Black Humor Research Articles

Emergence of Postmodernism After World War II Characteristics of Being

This article examines the emergence and development of postmodernism as a literary and cultural movement following World War II. Postmodernism is characterized by its departure from modernist principles, embracing fragmentation, irony, black humor, and metafiction. The study investigates the philosophical underpinnings of postmodernism through prominent theories such as deconstruction and poststructuralism, drawing on works of key figures like Derrida, Lyotard, and Baudrillard. Methodologically, the analysis focuses on thematic and stylistic elements, emphasizing how postmodern literature questions traditional narratives, linearity, and universal truths. The findings reveal that postmodernism’s complexity and ambiguity reflect a critique of contemporary societal norms and values. Despite its challenges, such as inaccessibility and intricate structures, postmodern literature offers profound insights into human existence and societal constructs, making it a pivotal movement in cultural history. This article aims at analyzing postmodernism, the literary movement that emerged after the World War II, the factors influenced to its emergence, the main peculiarities of postmodernism and its impact on various areas of society and the reflection of the postmodernism in the works of contemporary writers have been investigated.

Dark Humour and Invasive Species Storytelling in the Age of Extinction

ABSTRACT This essay explores how humour, specifically dark humour, performs an affective politics of opacity in Australian comedies that invokes parody, absurdity and laughter to address the eco-social challenges of invasive species, including rabbits, brumbies, cane toads and red fire ants. The incongruity between jocular feelings and the gravity of extinction highlights humour’s ambivalent potential for violence and subversion. Through an analysis of cartoons and documentaries that bridge conservation science and the Australian cultural imagination, we identify three dimensions of environmental dark humour: (1) it questions human exceptionalism by foregrounding ambiguity, nonhuman agency and assemblage thinking beyond rational control; (2) it performs a cultural diagnosis of colonial legacies, including eco-nationalism and anti-immigration rhetoric, hegemonic White masculinity, and regional and cultural stereotypes; (3) it allows a cathartic release of affective dissent and taboo feelings by subverting culturally normative emotional attachments to invasive animals and mainstream environmentalism. By considering humour as a crucial technique for survival and ambiguity, we argue for its potential to inspire self-reflective, multispecies and decolonial modes of storytelling that can ethically account for human and nonhuman otherness in the age of extinction.

Aaron Sachs: Stay cool: why dark comedy matters in the fight against climate change

Aaron Sachs: <i>Stay cool: why dark comedy matters in the fight against climate change</i>

The dark side of humor: analyzing the relationship between dark triad traits, humor styles, and bullying in university students

The dark side of humor: analyzing the relationship between dark triad traits, humor styles, and bullying in university students

Elements of Postmodernism and the World of Characters in Zh. Korgasbek's Works

The article systematically analyzes the specifics of the prose genre in Kazakh literary studies, the study of postmodernism in national literature, as well as artistic activity, the thematic idea of the prose genre in the works of J. Korgasbek. The conclusions, views and opinions of scientists on postmodernism in Kazakh literature are analyzed. Researchers B. Maitanov, A. Ismakova, L. Safronova, J. Zharylgapov, G. Saulembek and others. guided by the opinions of scientists, the works of Zhusupbek Korgasbek «Sokyr», «Zhansebil», «Zhakondann zhanary», «Olmeytin kus» were analyzed from the point of view of phenomenological, comparative analysis and methods of literary hermeneutics (interpretation, interpretation). Unlike historical prose, postmodern literature freely uses the concepts of time and space, serving human emotions, thoughts and dreams about the future. It is from this point of view that J. Korgasbek also wants to convey the author's ideas to readers based on his works and through the ideas in the artwork to draw attention to important things in the world of mankind. Black humor, which is the main features of postmodernism, violation of the traditional norm, self-mockery (self-irony), the mystery of the world of heroes, the impossibility of knowing the truth, simulacrum, etc. are studied by examples. In addition, the meaning of the heroes' souls in a literary text was developed and studied, as was its interpretation from the point of view of the «reader-author» position in consciousness along with socio-social conditions (existentialism).

Modern Artistic Space: the Problem of Anthropological and Aesthetic Transformation

Introduction. The problem of analyzing the contemporary artistic space has its own evolution, its genesis is reduced to understanding different kinds of transformations in relation to the traditional art as a form of creative perception of reality based on spiritual values. As a result of the evolution of the creative process, most of the contemporary art practices, especially conceptual ones, «expel» anthropological and aesthetic origins from art. To understand why do such processes occur in the field of low-aesthetic reality, the author analyzes the problem of anthropological and aesthetic transformation of modern art, the main trends and place of a person in the contemporary artistic process.Methodology and sources. The author uses, first, hermeneutic methodology of analysis of artistic texts and conceptual approaches of authors; secondly, a set of artistic-aesthetic and artistic-historical methods aimed at identifying and generalizing materials, Dedicated to specific works of art; and, thirdly, philosophical-anthropological methodical analysis of the postmodern cultural situation and place of a person.Results and discussion. As a result of the discussions it was revealed that the characteristics of the current elitist conceptual practices of the postmodern period are: pluralism and offbeat from any canons; frank citation and borrowing; conceptualization of any gestures of the artist; the multiplicity of interpretations; multi-level perception; rejection of imagery; experimenting with new forms; creating the illusion of a «game of reality»; irony, pastiche, black humor and shock value; and finally, the author’s death and the loss of one’s own «I».Conclusion. In modern culture conceptualism becomes an articularized form of expression of the artistic consciousness of postmodernism. As art moves beyond its boundaries, it completely transforms its ontological foundations, then its anthropological core disappears and the author’s «death» occurs. The products of conceptual creativity are some kind simulacrums of language, style or symbols, which simulate pre-existing human values. Such art neantisates person with traditional values, perverts the meaning of creativity itself, transforms the aesthetic and the anthropological attitudes of the creative process.

Efficacy of Wet Cupping in the Management of Sciatica: A Case Report

Sciatica, a prevalent and debilitating condition, is characterized by radiating pain along the sciatic nerve, often resulting from lumbar disc herniation, spinal stenosis, or degenerative disc disease. In Unani medicine, the condition is referred to as Irq-un-Nasa, considered a subtype of Waja-ul-Mafasil (joint pain). Unani texts attribute the cause of Irq-un-Nasa to the accumulation of morbid humors (khilt) like Khilt-e-Balgham or Khilt-e-Dam, causing inflammation and obstruction in the affected nerves and joints.This study evaluates the effectiveness of Hijama (wet cupping therapy) in treating sciatica through two case reports. Case 1 involves a 38-year-old female with L5-S1 disc herniation and left-sided sciatica, while Case 2 concerns a 42-year-old male with right-sided sciatica due to lumbar spondylosis. Both patients underwent four sessions of Hijama over 28 days. Results were measured using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain assessment. These findings indicate that Hijama effectively alleviated sciatica pain in both cases. The therapeutic effect of Hijama is believed to involve neural, haematological, and immune mechanisms, promoting pain relief, blood circulation, and immune modulation. The results suggest Hijama as an effective, low-cost alternative for managing sciatica. Keywords: Irq-un-Nasa, lumbar disc herniation, Low Back Pain, Unani medicine, Hijama, wet cupping therapy.

‘If parody does not prickle it does not work’: Reflections on the Interpretive Challenges of Dark Parody in the Dutch and South African Courts

Focusing on the nexus of humour and the right to free speech, this article introduces the concept of ‘dark parody’ to address parodies that reuse existing material with a dark, humorous twist and explores how courts deal with two of the main interpretive challenges presented by a ‘dark parody’: (1) interpreting the distance between the parody and the copyright/trademark protected work it parodies, and (2) its use of dark humour. Using a metahermeneutic approach, the article analyses how the main features of parody, the legal criteria applied to parody in courts of law, and the role of dark humour influence the judicial interpretation process regarding (dark) parody in the context of copyright and trademark law. Based on this analysis, the article proposes the theoretical framework of ‘parodic distance’ to address the interpretive challenges systematically presented by dark parody via six main categories—content, style, context, message, function and affect—from which the distance between a parody and the original can be interpreted. Applying this framework to two case studies [Mercis c.s. v. Punt.nl, Court of Appeal of Amsterdam; Laugh It Off Promotions v. South African Breweries, Constitutional Court of South Africa], the article provides a comparative analysis of how these courts currently deal with interpretive issues surrounding dark humour in copyright and trademark law and shows how the framework of parodic distance can be a potentially useful conceptual tool that provides a shared vocabulary to complement judicial interpretation and legal discourse at the nexus of dark parody and the law.

A qualitative exploration of the views of paramedics regarding the use of dark humour

Introduction: Dark humour, often known as black comedy or gallows humour, is a distinct kind of humour that explores subjects that are generally taboo or uncomfortable. Identifying the function and impact of black humour is important given the prevalence of life-or-death situations, crucial clinical judgements and emotionally charged situations in the pre-hospital environment. The primary aim is to investigate the world of dark humour within the setting of experienced paramedics. Methods: A qualitative approach was employed. Ten paramedics, each with over 24 months’ experience, were recruited via word of mouth and snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between October 2023 and January 2024, and data were studied using thematic analysis.Results: Four themes were identified: the perceptions of dark humour from the public, students and colleagues; the use of dark humour in building resilience and improving perseverance; the negatives to mental health of prolonged use of black humour; and the benefits of humour use to develop camaraderie within the ambulance service.Conclusion: The study explored the views of a small sample of paramedics on this subject. Dark humour was identified as both a beneficial coping mechanism for resilience and a means of fostering camaraderie. Conversely, a chronic reliance on dark humour can have negative mental health implications. Utilising the usage of coping mechanisms such as dark humour as a yardstick to measure mental well-being could be an important first step in adopting a more holistic approach to mental health within the paramedic community.

62 Prevalence of gallows (aka dark) humour in healthcare: The first qualitative evidence

62 Prevalence of gallows (aka dark) humour in healthcare: The first qualitative evidence

Pragmatic Aspect of English Fake News Discourse

This article explores the pragmatic aspect of English fake news discourse as a communicative phenomenon aimed at disseminating false or misleading information to influence public opinion and shape specific outcomes. The English fake news discourse is characterized by fabricated or distorted facts, provocative headlines, and an emotional manipulation strategy designed to elicit targeted responses from readers. The study examines vital typological features, including sensationalist headlines, parameters of authorship and source, lack of facts and verified information, emotionally charged language, thematic eclecticism, and manipulative strategy implementation. Through these elements, fake news discourse fosters distrust within society and exploits its functional specificity to present itself as legitimate news while embedding disinformation. The article delves into this discourse's tactical aspects, particularly its manipulative strategy. The research focuses on core tactics in fake news discourse, which include the tactic of emotional appeal, the tactic of justification for the truthfulness of the narrative, the tactic of redirecting blame to others, the tactic of referencing authority, the tactic of indirect criticism, the tactic of providing inaccurate information, the tactic of hinting, the tactic of threats, and the tactic involving black humor. Each tactic is strategically chosen to exert a psychological impact, aiming to alter readers' perceptions and beliefs. The specific linguistic and stylistic means and devices that enhance the effectiveness of manipulation and influence within these tactics are revealed and analyzed.

The surreal and the real: T’ien Hsia (1935–41) and 1930s Shanghai

This article explores how the Shanghai-based general interest magazine T’ien Hsia (1935–41) engaged with European surrealist movements in the 1930s. The first part of the article explores how the magazine’s literature and artwork responded to surrealist tendencies and ideas and argues that the prevalence of these tendencies and ideas intensified from 1937 in response to the Second Sino-Japanese War and the resultant Japanese colonization of Shanghai. Whilst surrealism offered a vehicle for a variety of responses to warfare – such as escapism, political comment, and black humour – it was also a movement through which the magazine’s transnational editorial team, including Wen Yuanning, a charismatic young writer-diplomat who had graduated from Cambridge, John C. Wu, and the American-born journalist Emily Hahn, could assert their distinct brand of liberal cosmopolitanism. The second part of the article explores how terms like ‘cosmopolitanism’, together with other postcolonial theory-related concepts such as ‘hybridity’ or ‘decoloniality’, help to illustrate the magazine’s turn towards the surreal as symptomatic of both its publication in Shanghai, a semicolonial treaty port that brought together a myriad of national identities and artistic styles, and also of its editors’ aims to provide a sense of cohesiveness and collaboration that transcended national boundaries.

Collective memory and digital surrealist solidarity: Shanghai elderly on social media during 2022 COVID lockdowns

Ever since the first COVID-19 case was reported in Wuhan in 2019, Chinese cities have gone through different stages of quarantine till the end of 2022. Due to a surge of Omicron variant cases in 2022, travel restrictions were introduced in February and Shanghai entered lockdowns from 28 March 2022, allegedly to protect the elderly, the young and the vulnerable. Nevertheless, it was gradually revealed that many elderly people suffered or even died from the strict lockdown measures at home or in the quarantine hospitals. This article studies the trending visualities and black humour about the lockdown experience of Shanghai elderly on social media platforms Weibo and Weixin, examining how social media was used as a tool to provide counter narratives, build surrealist solidarity and construct collective memories. Data used for this article is sourced from China Digital Times. The keyword 上海老人 (‘Shanghai elderly’) was used to identify relevant posts between 1 March and 1 June 2022. A total of 39 posts containing visual or audio-visual components about Shanghai elderly’s lockdown experience was selected as samples. A multimodal analysis of data reveals that Shanghai elderly’s COVID experience was both represented and mediatized on social media platforms. Surrealism artistic creation from internet users exposes the ineptitude of government officials and the absurdity of reality. The use of black humour in surrealistic online content on the one hand shows individuals as helpless victims while on the other hand builds surrealist solidarity among people and exhibits resistance towards the authoritarian control.

Street to screen carnivalesque: Labour, identity and resistance at the 2023 Shanghai Halloween Parade

The 2023 Shanghai Halloween Parade marked a significant shift from previous years, transforming from a modest festivity into a carnivalesque spectacle that served as a platform for cultural resistance and collective expression. This study examines the parade’s evolution in the context of post-COVID-19 China, exploring its manifestation both on the streets and in digital spaces. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the ‘carnivalesque’, Franco Berardi’s notion of the ‘cognitariat’ and Judith Butler’s analysis of the potentiality of gender parody, the research investigates how the parade reflected local sociopolitical tensions, particularly those stemming from pandemic-related traumas and economic stagnation. The parade saw unprecedented participation from diverse groups, notably young urban professionals (the ‘cognitariat’) and the LGBTQ community, who used the event to voice dissent against exploitative work cultures and identity erasure, respectively. The street celebrations were characterized by low-key costumes and performances that blended black humour with critical commentary on recent social issues. Crucially, the parade’s impact extended beyond physical spaces into the digital realm. Social media platforms amplified the carnivalesque atmosphere, enabling broader participation and preserving the event’s legacy through memes and creative expressions. However, this online dimension also highlighted ongoing censorship, with certain discussions quickly disappearing from view. This research contributes to understanding how festivals of western originals like Halloween are localized and repurposed in Shanghai, serving as vehicles for negotiating identity and resistance in the face of social and political constraints. It also sheds light on the interplay between physical and digital manifestations of cultural resistance in contemporary China.

The Laughter That Kills: A Critical Look at Black Comedy in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five employs black humour as a potent tool to critique the absurdities and horrors of war. By exploring the intricate relationship between Vonnegut's writing techniques and the representation of war in his novel, the present article questions the proposition that black comedy could effectively instigate significant social or political change, arguing that despite its potential for critique, humour may inadvertently blur the lines between dissent and complicity, encouraging passive spectatorship rather than active moral engagement. We aim to demonstrate that while black comedy provides a powerful tool for grappling with the absurdity of war, its use also risks trivializing the profound moral and existential implications of conflict. This may undercut the urgency of its anti-war message, foster a distorted understanding of human condition and create a dissonance between the absurdity of war and the gravity of its consequences. Ultimately, it may even frame suffering as a source of amusement.

Dark Triad and Humor Styles: A Study on White Collar Workers from Türkiye

Humor plays a crucial role in psychological functioning, influencing goal achievement, emotional regulation, and interpersonal interactions. This study explores the effects of dark triad on humor styles and to inquire about the inconsistent relations previously reported between narcissism and self-enhancing humor within a Turkish sample. Utilizing the Humor Styles Questionnaire and the Dirty Dozen Dark Triad inventory, data were collected from 468 white-collar employees working in various companies through online questionnaire. The results indicated that Narcissism positively affects all humor styles, while Psychopathy significantly associated with aggressive, self-enhancing and self-defeating humor. In contrast, Machiavellianism shows a negative effect with self-defeating humor. These findings underscore the complex interplay between personality traits and humor, suggesting that while Narcissism may enhance both positive and negative humor styles, Psychopathy predominantly influences negative styles, and Machiavellianism appears less involved. The study discusses the implications of these results and provides suggestions for future research.

“Cut on the Bias”: Toni Cade Bambara as a Touchstone of Black Feminist Humor Studies

ABSTRACT As a writer, editor, scholar, and activist, Toni Cade Bambara left an indelible imprint on African American literature and Black feminist thought. This article elucidates Bambara’s significance to Black women’s humorous practice and articulates the mutuality between Black feminism’s ongoing project to render Black women visible and to recover and engage in the bounty of Black women’s humorous expression. Through her “cut on the bias” approach to using humor in the short story “Medley,” Bambara offers an “alternate design sensibility” of racial and gender difference that illuminates the perspective of being Black and female.

Doctoral memes as public pedagogy? Or, heaven knows I’m miserable now

ABSTRACT Social media afford the proliferation of doctoral memes across numerous, generally anonymous, accounts spread over multiple platforms – the timeline where the PhD candidate starts off gleaming with health and beaming in delight and ends up an overweight, dishevelled wreck. Or the exhausted cat who has managed to write one line of their thesis in an entire day. But should these memes be a cause for concern? After all, it’s just humour, albeit somewhat dark. My exploratory thematic analysis of a corpus of 292 doctoral memes and a theorisation of memes as public pedagogy, point to strong resonances between the memes and research on the doctoral experience. This enhances their credibility as a source of information. Based on the analysis, I suggest we might seriously examine doctoral meme-based learning, focusing on the potential of their gallows humour to support identity formation, community building, coping and wellbeing. Memes may be small but could potentially do useful work for both doctoral researchers and their supervisors.

The Analysis of the Film Triangle of Sadness from the Narrative Space

This thesis explores the use of narrative space in the black comedy film Triangle of Sadness, directed by Ruben stlund. The film reveals the hypocrisy between people and the struggles surrounding class inequality through contrasts and reversals. The thesis is based on the theory of spatial narrative and analyzes the film text through three categories of narrative space geographic space, emotional space, and metaphorical space. Geographic space is examined through the settings of the yacht and the island, reflecting modern civilization and nature. Emotional space is analyzed through intimate and confined environments that enhance the emotional tension between characters. Metaphorical space is illustrated through symbolic elements such as the octopus and the exchange of sexual capital, critiquing social and gender dynamics. In this film, spatial narrative effectively reveals and critiques issues of class inequality, using spatial construction to enhance the film s satirical impact.

Critical Discourse Analysis of Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is part of Discourse Analysis which deals with the way meaning is further explored beyond the realm of sentences. Its use in literature takes the exploration further by making critical inquiry in to the source of the problem or the conflict. By critically looking at conversations and writings that are being used in the society, Critical Discourse Analysis aims to attach the source of all problems in a story to a systemic failure of socio-political powers. In so doing, it tries to take an active role to correct the wrongs in the society by highlighting the conversational and textual rhetoric of the state or related entities. This article investigates the ways and methods in which Aravind Adiga has used discourse in his novel, White Tiger to highlight the plight of the millions of poor Indians who were living under the shadows of the few economically affluent political elites in postcolonial India. His novel, crafted in the form of a series of letters addressed to the Chinese premier, utilizes the ordinary discourse of the people in the lower strata of the society. Techniques of satire and dark humor have predominantly been used to narrate the individual story of the protagonist in a way that represents the wider society which was struggling to break the ‘rooster coop’ and survive with economic and political liberty.