نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسنده

دانشیار گروه تاریخ دانشگاه علامه طباطبائی، تهران، ایران

چکیده

نقل لطیفه‌ در نقد گروه‌های حاکم، به یک دوره از حیات سیاسی توده‌ها اختصاص نداشته و استمرار آن گواه اهمیت آن در مواجهه ایشان با ارباب قدرت است و این پرسش را پیش می‌کشد که پراکنده شدن این لطیفه‌ها چه کارکردی در حیات سیاسی توده‌ها دارد؟ فرضیه این است که توده‌ها با نقل لطیفه‌های سیاسی تلاش می‌کنند سلطه را در هر سه ساحت مادی، منزلتی و ایدئولوژیک به چالش بکشند. در برخی موارد لطیفه‌ها ابزار آموزش «تجاهل در برابر اصحاب سلطه» بود که در کاهش استثمار کاربرد می‌یافت. در این لطیفه‌ها ستم‌پذیری در برابر ارباب قدرت در یک نظام مراقبت که از سوی توده‌ها برقرار می‌شد سرزنش می‌شد و گاهی نیز لطیفه‌ها آینه آرزوهای توده‌ها می‌شدند تا وضعیت مطلوب آنها را تصویر کنند. چهارچوب نظری این پژوهش، نظریه روایت‌های نهانی از جیمز سی. اسکات است که کوشش کرده اشکال گوناگون مقاومت فرودستان را در برابر نخبگان حاکم در دوره‌هایی که توده‌ها آرام و بدون کنش به نظر می‌رسند تشریح و صورت‌بندی کند. پیش از این، پژوهش‌هایی پیرامون لطیفه‌های سیاسی کشورهای مختلف از مناظر گوناگون انجام شده است، اما تاکنون تحقیقی با بهره‌گیری از نظریه روایت‌های نهانی برای تشریح جایگاه این لطیفه‌ها در حیات سیاسی عامه صورت نگرفته است.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات

عنوان مقاله [English]

The Function of Political Jokes in the Conflict between Subalterns and Ruling Elites

نویسنده [English]

  • Mehdi Mirkiaei

Associate Professor, Department of History, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

چکیده [English]

Introduction
Exploring the political life of the masses has received relatively little attention. The few existing studies on the political behavior of ordinary people have largely focused on moments of rebellion and violent confrontation with governments. This has created the impression that the masses lacked political action during other periods, particularly in times of apparent calm between the government and the public. Yet, a closer look at popular political culture reveals that the people were in constant, if less visible, conflict with various dimensions of government actions. One notable example is the creation and circulation of political jokes. This form of popular culture cannot be confined to a particular historical moment but has persisted throughout different regimes. This raises important questions: What function do these jokes have in the masses’ confrontation with the ruling elites? And through the act of narrating such jokes, which strategies of power are the people attempting to undermine in order to resist domination? Applying the theory of hidden transcripts, the present study sought to identify the general forms of resistance employed by subaltern groups against ruling elites. Establishing connections between political jokes and the elements of this theory can help construct a more nuanced picture of the political behavior of the masses as reflected in these jokes.
Literature Review
Several studies have previously analyzed political jokes, including “Wit and Politics: An Essay on Laughter and Power” (Speier, 1998), “Social Dimensions of Stalinist Rule: Humor and Terror in the USSR, 1935–1941” (Thurston, 1991), “Jokes as the Truth About Soviet Socialism” (Christie, 2010), “The Life and Times of Ceausescu Jokes” (Galvan, 2019), and “Political Humor in a Dictatorial State: The Case of Spain (Pi-Sunyer, 1977). However, to date, no research has examined political jokes across different countries through the lens of hidden transcripts theory.
Materials and Methods
This research used a descriptive–explanatory method. The data included political jokes collected from different countries. The analysis and interpretation of these jokes were conducted through the perspectives of theorists such as James C. Scott, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Sigmund Freud. Specifically, Scott’s theory of hidden transcripts formed the core of analytical framework. 
Results and Discussion
The research used Scott’s theory of hidden transcripts as the main theoretical framework. Scott, renowned for his studies on the political behavior of subalterns, emphasizes the often non-violent forms of resistance employed by the masses, particularly in periods of apparent calm between the ruling and the ruled. His theory explains the structured ways in which subordinates respond—both openly and covertly, through words and actions—to dominant groups. In addition to Scott’s perspective, the analysis drew on Sigmund Freud’s insights in Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious and Mikhail Bakhtin’s views on the role of humor in popular culture. According to the findings, the diversity and abundance of these jokes demonstrate that they serve multiple purposes. By circulating them, the masses attempt, first, to neutralize the efforts of those in power to exert domination in three domains: material, dignitary, and ideological. Second, they try to challenge various aspects of the government’s official narrative. Political jokes seek to undermine the ruling groups’ strategies (e.g., concealment) in constructing this official tableau and narrative. In some cases, the jokes even appear to affirm the government’s main slogans, but they ultimately ridicule and subvert these slogans through the use of double themes and meanings. Some jokes tend to employ the theme of feigned ignorance before the rulers, a strategy often adopted by the masses in societies dominated by military occupation or overt violence. This tactic not only limits exploitation but also creates opportunities for symbolic revenge for insults. Political jokes also function as a system of care and blame, through which subaltern groups monitor their peers to discourage collaboration with ruling elites or acquiescence to tyranny. Beyond resistance, many jokes also give expression to people’s hopes and dreams, offering glimpses of their vision for an ideal society.
Conclusion
The persistence of people in sustaining this form of popular culture and secretly sharing these jokes, even during the most violent periods of authoritarian rule, highlights its significance as a form of political action, suggesting that its impact extends beyond mere psychological consequences.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Political Jokes
  • Subalterns
  • Hidden Transcripts
  • Non-violent Conflict
 - اسکات، جیمز، (1396)، سلطه و هنر مقاومت؛ روایت‌های نهانی، ترجمه افشین خاکباز، تهران: مرکز.
- باختین، میخائیل، (1387)، تخیل مکالمه‌ای، جستارهایی درباره رمان، ترجمه رویا پورآذر، تهران: نی.
- بامداد، مهدی، (1363)، شرح حال رجال ایران، ج 1و2 و5، تهران: زوار.
- حکیمی، محمود، (1372)، لطیفه‌های سیاسی، قم: خرم.
- شیفته، نصرالله، (1380)، شوخی در محافل جدی، تهران: کومش.
- دهخدا، علی اکبر، (1376)، امثال و حکم، ج2، تهران: امیرکبیر.
- فروید، زیگموند، (1391)، لطیفه و ارتباطش با ناخودآگاه، ترجمه آرش امینی، تهران: ارجمند.
References
- Astapova, Anastasiya, (2021), Humor and Rumor in the Post-Soviet Authoritarian State, London: Lexington Books.
- Badarneh, Muhammad A, (2011), “Carnivalesque Politics: A Bakhtinian Case: Study of Contemporary Arab Political Humor”, Humor, Vol. 24, No. 3, 305–327. DOI 10.1515/HUMR.2011.019
- Chamberlin, William Henry, (1957), “The "Anecdote": Unrationed Soviet Humor”, The Russian Review, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 27-34.
- Davies, Christie, (2014), “The Rise and Fall of the Political Joke”, Hungarian Review, No. 2, pp.44-51.
- Davies, Christie, (2011), Jokes and Targets, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
- Ebaidi, Hanan A, (2017), “Resolving Ambiguity of Some Egyptian Political Jokes Contemporaneous with 2011 Revolution”, English Language and Literature Studies, Vol. 7, No. 4. DOI 10.5539/ells. v7n4p25.
- Freedman, Leonard, (2008), The Offensive Art: Political Satire and Its Censorship Around the World from Beerbohm to Borat, Los Angeles: Praeger.
- Glăvan, Gabriela, (2019), “The Life and Times of Ceaușescu Jokes”, Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory, Vol. 5, No. 1, 157-176.
- Graham, Benedict, (2003), A Cultural Analysis of the Russo-Soviet Anecdote, Benedict Graham Ph.D, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh.
- Hong, Nathaniel, (2010), “The Weapon of Humor in Two Danish World War II”, Humor, Vol. 23, No. 1, 27, 64. DOI 10.1515/HUMR.2010.002
- Hillenbrand, F. K. M, (1995), Underground Humour in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945, London: Taylor & Francis Routledge.
- Powell, Chris, (1988), Humour in Society Resistance and Control, Birmingham: University of Aston.
- Schmidt, Samuel, (2014), Mexican Political Jokes as Social Resistance, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press.
- Shehata, Samer S, (1992), “The Politics of Laughter: Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak in Egyptian Political Jokes”, Folklore, Vol. 103, No. 1, pp. 75-91.
- Speier, Hans, (1998), “Wit and Politics: An Essay on Power and Laughter”, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 103, No. 5, pp. 1352-1401.
- Talmadge, I. D. W, (1943), “The Enjoyment of Laughter in Russia”, Russian Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 45-51.
- Tsakona, Villy, (2018), “Intertextuality and/in Political Jokes”, Lingua, Vol. 203, No.1, PP. 1-15.
- Valenti'n, Uxi’o, (1987), “Franco Jokes: The Spaniards are Still Getting Even with the Generalissimo”, Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 83-92.