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Events
A critical and multimodal analysis of online humour in Chilean far-right social
- Venue: Hybrid: In-person: Room 2.16 in DMMB Online: MS Teams
- Start: Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:00 BST
- End: Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:30:00 BST
A critical and multimodal analysis of online humour in Chilean far-right social media
Nicolás Villarroel, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University
Various studies suggest that social media plays a significant role in the global rise of right-wing populism. Moreover, humour is a defining element of online culture and current far-right movements use it strategically in memes, jokes, videos and comics. This talk explores methodological approaches to analysing online humour by considering the Chilean case, where the conservative candidate José Antonio Kast recently won the presidential election. Through an analysis of Instagram posts from Chilean far-right accounts, I will argue that critically analysing online humour requires considering the multiple interactions between media and text within the context of communication between virtual speakers. By doing so, this approach incorporates social, historical, cultural and political dimensions, which are crucial to understanding the form and content of humour in social media. I will illustrate this approach using data collected in online fieldwork and will discuss some of the emerging technical and ethical issues in doing this research.
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