Constructing Local Identities via/for Humour: A Cretan-Greek Case Study

• Main Author: Villy Tsakona
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bucharest Publishing House 2017-06-01
• Series: Styles of Communication
• Subjects: humour; online interaction; Facebook; cultural identity; Crete; resistance identity.
• Online Access: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzdHlsZXNvZmNvbW18Z3g6NDdkZmYwYTdlOTEzODM5Yw

One of the most common functions of humour is the construction of identity, usually achieved by including certain individuals in a group sharing specific values and views, and by excluding others representing different values and views (Archakis and Tsakona, 2005). The aim of the present study is to investigate how online interactants create a local identity via the production of digital humorous texts, thus forming a group of people with common perceptions on a specific event reported by the media. In particular, Facebook participants formed communities supporting the right of a crocodile -non endemic to Greece- to live on the loose in a lake in Crete, Greece, and opposing local authorities wishing to capture the animal. Interlocutors draw on, and reframe, popular -and even stereotypical- aspects of the Cretan identity involving, among other things, a passionate love of freedom, resistance to official authorities, rebelliousness, and heroism (Herzfeld, 1985). Such cultural traits seem to be attributed to the crocodile so as not only to bolster the interlocutors’ own perspective, but also to create a humorous effect.