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Serving as introduction to this Special Issue, this article presents a thematic review of topics involved in studies on humour and belonging. It briefly elaborates on the intricacies of concepts such as humour, sense of humour and belonging and their relationships. It then provides a selective review of some major relevant studies. Finally, the themes and contents of the Special Issue are introduced.
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Our study examines the impacts on workers when organisational humour is repeated,sustained, dominating, and potentially harmful, and thus can be considered to be bullying. Inan ethnographic study of an idiosyncratic New Zealand IT company, we observed humour thatwas sexualised, dominating, and perpetrated by the most powerful organizational members.We argue that the compelling need for belonging in this extreme organizational cultureinfluenced workers to accept bullying humour as just a joke and therefore acceptable andharmless even when it contravened societal workplace norms. Our contribution is inidentifying and extending the significant theoretical relationship between workplace humourand bullying that, to date, is not well-explored in organizational research.
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Successfully joining a new workplace community is demanding, especially when this involvescrossing national boundaries in addition to team boundaries. For outsiders, humour is anarea that arguably presents a challenge to full participation, particularly when localunderstandings are not shared, nor even recognized as distinctive. Newcomers face thechallenge of navigating the trajectory from legitimate peripheral member towards core status(adopting the terms of the Community of Practice model). This involves cooperating withothers in interaction, including engaging with humour and laughter as a way of indicatingbelonging. Here belonging is operationalized using the two dimensions proposed by Antonsich(2010), namely (1) a sense of belonging and (2) the politics of belonging as evidenced throughnegotiation with others. Applying an Interactional Sociolinguistic approach, I offer analysis ofnaturally occurring workplace interactions and reflections from skilled migrant interns in NewZealand workplaces. I discuss the place of laughter in attempts to demonstrate teammembership, arguing that these attempts at belonging require the cooperation andendorsement of insiders. The findings indicate that, however benevolently intentioned, thelocal colleagues’ use of humour, and their reactions to the humour and laughter produced bythe skilled migrant interns, often results in a sense of othering and exclusion. This is keenlyfelt by the interns who note the difficulties that taken for granted practices create in theiracceptance and progress. In many cases the result is laughing along, as an outward signal offit, rather than laughing with which suggests a deeper sense of belonging.
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The present paper focuses on the desideratum of interlinguistic and interdiscursive contrastivity, delineated by Zofia Bilut-Homplewicz in 2013. Both types of contrastivity are presented with reference to linguistic research on the migration discourse in Poland and Germany. As a starting point, the author outlines interlinguistic and interdiscursive contrastivity. What follows is a comprehensive account of the comparative variables such as ≫migration, migration discourse, linguistic research on migration discourse≪ – each of which is discussed in relation to Poland, Germany or Germanspeaking countries and the Polish and German research. Within the framework of an interdiscursive and interlinguistic comparison, the focus of attention is particularly on the concept of topos and its operationalisation in both research areas.
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A growing body of evidence suggests that there is a link between laughter and memory. However, no research has been done to show a link between simulated laughter (laughter yoga) and the enhancement of working memory. Because laughter has numerous benefits, we examined whether simulated laughter can improve healthy adults’ working memory (WM). A total of 30 participants (15 experimental and 15 control) were enrolled in this study. The research design was experimental and pretest-posttest with a control group. Participants in the laughter yoga intervention group had eight sessions twice a week for four weeks, whereas the control group received no intervention. We assessed all participants before and after laughter activity with the WM measures (Corsi Block Test and Digit Span). The laughter intervention programme focused on simulated laughter (laughter yoga) without relying on humour, jokes, or comedy. The results revealed a significant improvement in the memory of both visual and verbal WM performances in the experimental group after the intervention programme. In contrast, the study found no significant differences in the control group. Simulated laughter intervention is the easiest, practical, and cost-efficient method that seems to affect WM positively.
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In this study, we analyse conversations recorded during ethnographic research in two bilingualcommunities on the island of Rhodes, Greece. We examine: (a) the bilingual in Greek andTurkish Muslim community of Rhodes (Georgalidou et al. 2010, 2013) and (b) the Greek-American/Canadian community of repatriated emigrant families of Rhodian origin (Kourtis-Kazoullis 2016). In particular, combining interactional and conversation analytic frameworks(Auer 1995; Gafaranga 2007), we examine contemporary approaches to bi-/multilingualismfocusing on the pragmatics of humour in conversations among bilinguals. We scrutinise aspectsof the overall and sequential organisation of talk as well as instances of humour produced byspeakers of different ethnic origin, generation, and social groups. We focus on the constructionof “otherness,” which reflects the dynamic interplay between the micro-level of conversationalpractices and the macro-level of discourse involving contrasting categorisations and identitiespertaining to differently orientated ethnic and social groups. Based on the analysis, we willshow a) how humorous targeting orients in-groups versus out-groups, and b) mediates thedynamic process of constructing the identity of speakers who, being members of minoritylinguistic communities, represent “otherness.”
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The analysis of memes posted on Moroccan Facebook pages during the first wave of Covid-19pandemic shows that the use of humour by Moroccans is not only motivated by achieving mirthbut it also vehicles critical views about issues of common concern debated in the digital publicsphere. Some of these memes were used to cope with fear and uncertainty. However, most memesharboured mixed feelings about the situation and were used for social control and theexpression of conflict and resistance, addressing issues of behaviour, governance andcommunication. This article uses a social semiotic approach to analyse the collected memes(460 from personal and communal pages) as a multimodal discourse in terms of context, culture,and media affordances. This article contends that the study of these memes can be a key tounderstanding how Moroccans used humour to cope with danger and radical uncertainty, buildidentification and strengthen social cohesion. It also highlights the polyvocality of humour intimes of the pandemic and the gradual shift from inclusive, conformist and sympathetic humourto disparaging, exclusive and challenging humour as the pandemic lingered, consensus beganto crack, social control was challenged and injunctive norms were replaced by survival values.The results show how these memes are indicative of the way humour changes mechanisms andfunctions in terms of contingent motivations.
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This study aims to provide an overview of humorous travel-related memes shared during theCOVID-19 pandemic. A total of 80 Internet memes were content analysed for emergentthemes. The findings reveal three major themes: playful aggression, making fun of one’slonging for travel, and making fun of new travel realities. The identified themes were linked tothe existing literature to better understand the memes being studied. The analysis of memesprovides a methodologically agile way to study conditions that may otherwise be overlooked,e.g., peoples’ travel-related desires and concerns while in lockdown.
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Review of: Р. Кrеjčí. Bulgarian and Czech journalistic phraseology in a mutual comparison. Brno, Masaryk University, 2006. 100 pages.
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The article deals with the question of how linguistic data obtained through discourse linguistic analyses are communicated outside linguistics. The focus is on the didactics of German as a foreign language, with a special focus on university German teacher training in Slovakia. It will be examined how the more recent disciplines such as discourse linguistics can be effectively integrated into the curriculum beyond classical linguistics. This requires an interdisciplinary perspective, which is offered here through the visualizations. Based on this background, case studies from the German and Slovakian migration discourse of 2015 will be used to show how optimized knowledge can be conveyed using visualizations, even across complex subject areas.
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The article discusses the idea of competency-based education (CBE), which is increasingly used to improve training for the modern knowledge-based economy. A general description of such training has been made, in the center of which is the learner. The ideas for ADDIE were used – a training model that meets the objectives of the UNCCD. The article focuses on self-assessment as one of the characteristic forms of CBE assessment. The results of the self-assessment of students participating in the training in the profession “Applied Programmer” are presented. The study involved students studying under the National Program “IT Career Training” (NPITC), with which the CBE was conducted and a group of students in which traditional training in the profession was conducted. The prepared self-assessment questionnaire includes questions related to the development of basic and specific competencies. The questions on specific competencies are based on the competency models used in the IT sector. The results of the survey show that students who participated in the CBE have a higher self-esteem than student strained in the traditional approach. It is necessary to conclude that the CBE is suitable for use in modern education, despite the need for serious preparation before its implementation.
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This essay focuses on the discourse of insecurity that has gradually become salient in Latvian public sphere. The discourse of insecurity in Latvia is created by individuals with different experience and motifs; they use different conceptual sources to express ideas. A sense of insecurity is objectified with geopolitical, civilizational, and psychoanalytical categories. The European refugee crises and discussions on the so called Istanbul Convention has tempered this discourse over the past years by introducing more specific themes and by setting more particular basis for ideological positioning. Analytically, the essay reflects on the grammar or structural elements of insecurity discourse that define this discourse as a distinct phenomenon. Simultaneously, this analysis also intends to explain the origins of such discourse and to reveal its meaning in a broader context. Thus the essay has two parts. The first part examines the referents of Latvia’s insecurity discourse, i. e. what this discourse is attributed to and what it problematizes. The second part outlines various conceptual layers that might facilitate the understanding of the advent and persistence of insecurity discourse. In particular, the essay demonstrates why and how liberalism has become the centrepiece of the insecurity discourse. It also illuminates solutions that the actors of such discourse provide in order to avoid the societal atomization and disappearance of Latvia as a national state. The essay invites to look at the genealogy of the insecurity discourse from the ontological security perspective. In light of this perspective, the central argument is that the actors of Latvia’s insecurity discourse and their opponents are united within the framework of risk society. Namely, both proponents and opponents are mobilized through risk awareness with respect to existential threats. However, different types of risks are problematized in both discourses – the disintegration of collective identity vs. catastrophic risks – that lead to diverging opinion on what the ultimate basis of societal solidarity is.
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The study establishes significant similarities between the Bulgarian print media in the period 1919-1944 and leading characteristics of the Mediterranean polarized-pluralistic media model formulated by Hallin and Mancini (2004). This observation is also confirmed at the regional level, following the example of the newspaper landscape in Plovdiv. Until 1934, despite the shortcomings of post-liberation democracy, the Bulgarian political system was polarized and pluralistic. There is also a high degree of parallelism between the parties and their newspapers, resp. there are politically biased ‘independent’ newspapers. Opinion journalism has strong positions. The mass press is also developing, but it is not becoming a real corrective to the authorities. The authoritarian sub-period and the years of censorship confirm the closeness of the Bulgarian media system to the Mediterranean media model
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The monograph ‘Discriminated against or responsible for their plight? The Roma in Bulgaria and African Americans in the United States’ (University Press ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, 2021) is a valuable work exploring the cultural identity of two minorities – the Roma in Bulgaria and the African Americans in the United States. The book includes a historical context of the origin and settlement of the two minorities, a theoretical approach to the research problem, enriched with the results of field work in neighborhoods in cities in Bulgaria and in the USA with the respective predominant minority group. The media image of the Bulgarian Roma community is also analyzed
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On the one hand the world of digital imaging is a continuously changing organism of almost unlimited creative possibilities. On the other hand, it is a very complicated environment full of technological systems and processing and production standards. The goal is to give to those never-ending flow of ideas, technological mutations and resulting artistic expressions, the theoretical system that would allow a readable and clear organization of teaching in the field of digital manipulation. At the same time, it should be a goal to lead students to independence and individuality. If their works of art also include a story with an unmistakable author‘s contribution, there is a high probability that the market will register such a work.The following text, among others, is focused on the following thematic areas: The importance of working with color in the digital age. Methodology of teaching creative applications of digital imaging in the circle of artistic and scientific approaches and the science of color. The role and position of the photographer in the field of applied art. Examples of researched approaches in the pursuit of integral connection of opposing levels of photographic representation.
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The present article is focused on separate aspects of the political skirmish between two prominent representatives of the Bulgarian and Greek communities – Nayden Gerov (1823 – 1900) and Georgios Tsoukalas / Γεώργιος Τσουκαλάς (1804 – 1872). At the beginning of the 50s of the XIX century, the establishment of the Bulgarian school in Plovdiv gave rise to one of the first public disputes between the two ideologists in the context of the development of nationalisms. The article depicts some moments from the Bulgarian-Greek arguments on the pages of periodicals – ‘Tsarigradski vestnik’ and ‘Bosphorus Telegraph’. In a word duel, the two intellectuals resort to the specific pejorative rhetoric of subversion and slander. This strategic rhetoric is characterized by an intensified ideological load and lavish figurative argumentation, often accompanied by expressive ideologies, with a multitude of offensive words, provocations and critical comments. Through the use of such rhetorical techniques, the prominent socio-political figures aim not simply at the personal undermining of their opponent, but above all, at defending their own ideology and contestation of the alternative opinion. In the confrontation between the text strategies (some of them deliberately anonymous, allowing the identification of the people with the text) of N. Gerov and G. Tsoukalas, the two political programs are revealed in their contrast and convergence to the own / foreign ideological code.
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The study examines the role of social media and political participation among youth in southeastern Nigeria during the 2015–2019 general elections. Both primary and secondary data were used. The instruments used for data collection were a validated questionnaire and guided interview. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Against this backdrop the Public Sphere and Political Campaign Theory was adopted as a framework of analysis. The findings of the study show that the social media have a very crucial role to play in the promotion of accountability in any democratic society. It was also discovered that for twenty years now, the democratic journey has remained tortuous because of the reckless pursuits of power by the political class. It was concluded that the Nigerian social media need to overcome some of the above mentioned challenges that limit their performance as a credible institution entrusted with the role of serving as the watchdog of the society without flouting the media ethical standards and squander imperatives for objectivity. The study recommends a need to address good governance that would position fundamental governance and create an enabling environment for self-participation. Electorates should critically analyze the situation and make inquiries before voting for a candidate who will not bring about growth and development in the country.
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