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Part of
Exploring the Sociopragmatics of Online Humor
Villy Tsakona
[Topics in Humor Research 12] 2024
► pp. 150–223

Chapter 6
Humor and critical literacy – or what and how we can learn about humor from its sociopragmatic analysis

Article outline
  • 6.1Introductory remarks
  • 6.2Why teach about humor?
  • 6.3What is critical literacy?
  • 6.4Why teach about the sociopragmatics of humor within a critical literacy framework?
  • 6.5Designing critical literacy courses on humor
  • 6.6A critical literacy approach to pandemic memes: Setting the agenda
  • 6.7Humor and memes during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • 6.8Classical art memes
  • 6.9The aims and data of the analysis
  • 6.10Data analysis
    • 6.10.1AF3/Text
      • 6.10.1.1Recontextualized portraits
      • 6.10.1.2Recontextualized interactions
      • 6.10.1.3Recontextualized paintings through meme producers’ commentary
      • 6.10.1.4Compositions including recontextualized paintings
        • 6.10.1.4.1Combinations of different paintings
        • 6.10.1.4.2Compositions made of the same painting
        • 6.10.1.4.3Compositions of paintings and contemporary photos
      • 6.10.1.5Summarizing the analysis in AF3/Text terms
    • 6.10.2AF2/Genre
      • 6.10.2.1The sociopragmatic functions of pandemic memes
        • 6.10.2.1.1Pandemic memes as sociopolitical criticism
        • 6.10.2.1.2Pandemic memes as coping and bonding mechanisms
        • 6.10.2.1.3In between criticism and coping/bonding: Pandemic memes about the ‘new normal’
      • 6.10.2.2Generic hybridization in pandemic memes
      • 6.10.2.3Summarizing the analysis in AF2/Genre terms
    • 6.10.3The analysis in AF1/Sociocultural Assumptions terms
  • 6.11Scrutinizing pandemic memes in class
    • 6.11.1Students’ collection of humorous data
    • 6.11.2Teachers’ familiarity with humor theory
    • 6.11.3Critical readings of humorous discourse
      • AF3/Text
      • AF2/Genre
    • 6.11.4Debating diverse interpretations of humorous discourse
    • 6.11.5A comparative perspective – humorous vs. non-humorous discourse
    • 6.11.6Sharing perspectives in new texts
  • 6.12Summary
  • Notes