Pranks and Activism: Humour between the Frivolous and the
Serious

p 2025

Pranks and Activism: Humour between the Frivolous and the Serious

CHOVANEC, Jan

Základní údaje

Originální název

Pranks and Activism: Humour between the Frivolous and the Serious

Autoři

CHOVANEC, Jan

Vydání

Humor Research Conference 2025, East Texas A&M University, Commerce, TX, February 14-16, 2025, United States, Texas, 2025

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Vyžádané přednášky

Obor

60203 Linguistics

Stát vydavatele

Spojené státy

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

Link to plenary speech

Označené pro přenos do RIV

Organizační jednotka

Filozofická fakulta

Klíčová slova česky

humor; aktivismus; sociolingvistika

Klíčová slova anglicky

humour; activism; sociolinguistics

Změněno: 26. 1. 2026 11:05, Mgr. Jana Pelclová, Ph.D.

Anotace

V originále

This talk discusses a peculiar, though not uncommon, humorous practice that occurs when an ad hoc individual action, which can be a prank or some other humorous semiotic act, spontaneously develops into a collective movement. As a result, a momentary atmosphere of collective humorous action emerges within a given community, whose multiple members co-participate in the original humorous act. Their humorous (digital) activism is manifested in diverse ways, e.g. by replicating, developing, and even radically transforming the humorous theme and recontextualizing it to new situations. Based on the analysis of several collective pranks, the presentation documents not only the functions of the semiotic means involved in such uncoordinated grassroots humorous action but also the gradual transformation of such formal means. It is shown that collective pranks range from playful and even trivial pursuits to more serious political activism that may seek to ridicule and thus delegitimize and undermine existing power structures and hierarchies. The talk argues that with the passage of time, a collective prank may – similar to digital memes – undergo semantic bleaching, and thereby shift towards genericity. As a result, the original humorous act, or some salient formal aspect of the act, can attain new indexicalities.

Návaznosti

MUNI/A/1558/2024, interní kód MU

Název: Jazyk, literatura a kultura v anglofonních kontextech II

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Jazyk, literatura a kultura v anglofonních kontextech II

Citovat

CHOVANEC, Jan. Pranks and Activism: Humour between the Frivolous and the Serious. In Humor Research Conference 2025, East Texas A&M University, Commerce, TX, February 14-16, 2025, United States, Texas. 2025.

@misc{2544446,
   author = {Chovanec, Jan},
   booktitle = {Humor Research Conference 2025, East Texas A&M University, Commerce, TX, February 14-16, 2025, United States, Texas},
   keywords = {humour; activism; sociolinguistics},
   language = {eng},
   title = {Pranks and Activism: Humour between the Frivolous and the Serious},
   url = {https://inside.tamuc.edu/academics/colleges/humanitiessocialsciencesarts/departments/literaturelanguages/newsandevents/nethrc/history/15th-nethrc/Keynote%20Speakers.aspx},
   year = {2025}
}

TY  - SLIDE
ID  - 2544446
AU  - Chovanec, Jan
PY  - 2025
TI  - Pranks and Activism: Humour between the Frivolous and the Serious
KW  - humour
KW  - activism
KW  - sociolinguistics
UR  - https://inside.tamuc.edu/academics/colleges/humanitiessocialsciencesarts/departments/literaturelanguages/newsandevents/nethrc/history/15th-nethrc/Keynote%20Speakers.aspx
N2  - This talk discusses a peculiar, though not uncommon, humorous practice that occurs when an ad hoc individual action, which can be a prank or some other humorous semiotic act, spontaneously develops into a collective movement. As a result, a momentary atmosphere of collective humorous action emerges within a given community, whose multiple members co-participate in the original humorous act. Their humorous (digital) activism is manifested in diverse ways, e.g. by replicating, developing, and even radically transforming the humorous theme and recontextualizing it to new situations. Based on the analysis of several collective pranks, the presentation documents not only the functions of the semiotic means involved in such uncoordinated grassroots humorous action but also the gradual transformation of such formal means. It is shown that collective pranks range from playful and even trivial pursuits to more serious political activism that may seek to ridicule and thus delegitimize and undermine existing power structures and hierarchies. The talk argues that with the passage of time, a collective prank may – similar to digital memes – undergo semantic bleaching, and thereby shift towards genericity. As a result, the original humorous act, or some salient formal aspect of the act, can attain new indexicalities.
ER  -

CHOVANEC, Jan. Pranks and Activism: Humour between the Frivolous and the Serious. In \textit{Humor Research Conference 2025, East Texas A\&{}M University, Commerce, TX, February 14-16, 2025, United States, Texas}. 2025.

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