Humor Expressing Suffering and Resistance during 		January 25 Revolution

Kamal Abdullah Taha, Gouda

doi:10.21608/aafu.2016.9648

Humor Expressing Suffering and Resistance during January 25 Revolution

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Gouda Kamal Abdullah Taha

10.21608/aafu.2016.9648

Abstract

This paper presents a linguistic study of ten humorous texts produced during the eighteen-day revolution of January25, 2011. During this period, Egyptians, exploiting their renowned sense of humor, created various humorous forms to satirize the autocratic rule, to expose the various aspects of its maladministration such as the political and the economic corruption as well as the hard living conditions, and to articulate their revolutionary demands. The aim of this study is to demonstrate this skillful use of humor as a form of resistance and revolution. It examines the revolutionary aspects of their humor. It also attempts to uncover the various functions fulfilled by producing jokes, banners and caricatures. More importantly, this study attempts to apply the Cooperative Principle (CP), proposed by Grice (1975), and the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH), presented by Attardo and Raskin (1991), to examine Arabic humorous texts. This study asserted that using humor to resist autocratic regimes is a form of politicotainment, which combined entertainment and political humor that asserts the powerful impact of humor during the revolution. It also highlighted various aspects of these texts through employing the two linguistic tools. It also emphasized the use of
humor as a coping mechanism as well as a corrective means to effect some desirable change.

Keywords