Research Articles (Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice)

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    Laughing through the virus the Zimbabwean way: WhatsApp humor and the twenty-one-day COVID-19 lockdown
    (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Chibuwe, Albert; Munoriyarwa, Allen
    In many African countries, jokes represent one of the many means used by citizens to cope with a crisis. Chibuwe and Munoriyarwa explore how Zimbabweans utilize WhatsApp jokes, which are anchored in the concept of the “everyday,” to cope with pandemic-induced lockdowns. COVID-19 jokes provide citizens momentary relief from fear and function as a defense mechanism against COVID-19 and its effects, enabling citizens to confront and rationalize fear, death, and suffering. Chibuwe and Munoriyarwa argue that jokes are also a means of speaking truth to power by disgruntled citizens attempting to cope with a health crisis, in a context characterized by corruption, state repression, and bad governance.