Identity politics and ethnic humour in contemporary Jordan
Identity politics and ethnic humour in contemporary Jordan

Summary/Abstract: Following political turbulence and instability in the Middle East, Jordan has become a homefor a large number of Palestinians, Iraqis, and Syrians, and now includes a significant numberof Egyptians in its workforce. This growing diversity in the population has impacted the countrynot only socially and economically but quite noticeably in terms of identity politics and ethnichumour (how do indigenous people perceive the other(s) and how do others perceive theindigenous people?). This is explained through the rising tensions between Jordanians andJordanians of Palestinian origin in relation to the formation of ethnic humour that is based onthe idea of urban and rural division in Jordanian society. The discussion in this article arguesthat the people of Transjordanian towns, such as As-Salt, At-Tafilah, and As-Sarih, have‘unexpectedly’ become the target of many ethnic jokes by the urbanites in Amman andelsewhere, who now make up the majority of Jordanians of Palestinian origin. The people ofthese Transjordanian small towns and villages have been the target of Jordanian ethnic humourbecause of their backwardness, lack of discretion, and stupidity, compared to the cleverness,modernity, and high culture of the Jordanian urbanites and their cultural superiority. However,since the 2011 Arab Spring, the people of these Transjordanian towns have developed a counter-superiority tendency to laugh at the powerful in urban centres and make fun of the governmentand its institutionalised discourse about reform and progress.

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