Doona, Joanna

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Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITYPO Box 117221 00 Lund+46 46-222 00 00Satirising scienceHumour and trust in pandemic engagementDoona, Joanna2022Document Version:Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publicationCitation for published version (APA):Doona, J. (2022). Satirising science: Humour and trust in pandemic engagement. Abstract from Mediabreakdown and recovery, Lund, Sweden.Total number of authors:1General rightsUnless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply:Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authorsand/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by thelegal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private studyor research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portalRead more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will removeaccess to the work immediately and investigate your claim.Abstract for international symposium Breakdown and Recovery, Lund University March 2022  Satirising science: humour and trust in pandemic engagement Joanna Doona, associate senior lecturer, media and communication studies  Humorous interaction is prevalent online (David et al. 2018; Philips & Milner 2017), and incremental to practices of networking and community formation; building trust and intimacy (Krefting 2014; Tremblay 2016; Hampes 1999). This presentation focusses on humorous civic interaction online related to the covid-19 pandemic; more specifically, on debates concerning different national strategies and vaccination politics.  Humorous interaction is understood as a ubiquitous and inextricable aspect of civic engagement – expressed through jokes, irony, memes and sarcasm. The aim of the presentation is to understand how humour – as a social and emotional ‘mode’ – is engaged in vernacular discussions on complex scientific and political issues; specifically asking how trust and distrust in scientific, political and public knowledge production/institutions is expressed and negotiated through humour. Trust is understood as trust in media, government and other institutions of knowledge/expertise; as well as interpersonal trust, between citizens or groups of citizens – often overlapping in civic interaction (Meyer et al. 2008; Coleman et al. 2013). Since humorous, satirical or ironic discourse challenges power (Hariman 2008) – including institutions of knowledge production – its link to issues of civic trust and distrust need to be further understood. Such exploration must be contextually grounded, to avoid the common conflation of humour, irony, scepticism and cynicism (Day 2011; Quiring et al. 2021). The presentation emphasises how humour engagement can be symptomatic of civic criticism, unease and lacking political efficacy (Doona 2021); as well as lacking ontological security, as trust in expertise/knowledge (Giddens 1990) is challenged continually. The analysis draws on digital ethnography, encompassing a broad selection of online spaces were pandemic trust/distrust is negotiated; including but not limited to comment sections on YouTube; social media related to public figures; as well as discussion threads in spaces such as Twitter and Reddit, where discussions on topics such as “big pharma” or “zero covid” are common.   References Atieno Oduor, J. & Kodak, B. “Online Humour as a Coping Mechanism in the Face of Corona Virus Pandemic: the Kenyan Context”. East African Scholars Journal of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences 2(4): 1-8. Coleman S., Morrison, D.E. and Anthony, S. (2012) “A constructivist study of trust in the news”, Journalism Studies, 13:1, 37-53 Davis, J.L., Love T.P., Killen, G. (2018) “Seriously funny: The political work of humor on social media” in New Media & Society 20(10): 3898–3916. Day, A. (2011) Satire and Dissent. Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Doona, J. (2021). ‘Civic stage fright: motivation and news satire engagement’ in European Journal of Cultural Studies 24:4: 850-868. Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press. Hariman R (2008) Political Parody and Public Culture. Quarterly Journal of Speech 94 (3): 247-272. Hempes, W.P. (1999) “The relationship between humor and trust” in Humor 12(3): 253-259. Hutcheon, L. (1994) Irony's Edge: The theory and politics of irony. London: Routledge. Kitta, A. and Goldberg, D. (2016) “The significance of folklore for vaccine policy: discarding the deficit model” in Critical Public Health 27(4): 506-514. Krefting, R. (2014) All Joking Aside. American Humor and its discontents. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Meyer, S., Ward, P., Conveney, J. and Rogers, W. (2008) “Trust in the health system: An analysis and extension of the social theories of Giddens and Luhmann” in Health Sociology Review 17: 177-186. Phillips, W. & Milner, R. M. (2017). The Ambivalent Internet. Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online. Cambridge and Malden: Polity. Quiring, O., Ziegele, M., Schemer, C., Jackob, N., Jakobs, I., & Schultz, T. (2021) “Constructive Scepticism, Dysfunctional Cynicism? Scepticism and Cynicism Differently Determine Generalized Media Trust” in International Journal of Communication 15: 3497–3518. Tremblay, M. (2016) “Humor in Teams: Multilevel Relationships Between Humor Climate, Inclusion, Trust, and Citizenship Behaviors” in J Bus Psychol 32: 363-378.   

Satirising science : Humour and trust in pandemic engagement

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Satirising science : Humour and trust in pandemic engagement

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