Satirical strikes and deadpanning diplomats

Stiob as geopolitical performance in Russia-US relations

Bibliographic Data

ID2290906
AuthorsJ Hemment (0000-0003-1733-0607, University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Year2022
Volume45
Issue2
Pages201-223
Publication date2022-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoLAR Political and Legal Anthropology Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1081-6976 • E-ISSN: 1555-2934
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/plar.12508
OpenAlexW4310296374
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited46

This article examines humor as geopolitical performance in the context of Russia-US political communication. Humor has featured prominently in the mass-mediated performances of Russian state actors since 2012. Public officials such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have engaged in ambiguous play and satirical borrowings via the circulation of memes and other political theatrics. "Russiagate"-the scandal about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election-proved to be a particular flashpoint. I draw on recent scholarship in anthropology and media studies as well as prior ethnographic work to account for these humorous performances and consider the work that they do. Dominant analyses view this humor in militarized terms, regarding it as part of a deliberate "hybrid war" strategy. I contend that deadpanning diplomats like Lavrov are produced when a transformed Soviet-era humorous form, stiob, intersects with a hybridized and transnationally dialogic global media context, resulting in a volatile form of geopolitical communication. In taking this state propagated humor and the confusion it generates as ethnographic objects, I contribute to anthropological interrogations of the politics of post-truth

Humor Studies and Applications · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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