Abstract
Contemporary contacts and interactions with religion are often mediated by mass and social media. These sources vary in their reliability and some are known for their use of humor as a communicative strategy. In this article we analyze how humorous religion-related news triggers reactions to and discussions about the intertwined issues of humor, religion, history and ethnic identity. First, we look at how people perceive religion as an institution, contextualizing the results against the backdrop of the historical and present-day role of religion in the (ethnically, politically, and culturally) divided Estonian society. Second and more broadly, we analyze the (mis)use of strong religious symbols. We aim to understand why serious reactions to initially humorous fake news come about, and why humorous stimuli are sometimes met with discontent or even disgust. This contributes to understanding the intersection of humor and religion in divided societies. The results point out that the religious controversies triggered by humor are related to societal and political issues rather than ideas about religion and belief. We suggest that fast and broad dissemination via online media might be one of the reasons why the humorous and serious are closely interwoven in discussions on religious issues.
Funding source: Source Documents in the Cultural Process: Estonian Materials in the Collections and Databases of the Estonian Literary Museum
Award Identifier / Grant number: EKKD 65
Funding source: Narrative and Belief Aspects of Folklore Studies
Award Identifier / Grant number: EKM 8-2/20/3
Funding source: European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies
Award Identifier / Grant number: TK 145
About the authors
Liisi Laineste (PhD) is Research professor at the Department of Folkloristics of the Estonian Literary Museum. Her main research pertains to folk humor and its online manifestations, ethnic humor, visual forms of humor (e.g., caricatures and memes), digital folklore, and online communication, many of which represent an interdisciplinary angle and combine folkloristics with linguistics, psychology, sociology, and communication studies.
Anastasiya Fiadotava (PhD) is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Folkloristics of the Estonian Literary Museum, Tartu. Her fields of interest include the use of humour in family communication, the spread of jokes and memes in social and mainstream media, and the reflections of current political and social issues in humour.
Tõnno Jonuks (PhD) is Research professor at the Department of Folkloristics of the Estonian Literary Museum. His main research includes history of religions in Estonia with the main focus on materiality of religion.
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Research funding: This work was supported by Source Documents in the Cultural Process: Estonian Materials in the Collections and Databases of the Estonian Literary Museum (EKKD 65) and Narrative and Belief Aspects of Folklore Studies (EKM 8-2/20/3) and European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies (TK 145).
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