Editorial Cartoons Research Articles

Employing Critical Visual Methodologies in Development Education: An Auto-ethnographic Inquiry

Through auto-ethnography, this paper explores the use of critical visual methodologies as a pedagogical approach in teaching and learning development studies based on the author's lived experiences and living encounters as a development educator for the last two decades of his academic career. Specifically, the study unpacks the adoption of this critical pedagogy in classroom instruction as well as in the degree’s community-based practicum program. Conventional and non-conventional visual literacy strategies were also covered and analyzed in the specific context of researching vulnerable groups and communities. The visual data that were explored by this qualitative inquiry encompassed visually oriented course tasks which include the production of photographs, audio-visual presentations, posters, editorial cartoons, and sociological cartoons, among others. In ensuring coherence and complementarity in critical visual methodologies in development education, there is a need to synergize critical constructs with creative pedagogies. Meanwhile, in guaranteeing relevance and rootedness, the socio-instructional imperative is to align these alternative constructs and pedagogies to the situatedness and struggles of communities.

Politicisation of Science in COVID-19 Editorial Cartoons: A Comparative Study of Cartoons in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT This study explores the representation of scientists and politicians in editorial cartoons from three countries: Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Of 466 cartoons collected from six Sunday newspapers (two from each country) over an 18-month period, 226 (49%) contained some reference to COVID-19. A qualitative analysis of cartoons highlights the politicisation of science and the relative absence of scientists in the cartoon discourse. Cartoonists focus on the political aspects of the pandemic, often portraying politicians as juggling competing demands, such as health needs versus personal freedom. However, they often miss the opportunity to address the reasons for the imposition of COVID-19-related restrictions or the effectiveness of health measures, instead portraying scientists as oppositional figures. In addressing COVID-19 in this way, cartoonists subtly suggest conflicts between the values of scientists, politicians and society. Cartoonists also tie the pandemic into broader political discourses in each country, for example, states’ rights, corruption and Brexit in, respectively Australia, South Africa and the UK. This work provides insights into journalistic coverage of complex, science-related issues, with a particular focus on the ways that editorial coverage reflects public sentiment, policy responses and social attitudes.

Minding the Gap

Abstract Inquiry-based learning, that is, developing student capacity to frame and answer significant questions, is at the forefront of twenty-first century education. Expecting students to ask and solve genuine research questions creates a challenging teaching proposition that editorial cartooning can help solve. While the educational use of editorial cartooning is not a novel concept, asking our students to locate cartoons based on a topic of their choosing and to analyze the satirical debate across these cartoons serves as an accessible inquiry-driven research project for first-year college classes that introduces them to academic databases. This essay details the three-step process used in the college classroom: first, to “mind the gap,” that is, to apply specific rhetorical tools, like parody and juxtaposition, as a means of identifying and analyzing satire; second, to “mine the gap,” that is, to contextualize the cartoons by researching articles about contemporary culture and politics; and third, to “make the gap known” — to share their information with others through an oral presentation and a written essay. This editorial cartoon project, by educating students in research-encountering behavior, provides a genuine model of inquiry and analysis.

Reading history through animal imagery from pre–WWII British editorial cartoons: Gandhi’s anticolonial struggle during India’s civil disobedience movement (1930–1931)

ABSTRACT This article studies animal imagery published in pre-WWII British editorial cartoons offering constant updates about India’s Civil Disobedience movement (1930s) against British colonialism to uncover the processes through which the event and the people participating in it, both Indian political leaders and British administrators, were designated a particular animal symbol that popularly became associated with their identities in the long run. In other words, the article looks into the question of how animal images affect the iconography of historical personalities. The article will be an insight into defamiliarizing/deconstructing the events and people from this movement and then analyse how animals were used as substitutes for defining, explaining, and debating a concept, a human, an event, or a nationality in the cartoons published in British newspapers in those times. Consequently, I will explore satirical representations of everyday politics during the Civil Disobedience movement, thus offering the cultural history of the Raj in those times. As these editorial cartoons are published almost at the same time as the actual occurrence of events in the 1930s, they also give an insight into the prevalent colonial stereotypes, traditions, beliefs, humour, tolerance level, as well as ‘domestic politics, social themes,’ of the existing society (Kemnitz).

Victims or villains? How editorial cartoons depict the 2023 Israel – Palestine war

Abstract Study purpose The study analyzed online editorial cartoons depicting the Israel-Palestine conflict through visual, symbolic, metaphorical, and textual analysis. The study reveals a prevailing anti-war sentiment across editorial cartoons, with a notable inclination towards supporting Palestine. This support was prominent in cartoons originating from the Global South, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there was a scarcity of such cartoons within mainstream Western media. Methodology The study employs an in-depth approach, analyzing cartoons from both Western and non-Western media. It utilizes Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) and Multimodal Semiotics (MS) theories, focusing on symbolism and text to decode nuanced narratives within the cartoons. Main findings The cartoons depict complex narratives, using symbolism to explain how politicians and the main media are framing specific entities while undermining victimology. They reveal subjective perspectives that influence audience perceptions. They echo existing scholarly views on the influential power of editorial cartoons in communicating complex political concepts. Social implications The cartoons shape public understanding of the conflict, potentially influencing biases and perspectives. They present Hamas as both an aggressor and a victim, portraying multifaceted perceptions of the group. Practical implications The findings are instrumental in depicting political identities, including major organizations like the UN. The boldness in depicting such entities provides a practical avenue for understanding the role of such organizations. Originality/value The study adds to the existing literature by applying multimodal analysis to editorial cartoons, unveiling hidden narratives and perceptions. It suggests the need for a deeper analysis of the conflict’s historical, geopolitical, and power structures. This research offers a multifaceted understanding of how editorial cartoons shape perceptions and interpretations of the Israel-Palestine conflict, emphasizing their complex and influential nature within media discourse.

Semiotic Analysis of Editorial Cartoons of the Philippine Artist

The editorial cartoons of the Philippine Artisan played an imperative role in identifying and stimulating the public’s feelings toward current events. This study analyzes the signs and symbols used in the chosen fifteen (15) editorial cartoons of Philippine Artisan, the official student gazette of the Technological University of the Philippines, in expressing relevant social issues. This is a qualitative study anchored by a descriptive research design. Semiotic analysis was used to examine symbols, signs, and meanings within the chosen cartoons to achieve a comprehensive analysis. It was found that most of the common themes covered by the editorial cartoons were power abuse, corruption, incompetent leaders, a disorganized capitalist system, government inaction, careless solutions, and school-related problems. The publication still provided an impact by educating students about the current issues and opening their minds to what we are currently facing within the university and society. This also concludes that the cartoonists have clearly communicated their messages and their criticism of the current leadership and the call for action.

Multimodal Metaphors and Metonymies in Editorial Cartoons about Türkiye in Kathimerini

Multimodal Metaphors and Metonymies in Editorial Cartoons about Türkiye in Kathimerini

The Portrayal of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Editorial Cartoons: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis

The Portrayal of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Editorial Cartoons: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Language Borrowing in Mqapheli Mngadi's Cartoons: A Socio-Stylistic Critique

The aim of this research article is to examine language borrowing in Mqapheli Mngadi’s cartoons, and this is done by considering loan-words as one of the language borrowing processes. While the study adopts ethnography of communication as the main theory, to guide the analysis of the qualitatively textually analysed data, the study is conceptually grounded on socio-stylistics. This is because one of its aims is to critically evaluate the socio-stylistic significance of language borrowing in Mngadi’s selected editorial cartoons. The findings of the study demonstrate that Mngadi employs loan-words to artistically depict context, culture and setting in his cartoons. It was also discovered that the cartoonist, in some instances, uses loan words because there are no isiZulu equivalents. On the same note, he uses them when a more suitable word is preferred, so that the cartoons are more relatable.

Colour Symbolism and Size: A Semiotic - Stylistic Critique of Visual Language in Mqapheli Mngadi`s editorial Cartoons

The seems to be less research that has been done on the significance of visual language in South African cartoons so far. As an attempt to bridge this gap, the aim of this research article is to investigate the literary significance of colour and size as visual language features in Mqapheli Mngadi’s South African editorial cartoons. The study is done literary through ‘semiotic – stylistics’ to interpret the ‘visuo – textually’ examined data. The reader response theory is also adopted to aid the analysis. The findings of the study demonstrate that colour and size are used as one of the narrative techniques in Mqapheli Mngadi’s selected cartoons. These features play a significant stylistic role in assisting the cartoonist to express his ideas. While colour is used figuratively or symbolically to present hidden ideas, size is used to depict the socio – political and socio – economic power relations.

Conceptual Blending in Indian Political Cartoon Discourse

Conceptual blending theory has been used by scholars to study various genres of texts. Scholars studying cartoons in particular have used it to study how metaphors and metaphorical blending are used in cartoons to construct meaningful texts. This paper studies selected Indian political cartoons using the Conceptual Blending Theory of Fauconnier and Turner. The themes of the cartoons chosen for the study focused on various social issuesthat were part of the media discourse in contemporary times. The study was conducted to understand how cartoons depicting social issues used metaphoric blending to visualise an issue. The paper found that the graphic form of the political cartoon mediates the understanding of a communicative event through the use of cognitive devices like metaphoric blends. It was found that novel metaphoric blends were created in a cartoon text depending on the nature of the issue and that these metaphorical blends are regulated by context and background knowledge regarding the event being represented. It was also observed that the novelty of metaphoric blends in Indian editorial cartoons depended on the social, political and cultural context. Meanwhile, the metaphoric blends also draw into it everyday objects and scenarios that structure the meaning potential of the political cartoon. Another relevant finding is regarding how certain cartoon texts had more than one conceptual blend, forming a network of blends that worked in conjunction with each other. Furthermore, it was observed how conceptual blends in cartoons aided in anchoring the meaning of the cartoon and prevented polysemic confusion. The findings of the research prove that cognitive devices are prevalent in cartoon texts and could significantly direct their interpretation and use.

Visual Persuasion in Selected English and Arabic Covid-19 Editorial Cartoons (2020-2021): Vaccine Portrayal

Visual Persuasion in Selected English and Arabic Covid-19 Editorial Cartoons (2020-2021): Vaccine Portrayal

A multimodal analysis of the representation of Saudi women in selected caricature images from Cartoon Movement: A global platform for editorial cartoons

A multimodal analysis of the representation of Saudi women in selected caricature images from Cartoon Movement: A global platform for editorial cartoons

Making Political Posters Expressive: Interdiscursive and Intrasemiotic Resources of Multimodal Creativity

This article considers political posters as multimodal texts containing interdiscursive elements which produce linguistic and pictorial creative patterns. The aim of the research is to reveal the way interdiscursive resources work in political posters on the basis of intersemiosis to expressively shape politically relevant information and to impact the recipients emotionally. The sample includes modern British and American political posters with interdiscursive elements which were intentionally embedded into political still visuals to create new layers of meaning. The purpose of this carefully designed discursive hybridization is to attract the recipients’ attention and, in the long run, to affect their electoral choices. The research is set in the framework of Multimodal Discourse Analysis, it also employs stylistic, structural and semantic types of analysis. The examination reveals the sources of interdiscursive items that encompass sport, cinematic, virtual and art discourses. It also elucidates the way interdiscursive elements are integrated into a multimodal text of a political poster on verbal and non-verbal levels. The article contains a case study of a poster based on the combination of political, advertising and cinematic discourses. The analysis shows how the interaction of discourses generates multimodal creativity and how intersemiosis stimulates a careful orchestration of semiotically divergent elements of the target and donor discourses, which ultimately conveys a powerful message. The study is novel as it specifies the notions of multimodal creativity and intersemiosis in reference to political still visuals. The methodology employed in this research opens up new avenues in exploring interdiscursivity and multimodal creativity in other types of text used in visual political communication, such as editorial cartoons and memes.

(De-)Monstering COVID-19: a diachronic study of COVID-19 virus multimodal metaphors in Philippine editorial cartoons, 2019–2022

Abstract In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has been studied extensively through the lens of conceptual metaphor theory. However, only one study has focused on the metaphorization of the COVID-19 pandemic in a strictly Philippine milieu. None so far has published on pandemic- related multimodal metaphors in Philippine media, let alone shed light on these through a diachronic perspective. Using conceptual metaphor theory and visual metaphor identification procedure, this study analysed 203 pandemic-related editorial cartoons published by a Philippine national publication from December 2019 to February 2022. It investigated the diachronic conceptualizations of the conceptual domain COVID-19 VIRUS in the Philippines as captured by the neutralizing or ‘de-monstering’ of the virus from the COVID-19 IS A MONSTER to the COVID-19 IS A LIVING ENTITY multimodal metaphor. It argued that the trends of metaphorization correlate with the shifting sociocultural and political attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic as a global and local healthcare crisis. Essentially, this study not only explored the dynamics between media and cognition, but it also analysed how the multimodal metaphorizations of COVID-19 reflect Filipino socio-political realities and cultural underpinnings during turbulent times.

George Chin's Editorial Cartoons: Analysis of Political Issues in Sabah Newspaper

This study aims to analyse political issues through the work of cartoonist George Chin or more synonymous with the title 'Mingo'. It focuses on George Chin's cartoon work from 1966 to 1967. This study uses the Visual Metaphor approach or theory in classifying and identifying current issues in Mingo's editorial cartoons. The results of this study found that George Chin's ideas and drawings, which are quite cohesive and energetic, can reflect his and the community's views on an issue. Editorial cartoons not only act as criticism and satire on an issue but indirectly give awareness to the local community in order to try to eradicate passive attitudes in the community. In addition, editorial cartoons are able to be an intermediary channel between the community and the government in conveying their thoughts figuratively through their two-dimensional works.

Islamic Caricature Controversy from Jyllands-Posten to Charlie Hebdo from the Perspective of Arab Opinion Leaders

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 editorial cartoons in September 2005. Cultural and political relations between the West and the Arabic and Islamic worlds have witnessed multiple events that revealed the nature and understanding of historical relations between the worlds, and the role of contemporary media in formulating them. After this incident, the phenomenon of Western media handling of Islamic religious symbols began to arouse interest, where they faced angry responses in the Arabic and Islamic worlds, which denounced Denmark, while Denmark, as a country, refused to apologize to Muslims for what they considered a major abuse, which led some Arab countries to suspend relations with the latter. Additionally, in January 2015, the French magazine Charlie Hebdo was targeted in a deadly attack on its headquarters in Paris, killing 12 people for its “red-line cartoons” on Islam. This study seeks to understand the positions of a group of opinion leaders comprised of intellectuals and influencers who represent cultural and political currents in a number of Arab countries from the phenomenon of cartoons in Western media. This study aimed to evaluate them on the intense reactions of rage witnessed in multiple Islamic countries that occurred after the release of these drawings, and ask them basic questions: Did the Arab media, opinion leaders, and intellectuals have an inciting role that provoked the Western media’s handling of Islamic religious symbols or did this practice coincide with the Arab-Islamic cultural context and its limits? Answering the above questions helped to reveal the features of continuity and change in the perception of opinion leaders in the Arab world on the role of Western media in the dialogue and cultural conflict between the Arab-Islamic and Western worlds.

By-Elections After the 12th General Election: From the Glasses of an Editorial Cartoonist

Editorial cartoons often become recorders of events, especially during election season. Therefore, the main focus of this study is on the publication of editorial cartoons published through mainstream local newspapers with the theme of by-elections after the 12th Malaysian General Election. In addition to that, the researcher will also briefly trace the beginning and development of cartoons in Malaysia from the beginning of the period before independence, then the heyday of Malay cartoons in the 80s and 90s and then specifically to editorial cartoons themed by by-elections. The research and writing approach is based on the appreciation of the form and meaning of the work and the context of its production. Art history methodology based on analysis according to context is used as the basis in this study. Covering aspects of description, analysis, interpretation and consideration are used as a guide in the research of the work. The conclusion of the results of this study found that these mainstream newspaper cartoons are critical of the presentation of political-themed jokes in Malaysia.

From high hopes to disenchantment: A qualitative analysis of editorial cartoons on COVID-19 vaccines in Canadian newspapers

In Canada, the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in December 2020, marking the beginning of a large vaccination campaign. The campaign was not only unprecedented in terms of reach, but also with regards to the amount of information about vaccines that circulated in traditional and social media. This study’s aim was to describe COVID-19 vaccine related discourses in Canada through an analysis of editorial cartoons. We collected 2172 cartoons about COVID-19 published between January 2020 and August 2022 in Canadian newspapers. These cartoons were downloaded and a first thematic analysis was conducted using the WHO-EPIWIN taxonomy (cause, illness, treatment, interventions, and information). From this, 389 cartoons related to COVID-19 vaccines were identified under the treatment category. These were subjected to a second thematic analysis to assess main themes (e.g., vaccine development, campaign progress, etc.), characters featured (e.g., politicians, public figures, public) and position with respect to vaccine (favorable, unfavorable, neutral). Six main themes emerged: Research and development of vaccines; Management of the vaccination campaign; Perceptions of and experiences with vaccination services; Measures and incentives to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake; Criticism of the unvaccinated; and Effectiveness of vaccination. Our analysis revealed a shift in attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination from high hopes to disenchantment, which may reflect some vaccine fatigue. In the future, public health authorities could face some challenges in maintaining confidence and high COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

11 REYNOLDS’ USE OF EDITORIAL CARTOONS FOR FIREBRAND ENVIRONMENTALISM

Brandon Reynolds addresses issues of environment in his editorial cartoons and the paper aims to unravel how he manipulates the conventions of the medium for public awareness and opinion formation. Both the formal and thematic aspects of the cartoons are analysed. Reynolds’ cartoons are an ample testimony of how cartoons hold their own as literary texts in the dissemination of ideas. The paper discusses how they serve as texts of ecocriticism. Since the medium has not much been brought under ecocritical analysis like poems and novels earlier the unique features of cartoons are focused. The dynamics of verbal and visual components are brought under study. The ecological and historical aspects are discussed.