A Bakhtinian Reading of Contemporary Jordanian Political Humour
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Carnivalesque politics and popular resistance: A Bakhtinian reading of contemporary Jordanian political humour Yousef Barahmeh Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Portsmouth School of Area Studies, History, Politics and Literature February 2020 i Abstract This thesis examines contemporary Jordanian political humour in the context of the political history of Jordan and the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions. It applies Mikhail Bakhtin’s mid-20th century theory of carnival and the carnivalesque (folk humour) as a framework for thinking about Jordanian politics and political humour in social media spaces following the Arab Spring. The Bakhtinian approach to humour has predominantly focused on the role of humour as a revolutionary impulse that aims to attack and expose the shortcomings of established political power, as well as to highlight public attitudes towards that power. The analysis undertaken here of Jordanian politics and political humour in Jordanian social media spaces after the Arab Spring found that Bakhtin’s ‘marketplace’ is no longer the streets and material public spaces, but rather the social media spaces. The nature of the carnivals in social media spaces is in many ways just as carnivalesque as the ‘marketplace’ of Bakhtin’s Medieval France, characterised by polyphony, the overturning of social hierarchies and the presence of dialogism (and monologism) and the grotesque. To more fully address the relevance – and some of the limitations – of application of Bakhtin’s ideas about carnival to the Jordanian socio- political context after the Arab Spring, this thesis analyses key political cartoons, satirical articles, comedy sketches, politically satirical videos and internet memes produced by Jordanians from the start of the Arab ii Spring to early 2019. The analysis reveals five salient qualities of carnivalesque political humour in Jordanian social media spaces following the Arab Spring: praising the government (intentionally satirical), parodying the government, mocking the government, scatalogising the government and, finally, dethroning the government (the temporarily and metaphorically comic death of the government). These five qualities collectively and individually provide us with a useful framework to think of contemporary Jordanian political humour as a time and place for socio-political ‘flattening’ and cathartic hedonism (but not revolution) that have led to changes in Jordanian society where people are more willing to criticise and mock the government. Such humour has allowed ridicule of the government but not of the monarch and allowed individuals (carnival-goers) in social media spaces to cope with socio-economic inequalities and the absurdities of political power. iii Declaration Whilst registered as a candidate for the above degree, I have not been registered for any other research award. The results and conclusions embodied in this thesis are the work of the named candidate and have not been submitted for any other academic award. Word count: 73,680 iv Table of contents Abstract .................................................................................................. i Declaration ............................................................................................ iii Table of contents ................................................................................... iv List of figures ....................................................................................... viii List of tables .......................................................................................... x List of acronyms and abbreviation ......................................................... xi Acknowledgments ................................................................................ xii Note on transliteration and translation ................................................. xiv Dissemination ....................................................................................... xv Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1 Political and personal humour: Theoretical foundations 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 32 1.2 Bakhtin and the carnivalesque ................................................................ 36 1.3 What can Freud bring to Bakhtin? ........................................................... 43 1.4 The application of Bakhtin and Freud ...................................................... 52 1.5 Ethnic jokes and superiority theory ......................................................... 62 1.5.1 The incongruity theory ......................................................................... 79 1.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 83 Chapter 2 Jordan and the Arab Spring 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 87 2.2 The making of Transjordan ..................................................................... 93 2.3 The regime’s resilience ........................................................................... 98 2.4 Ethnicity and identity politics ................................................................. 105 2.5 Façade reforms..................................................................................... 112 v 2.6 Jordan and the Arab Spring .................................................................. 118 2.6.1 The 2011–12 protests ........................................................................ 126 2.6.2 The 2018 protests .............................................................................. 139 2.7. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 145 Chapter 3 Development of Jordanian political humour, 1989–2011 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 147 3.2 Are Jordanians humourless? ................................................................ 151 3.3 Political humour before 1989 ................................................................ 157 3.4 Political humour after 1989 ................................................................... 164 3.5 Political humour from 2011 ................................................................... 179 3.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 191 Chapter 4 Jordanian politics in social media spaces 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 195 4.2 Jordanian street protests ...................................................................... 197 4.3 Jordanian social media activists ............................................................ 202 4.3.1 Maen Qatamin ................................................................................... 203 4.3.2 Ahmad Hassan Al-Zou’bi ................................................................... 206 4.3.3 Musa Hijazin ...................................................................................... 208 4.4 The applicability of Bakhtinian theories ................................................. 212 4.4.1 Dialogism ........................................................................................... 212 4.4.2 The grotesque.................................................................................... 221 4.5 Problems of the Bakhtinian carnival ...................................................... 224 4.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................ 237 Chapter 5 Jordanian political humour after the Arab Spring 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 239 5.2 Qualities of Jordanian political humour ................................................. 241 5.2.1 Praising the government .................................................................... 244 5.2.2 Parodying the government ................................................................. 255 5.2.3 Mocking the government .................................................................... 269 5.2.4 Scatologising the government ............................................................ 285 5.2.5 Dethroning the government ................................................................ 294 vi 5.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 306 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 309 Bibliography ....................................................................................... 322 Primary sources .......................................................................................... 323 Arabic sources ............................................................................................ 347 Social media sources .................................................................................. 349 Appendices ........................................................................................ 355 vii In loving memory of my mother. You are so much loved and missed! viii List of figures Figure 1. Map of Jordan showing the localities of As-Salt, At-Tafilah and