexts – is inclusive for local audiences and welcoming of foreign ideas.