Global Satire and Modern Politics

Catalog description

Across cultures and across history, people have used political satire to call out abuses of power, manipulation, deception, and absurdity. While there are examples of political satire everywhere, its growth is a form of political resistance and as a source of political behavior has been on the rise since the turn of the 21st century. Drawing on examples from Stephen Colbert to Bassem Youssef to Charlie Hebdo and studying a range of different types of satirical media this course examines the role that satire has played in shaping political discourse and advancing democracy. Possible topics include the use of satire to bring down Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic, the attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the political comedy of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the street art of Banksy, and the use of political cartooning in Africa. Students will hone their analytical skills through critical response papers, cross-cultural assessment of satire, comparative analysis of satirical forms, group projects, assessment of the effects of satire on shaping political debates, and quizzes on readings from the social sciences and humanities. This class is a GenEd inter-domain course for GH/GS; and International Cultures (IL) course.