Authoritarian Laughter: Political Humor and Soviet Dystopia in Lithuania by Neringa Klumbytė


Yıldırım S.

AB IMPERIO, cilt.2023, sa.2, ss.232-236, 2023 (AHCI)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Kitap İncelemesi
  • Cilt numarası: 2023 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Dergi Adı: AB IMPERIO
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, American Bibliography of Slavic & Eastern European Studies (ABSEES), Historical Abstracts, ERIHPlus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.232-236
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Studies of authoritarianism typically focus on state power, violence, and the infringement of human rights. Neringa Klumbytė, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Miami, takes a different approach to the study of authoritarianism by examining "the commonplace experiences of power" through the production and consumption of the officially approved humor magazine in Soviet Lithuania – creating cartoons and satires, navigating censorship, and embracing the official culture through laughter. Klumbytė contends that when democratic forms of political participation are lacking, the state mobilizes citizens and provides them with avenues of engagement through humor and satire. The author aims to reconstruct the process of the authoritarian regime's infiltrating of citizens' daily lives, engaging them politically, and making ideology a household item on moral and emotional levels – or, alternatively, failing on these fronts.