Jesting international politics: The productive power and limitations of humorous practices in an age of entertainment politics

IF 3.2 1区社会学 Q1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Review of International Studies Pub Date : 2022-10-06 DOI:10.1017/S0260210522000341

H. Malmvig

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract Humour has recently emerged as an important research topic in International Politics. Scholars have investigated how states and state leaders practice humour as part of their diplomatic exchanges, in misinformation campaigns, and nation-branding. Important knowledge has been gained as to how humorous practices partake in constituting identities, managing recognition, and international anxieties or contesting global orders. Yet, little attention has been devoted to interrogating the risk that humorous practices may give rise to in international politics, to the underside of humour's productive power. This article aims to begin unpacking these risks both theoretically and empirically. To do so, it engages with the critical thinking on humour by Kierkegaard and Foster Wallace in particular, suggesting three challenging implications: (1) humorous entrapments; (2) facile forms of detached engagement; and (3) ambiguous blurring of fiction and reality. It then shows how these unfold empirically in: Iran's meme war with the US, a Yes Men's parody during COP15, and the Pyongyang Nuclear Summit, developing a three-pronged analytical strategy for studying humorous practices and their different relations to formations of power/knowledge.

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调侃国际政治:娱乐政治时代幽默实践的生产力与局限性

摘要幽默是近年来国际政治研究的一个重要课题。学者们调查了国家和国家领导人如何将幽默作为外交交流、错误信息宣传和国家品牌推广的一部分。关于幽默行为如何参与构成身份、管理认可、国际焦虑或争夺全球秩序的重要知识已经获得。然而，很少有人关注幽默行为在国际政治中可能引起的风险，以及幽默生产力的阴暗面。本文旨在从理论和经验两方面开始剖析这些风险。为此，它特别借鉴了克尔凯郭尔和福斯特·华莱士对幽默的批判性思考，提出了三个具有挑战性的含义:(1)幽默陷阱;(2)简单形式的独立约定;(3)小说与现实的模糊。然后，它展示了这些是如何在经验上展开的:伊朗与美国的模因战争，第15届联合国气候变化大会(COP15)期间对“Yes Men”的恶搞，以及平壤核峰会，开发了一个三管齐下的分析策略来研究幽默实践及其与权力/知识形成的不同关系。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Review of International Studies INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS-

CiteScore

5.50

自引率

3.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Review of International Studies serves the needs of scholars in international relations and related fields such as politics, history, law, and sociology. The Review publishes a significant number of high quality research articles, review articles which survey new contributions to the field, a forum section to accommodate debates and replies, and occasional interviews with leading scholars.