Focaal

This introduction locates the theme section “Humor, coping, and resistance” in relation to anthropological literature on agency, power, and social suffering as well as the field of humor theory, including anthropological approaches to humor. It asks about the role of humor in theories of agency and, vice versa, the role of agency in theories of humor. Discussing the three case studies, it develops an argument about the significance of agentic forms of humor, ranging from subtle coping to outright resistance, in oppressive and conflictual environments. Yet, it also points to the limits of the agency of humor due to censorship and grave power asymmetries that nevertheless can have the effect of making people resort to another agentic quality of humor that accentuates ambiguity and elusiveness.

The lockdown in Shanghai (Spring 2022) sparked a flood of funny memes, songs, artworks, and short videos shared on WeChat platforms. Based on an analysis of over five hundred posts, we analyze three moments: First, the humor at the start of the lockdown, characterized by parody and irony and clearly infused with a strong sense of Shanghaineseness. Second, during the lockdown, more critical humorous voices became prominent. Third and finally, in the aftermath of the lockdown, these voices conflated with protests on the street. Thus, our analysis shows that seemingly lighthearted posts contributed to the sudden dismantling of China's zero-Covid policies in December 2022, attesting to the continued possibility of political critique in a context of intensified authoritarianism.

This article examines humor in the Egyptian uprising of 2011 and its immediate aftermath to understand its role in sustaining and shaping protest and its possibilities. It argues that protest humor operates in three interconnected ways: as a means of creating and sustaining communitas through days of struggle; as a reflection of the ambivalences of sustaining protest and of being invested in systems one is also protesting; and as a means to resolve those ambivalences by focusing communitas on one goal. Through an analysis of satire, parody, and invective, it suggests that protest humor creates solidarities but also places limits on what can be included in the revolutionary process and how long it will last. It also can be co-opted and used against the revolution.

Palestinian humor has a significant influence on how people deal with social suffering and political violence. The article argues that humor serves as an agentic force, which manifests Palestinians’ agency under dire conditions that is amplified through the uses of online networks and platforms. Exploring the work of Palestinian artist Amer Shomali, the article relies on anthropological approaches to social suffering and agency and links them with theories of humor. Shomali's wit is more than a sudden reaction to uncertainty and calamity; rather, it can be considered as a tool of resistance to cope with the Israeli settler colonialism and its consequences. The article shows that the narratives that emerge through his work reflect various layers of people's agency and the reality of Palestinians’ lives.

This article examines the political significance of a distinct form of face-to-face preaching (dawat) in the transnational Islamic piety movement, the Tablighi Jamaat, against the backdrop of Pakistani nationalism. Pakistani nationalism is structured around a genealogical hierarchy that presumes that high-caste (ashraf) Muslims are purer Muslims and that it is their task to uplift low-caste (ajlaf) Muslims through the reform of their customary practices. By reenacting the Prophet's example, dawat creates a “direct” relationship to God and obviates the genealogical hierarchies that structure Pakistani political life. It is this promise of sovereign transcendence that explains the millions of Pakistani Muslims that flock through the gates of the Tablighi Jamaat.

This article focuses on experiences of people in the Banija region and specifically the town of Petrinja, Croatia, after an earthquake hit the area in December 2020. It presents their reflections on being confined to “container homes” in three different situations: living in container settlements on the outskirts of town; spending time in a container shopping center; and finding shelter in containers adjacent to destroyed houses. The study shows that temporary container housing frequently turned into permanent living and working solutions during the three years of post-earthquake reconstruction. It also argues the importance of acknowledging that the sense of isolation in disaster-affected areas and the loss of potential for renovation and development do not merely arise from “container life” but reveal the longer-run “polycrisis” involved.

Homing in on a series of events that unfolded in the context of post- tsunami reconstruction in India's Tamil Nadu state, this article explores how people at the margins win small concessions from the state by deploying forms of power that the latter cannot effectively countervail. Marshaling analyses of tsunami reconstruction and its anchoring in late neoliberal developmentalist policy frameworks, as well as the rich and complex history of incorporation and autonomy shaping fisher-sovereign relations, I argue that a dynamic reading of power enables an analysis of autonomy and agency shaping engagements with sovereign power. To this end I supplement my ethnographic account of post-tsunami events with a historical ethnographic reading of locally popular narratives, in order to consider how such actions might be viewed as strategic and resistant.

In recent attempts to decolonize the anthropological curriculum, anthropologists have returned to Jomo Kenyatta's Facing Mount Kenya (1938). This article contextualizes Kenyatta's book and his political person within the Kenyan colonial period and contemporary struggles for land and freedom. It warns anthropologists against romanticizing Kenyatta by grasping his fundamental conservatism in relation to the politics of his day and his oligarchic government after independence. The article also argues that ongoing (de)colonial histories of struggle ought to be at the core of attempts to decolonize anthropology. Beyond epistemological and ontological decentering, this means taking stock of the material and political legacies of (post)colonialism and the contemporary ongoing struggles to which they give rise.