‘Coromentality’: Nigerians’ Use of Memetic Humour During the COVID-19 Lockdowns

Authors

Aje-Ori Agbese, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Edeanya Agbese

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

10-21-2021

Abstract

A meme is a popular form of internet humour. Studies have found that people use memes to comment on and react to events. Therefore, this study investigated Nigerians’ use of humour during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Using content analysis, this study examined 47 memes Nigerians shared through WhatsApp during coronavirus-related lockdowns in 2020. Humour is largely theorized as occurring for relief, incongruity and/or superiority purposes; this study applied the incongruity, superiority and relief theories of humour. The investigation revealed that Nigerians created and shared four types of memes during the coronavirus-related lockdowns in Nigeria that employed incongruity, relief and superiority humour strategies to relieve stress and comment on issues that arose in the country during the pandemic.

Comments

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Recommended Citation

Agbese, A. O., & Agbese, E. (2021). ‘Coromentality’: Nigerians’ Use of Memetic Humour During the COVID-19 Lockdowns. In Digital Humour in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from the Global South (pp. 75-100). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79279-4_4

Publication Title

Digital Humour in the Covid-19 Pandemic

DOI

10.1007/978-3-030-79279-4_4