Hypothesis
Racially marked spaces may exhibit humor as a coping mechanism or a form of resistance in response to the unique challenges and experiences faced by individuals within these spaces. The humor within these contexts may be used to address issues related to race, identity, and discrimination, and it may serve as a means of building solidarity and resilience.
Literature Review:
Black Twitter, Tweetlikethe1600s, and Black Humor Online
In early 2018 slavery became a topic of amusement online, using words, gifs, memes and videos users tried to reimagine life for African Americans in the 1600’s in a comical manner, using the hashtag tweetlikethe1600s. This article aims to analyse black humor as well as to analyze the discussion about who is allowed in on the joke, this is extremely important in order to identify who is allowed to become part and participate of these racially marked online spaces. Scholars such as Sarah Florine (2014) argue that there is no black twitter but rather millions of black users on twitter networking, connecting and engaging with others, who share similar issues, experiences, tastes and cultural practices. On the other hand Andre Brock (2020) defines black twitter as twitter's mediation of black cultural identity, expressed through digital practices. Thus with this understanding black twitter refers to the substantial black presence on twitter allowing them to be distinct from generic users usually assumed white. Furthermore, black twitter usually dominated tending topics allowing outsiders to view black discourse and the use of hashtags in black twitter is especially important as it allows users to talk about the same thing without following one another, its commonly referred to as ‘blacktags’ and tends to use AAVE in the form of humor. As stated by Florine ‘signifyin’ which is a form of AAVE serves as a linguistic expression of black identity, online it allows users to perform their racial identity. ‘Signifyin’ through tweets or gifs allows other users to relate and display a degree of cultural competency that exists offline in fact Clark (2014) goes as far as to argue that without this active participation leading to cultural conversations black twitter wouldn’t be possible, in his view there are 6 process that allow for black twitter to be set in motion. 1) self-selection by users who 2) identify as Black and/or are connected to issues of concern among Black communities. It moves from the individual level of personal communities to collective action among thematic nodes via the 3) performance of communicative acts that are 4) affirmed online and 5) reaffirmed offline, leading to 6) vindication of the network’s power through media coverage, attempted replication of the phenomenon within other demographic groups, and the creation of that hashtags serve as mediators of Black culture in the virtual and physical world. The author argues that black humor had to be cloaked in secrecy because it can be seen as transgressive by whites. There’s mostly 3 theories of humor which can also be applied to Black Twitter.
This is important as it allows us to see beyond black humor as solely a coping mechanism but that it's a source of creativity and energetic mode of social and political critique. These theories position black humor as a way of managing and dealing with hidden aggression, with capita stating “laughter is disassociated and is instead a form of mourning” in a sense black humor ‘has the potential to combine the power of humor as cathartic release and politically incisive mode of critique with deep pathos’. Some also claim black humor is a form of reverse humor, and thus can function as a form of resistance. However, black humor also prompted emotions such as shame, anger, desire and embarrassment and thus engaging with it even as a black user is risky because of these contradictory feelings however the general cathartic nature of such jokes allows it to be released through laughter producing ‘resistance humor’ (Boskin 1997) which also allows for insight into the nature of the oppression itself, but more importantly allows black people to criticize the racial caste system. Especially following the #tweetlikethe1600s there has been a clarification by black twitter as to who can and can't join these jokes, and the notion that there is a private joke shared enforces group boundaries and fraternity. In fact this tweet prompted reactionary tweets such tweetliketheholocaaust where users joked about being in concentration camps etc. Unlike being ‘whipped by a masta’ where there was criticisms for non Jewish people using this
It’s Funny Because It’s True: The Transmission of Explicit and Implicit Racism in Internet Memes
The author argues that the racial humor in the online space could disturb different people depending on the sense of humor of the individual. The racial memes in the online space are mostly perceived as "just jokes" and they aim to soften the systematic racism through making people laugh. The author also argues that the use of humor in the racially marked spaces could make people from different races discuss the problems since most people avoid discussing these issues in real life. Internet memes are also very critical for the distribution of the racial socio-economic problems since it is considerably easier to be seen by a larger audience compared to the other types of media. The racial humor in the online space especially in the form of memes are proof that racially coded languages exist in the online space. The presence of these racial memes in specific online communities further encourage the production and use of memes with racial coded language in it. The author argues that the evolution of the internet memes are not natural since the understanding of human changes with individual effort. According to the article there are three different factors which determine the success of the memes. These are fidelity, fecundity, and longevity. Fidelity is the ability of a meme to be copied and distributed easily in a community. Therefore, the cultural or ethnic memes have the highest fidelity level since they have the fastest distribution in an ethnic community. The other reason why the racial memes are successful is their ability to be replicated in a community. The author defines this feature of the memes as fecundity. Finally the last aspect which defines the success of a meme is its longevity. For this aspect, the author argues that the success of a racial meme depends on the social and political changes in a society. Since most of the ethnic based memes do not mean much to the individuals who are not in the community, the author argues that the memes are a means of communication for racially coded language. The author also argues that the racial memes are used to manifest the social truths in a society. The anonymity of the memes about a certain cultural group allows the individuals who belong to a certain community to express their social and political opinions freely. In conclusion, the article argues that the ethnic/racial memes used in the online community are the proof for the existence of codified language in the online space which facilitates the expression of social and political problems in a community.
“No Prejudice Here”: Examining Social Identity Work in Starter Pack Memes
This paper analyzes “starter pack memes” on Reddit as a phenomenon, describing the subgenre, discussing their history, background, reasonings behind them and possible effects. The authors have multiple conclusions from the research, and we believe some are closely connected to our research topic or can be useful to interpret the research. “Starter pack” memes are ways to express social identity or reflect on a social identity online (often for the purpose of humor) they provide a sort of platform where people reflect on certain social identities by introducing, making fun or just putting some parts of them on display. The authors argue that the structure of the social media websites (more specifically Reddit) means that these pictures often circulate in closed or semi-closed communities (subreddits in the example’s case), and the highly modifiable/editable and, of course reshareable nature of these pictures means that the memes will be a sort of ‘community reflection’ on the social identity they are about, rather than a personal one. This, in term, means that starter pack memes are the reactions of a community to a certain type of place, person, or just a subculture. The authors refer to a book of Judith Donath titled ‘The social machine: Designs for living online’, more specifically her idea of prototypes in framing social identities in the book. This prototype is “a set of minimal social cues that a person can use to infer other information about an individual’s social world.” The authors argue that in the case of the “starter packs”, the term prototype refers to rather a collective act, not an individual one. In the paper, the authors highlight that most of the community behind Reddit in general, as well as the subreddit r/starterpackmemes, users can be categorized as “White Male”, thus making the community a quasi- ‘racially marked space’, even though it is not said explicitly, and it is not restrained to just the said category of persons. From the author’s arguments and references to previous literature, we can come to the conclusion that Reddit is a racially marked space. They argue that even though the platform is dominated by a racial group in numbers, and sometimes can mean discriminative stereotypes, it is a minority, and for example, the researched community does not often use harmful racial stereotypes to ridicule or “other '' certain groups. The paper, of course, has its limitations on its own, and in regards to our research as well. It focuses mainly on the social media platform Reddit rather than racial subgroups in general, so generalizing it to expand on our research was not entirely straightforward. With this in mind, the paper provided useful insight and actual research data connected to our research, thus it proved useful.
Examining how Humor has the power to both unite and divide
Humor has the power to both unite and divide. As Matt Jones insightfully articulates, humor, particularly of a racist or ethnic nature, serves as a mirror reflecting deep-seated national differences and prejudices, often concealed yet profoundly influential. This duality is, according to the author, further amplified in the digital age, where the proliferation of social media intertwined with a resurgence in nationalisme, creating a fertile ground for the spread of discriminatory humor, especially through memes. Interestingly, Matt Jones states that, drawing upon the superiority theory, reveals that such humor often stems from a sense of ethnic or racial superiority, fostering an “us versus them” mentality which has different historical roots. It quotes humor in diverse historical contexts and how it was previously used to dehumanize the “other” and reinforce existing power structures. This historical context includes the role of satire in the anti-chinese movement in America, Holocaust jokes in West Germany, and the complex dynamics of ethnic humor in popular media like “South Park”. The examples used underscore the ambivalent nature of humor, its capacity to both challenge and perpetuate stereotypes, to distance from harsh realities of marginalized groups, and to subtly uphold supremacist ideologies under the guise of jest. This phenomenon is being reinforced and amplified in our digital era.
Methodology:
Our research takes a more qualitative approach in assessing how racially marked spaces deal with humor, as we assume it is the most appropriate for this topic, as it requires a qualitative analysis to truly understand and digest this topic. We aim to select a dozen twitter pages which focus on producing humor that is often related to race or ethnicity, we try to make our analysis by analyzing the quality of humor in these pages, whether these tweets have any hidden messages, and the type of jokes that are made as well, furthermore we aim to investigate who the target audience is from these pages as well as their comments and reactions. We also aim to take a more ethnographic stance by analyzing individual tweets and breaking down the content shared on such social media platforms to understand the complexities of this topic and how different races deal with humor, we try to do this by identifying common keywords for racially marked spaces, in this research we mostly focus on black twitter and Arab twitter. For example some of the hashtags we used to help us with such a search is the ‘tweet like1600’s, Blackness, Surveillance, cookout, massa etc. Finally, we aim to supplement our qualitative analysis with some quantitative data conducted from our survey of which all participation took place from the Sciences Po campus. We asked questions such as the race they identified as, if they think that humor in racially marked online spaces reflects the racial problems in real life, what makes a post humorous to them, a recall of humor that is matched with their racial identity as well as the extent to which they viewed memes on the google forms as funny or not, and likewise whether they were offensive or not.
Analysis:
I. Twitter’s structure in the context
For the next stage of our research, we aim to investigate how the depiction of social media identities for racial groups on Twitter is impacted by the platform’s pre-established framework and its potential for promoting, discouraging, or otherwise affecting discussions marked by race, specifically those pertaining to humor. The recent renaming of Twitter to X has been instrumental in making it one of the leading social media platforms. In recent years, it has become the top choice for individuals seeking swift dissemination of information and fostering communities. This is undoubtedly because of the platform's effective structure and moderation policies that have helped it foster free speech while curbing misinformation. The reputation of Twitter suffered a setback in the wake of Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. It has not been fully restored since then, particularly with Musk's recent takeover of the company, prioritizing free speech. However, what exactly is the structure we are referring to? Twitter is centered on individual users' posts on their timeline, covering any subject they choose to 'tweet' about, as well as the comments on those posts. In order to facilitate categorisation and retrieval, the platform employs a hashtag system to classify "tweets" according to characters that follow the "#" symbol. Although not compulsory, hashtags are the simplest way to participate in community discussion. The platform has since introduced additional features for interaction, including reposting, private messaging, and the formation of groups. However, our focus within this text is on the use of hashtags. Twitter's hashtag system facilitated the creation of new and trending topics to stimulate community discussions. Consequently, thousands, if not millions, of threads were generated, each with its own small community. This prompts the question of whether these threads perpetuate racially biased or connected dialogues. Firstly, the use of keywords in the hashtags makes finding information fairly easy, thus in term it means that if a person wants to initiate a discussion on a subject, it is easy to follow and connect to. This also pertains to racial communities, but in most cases, it involves constructive dialogue or a discussion/trend linked to humor. Consequently, it is more of a conversation among members of the specific racial community because, historically, Twitter imposes strict guidelines and moderation that disallow openly racist discourse, which community members would report to the moderation team. Moreover, the possibility of being anonymous on the platform, wherein users can have usernames that don't need to match their real identities, grants individuals the opportunity to express themselves with greater freedom. This is a double-edged sword however, as on one hand it allows people to engage in discussions with people who they otherwise would not be able to meet and have interactions in a neutral environment, but on the other hand it also allows people to spread hate or misinformation without any actual real-world consequences. In conclusion, Twitter serves as a means to connect individuals with similar senses of humor, but the platform also enables targeted attacks via hashtags. Though it generates a sense of community, it remains an open environment and is more like a large-scale discussion than a closed one.
II. Dozen twitter pages analysis
In analyzing the data gathered from Twitter (based on 1500 tweets from racial humor hashtags and accounts, race defined by their profile identification such as keywords or profile picture) , we observe distinct patterns in how humor is utilized and perceived across different racially marked spaces. The humor reflects cultural, social, and political nuances specific to each racial group, offering insights into how these communities engage with humor both as a form of expression and as a coping mechanism. Below is a detailed analysis for each group:
Arab Humor
Arab humor on Twitter is characterized by its focus on family dynamics, cultural stereotypes, and the Arab-American experience. The jokes often play on cultural misunderstandings and stereotypes (e.g., "I didn’t choose the rug life, rug life chose me"), showcasing a form of self-deprecation that seems to foster community bonding and identity affirmation. The prevalence of language-specific keywords, like "Inshallah," and references to traditional practices and food items highlight a strong cultural identification. Importantly, humor is also used to comment on and cope with socio-political issues, such as racial profiling at airports, indicating a nuanced understanding of their dual identity as Arabs and as part of a broader American narrative.
Black humor
The humor in Black Twitter spaces focuses on everyday experiences, family life, and socio-economic challenges. The jokes often reflect common life experiences, relatable family dynamics, and commentary on social issues. For instance, jokes about mundane tasks (e.g., cleaning a room) or economic aspirations (e.g., "if i had a dollar for everyone i hate, i’ll be rich") indicate humor used as a tool for social commentary and coping with life’s challenges. Food and cultural references serve as a unifying factor, reinforcing community bonds and shared experiences.
White humor
White humor, as captured in the dataset, frequently involves sexuality, stereotypes, and technology. There's a notable trend of self-deprecating humor and cultural critique (e.g., "Damns millennials really had to see Dumbledore die three times"). The use of the #Whitehumor hashtag predominantly by other racial groups to critique or poke fun at white stereotypes highlights an interesting dynamic of humor being used as an instrument for inter-racial dialogue and commentary. This humor often reflects broader societal and cultural trends, indicating a form of collective self-awareness and critique.
Asian Humor
Asian humor on Twitter is largely centered around stereotypes related to education, family expectations, and physical appearance. The jokes often challenge or play into stereotypes (e.g., "my son doesn’t know what B in maths is"), indicating a complex relationship with cultural expectations and societal perceptions. The use of humor here appears to be a mechanism for navigating and responding to these stereotypical views, providing a space for both critique and community solidarity.
But If we analyze it in a whole, across all groups, humor mostly serves multiple functions: as a tool for cultural expression, social commentary and as a way to make fun of common stereotypes. While each individual has different types of humor, among all these racial groups, they share common themes such as family, societal observations or simply just identity. As it shows our differences, it also shows that we all have and share universal aspects that transcend racial and cultural boundaries.
III. Google form analysis
Response from the survey: middle because i don't understand it In order to present the results from the Google Forms, this research will first analyze the reason why these posts are humorous or not for the responders. The responses which are more than 3 on a scale 1-5 explain the reason why these posts are funny as "They are relatable". Even though the posts are usually about the African American community in the USA and the majority of the ethnic background of the responders (81%) are white, the success of the internet memes still depends on how relatable the posts are to the lives of the individuals. In Fairchild's work about the success of the racial internet memes, she argues that the fecundity of the memes is an important factor for the effectiveness of a meme. Fecundity in this case corresponds to how much a meme is imitated in a community. One responder rated a meme lower on a scale of 1-5 since he or she has seen a funnier version of this meme before. Even though this result may reflect the idea that this individual racial meme is not found humorous among the individuals, this also proves how successful the racial memes are due to the high replication amount. Fairchild argues that how well a meme reflects the social truths in a society determines the success of the meme. In the survey, the people who rated high for the memes usually find the memes funny because they are relatable. Therefore, the hypothesis of our research is justified since we assume that the relatability of a meme and its reflection of social truths in a community has a correlation. Even though the racial memes in the survey are based on the Middle Eastern and African American communities, the mixed race responders with European nationality also find the memes funny. One of the comments explains the reason why the meme about the phone talk of Black parents is funny as "It is relatable to other third world countries' reality". This answer proves that various ethnic or racial communities could find content humorous as long as the content reflects social problems or truths. On the other hand, the meme about the use of guns during the Arab weddings is mostly found as offensive and nonsense by most of the responders to the survey since 60% of the responders rated 3 or more for the offensiveness aspect of the meme. For example, the responder rated this meme as moderately offensive and argued that he or she does not understand the content of the meme. This result shows that the individuals with different racial backgrounds may not understand the social facts and problems about other countries. The result of the Google Form implies that our hypothesis is partially justified and partially falsified since some of the memes are rated funny and other memes are rated as offensive.
Limitations
There are several limitations that are important to acknowledge. One significant constraint is the reliance itself of Twitter as the primary source of data. While Twitter offers a wealth of public interactions, and being the most studied among public interaction in the digital sphere, it may not fully encompass the diversity and depth of humor across different racial communities. Furthermore, humor is inherently contextual and rich in cultural and linguistic nuances which makes it hard for people not coming from these backgrounds to fully understand the humor and analyze it. And thus, the subjectivity could impact the accuracy and generalizability of the findings. The survey has several different limitations. The first limitation is about the homogeneity of the responders' racial/ethnic background. Since there are few races in the survey, there is a uniformity in the ratings of the questions regarding how funny or offensive they are. Therefore, the assumption we make about the approach of different ethnic groups on different racial memes is challenged. Fairchild argues that the racial memes are a way of reflection of social and political problems in a certain community. Since most of the responders come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, the social problems explained in the memes may not be relatable to them whether they share the same race or not. The main limitation regarding Twitter’s structural influence on humor in racially marked spaces was not having access to information about the logic of the algorithm influencing recommended content on the platform, which would have explained some parts of the research which in our case had to be left as a hypothesis. These would have explained why and how these communities develop, grow/shrink or die down completely. Additionally, academic literature on this phenomenon exists, however it is not easily accessible and peer-reviewed studies that can prove to be actually useful are not a common occurrence.
Conclusion
Our Hypothesis, has been proved to a certain extent while we see that, racially marked online spaces do exhibit humor as a coping mechanism to years of oppression or current ongoing socioeconomic inequalities, and allow for solidarity to be formed between a race through the use of Twitter and hashtags that allow these spaces to be discovered, however as mentioned earlier at times this ‘easy’ discoverability can also be a source of controversy as some users report that other races shouldnt be included or able to view such online spaces. Thus it seems one of the major problems with racially marked online spaces, is that its online and thus open for everyone to see especially those who are able to decipher cultural codes on online spaces, giving them potential access to a racial community that they don't belong to, which is perhaps one of the major issues, as often times tweets produced by a racially marked space can have reactionary movements which at times only leads to increased racism, despite the common depiction that online spaces allow for racial tolerance to be built.