iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Jeremy Braddock @jbraddock.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

I had a blast talking with @leev.bsky.social on his great STS Peoples & Things podcast. Topics discussed: Firesign Theatre, the history of recording, Trevor Pinch, obscure robot statues. @ucpress.bsky.social @firesigntheatre.bsky.social newbooksnetwork.com/firesign

newbooksnetwork.com

Jeremy Braddock on "Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as Told on Nine Comedy Albums" - New Books Network

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

One last tempo session with the lovely #AdidasRunners bunch yesterday and… I am marathon ready! I am so excited to run the @manchestermarathon.bsky.social for #TeamMND @mndassoc.bsky.social. Here is the link to my fundraiser: www.justgiving.com/page/benedet... Please help us reach the goal ❤️

Photo of the Adidas Runners London group’s tempo session at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on 24 April 2025

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

A wonderful conference comes to an end. We laughed, we learned, we ranged across media, languages, periods. It was such a pleasure to listen to our participants and their groundbreaking research. Deep thanks to them, to our audience, to @durhamuniversity.bsky.social and @durhamhistory.bsky.social!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

And the last speaker of our conference on “Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism”: Aidan Jones! Aidan is presenting on “The Death Penalty, Humour, and the United States.”

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

A. Austin Garvey deepens our focus on Ukraine, comparing wartime Punch cartoons and contemporary Ukrainian memes in “Visual Humour in European Home Fronts: Britain and Ukraine.”

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Zlata Osipova speaks first, on “We Against Them: Humor as a Unifying Force in Ukraine’s Resistance.” How does humour build solidarity and a collective opposition?

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

The final panel begins! “Humour in Extremis” will go from Ukraine to the United States, with presentations from A. Austin Garey, Zlata Osipova, and Aidan Jones.

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Such an engaging, illuminating panel! (And we’re all still laughing.)

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Simbarashe bringing the house down with popular Zimbabwean jokes from Whatsapp and Facebook (social media a release for so much pent-up expression)

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Rounding off our panel, and taking us into the world of social media, Simbarashe Marowa and Ushe Kufakurinani present on “Social Media and Playful Engagements on the Political Economy: The Case of Zimbabwe”!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Radio comedy gave listeners a way to address the past and negotiate the transition to the postwar world, Katharina argues in her terrific paper.

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Katharina Friege picks up the baton and brings us to radio comedy (and the postwar scene): “Broadcasting Humour: Rubble, Reconstruction, and the Radio in Great Britain and Western Germany, 1945-1960.” Humour on the airwaves brought people into the society after the war

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Sophie Dubillot kicks things off with “Visual Humour by Returning French Prisoners of War and Forces Workers in Liberation France.” A complex history of return, disappointment, and critical humour

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Lunch over, coffee cups refilled, we begin again with our panel on Postfascism. Our featured speakers are Sophie Dubillot, Katharina Friege Simbarashe Marowa and Ushe Kufakurinani (sadly, Xiaofei Tu withdrew because of illness). From France to Zimbabwe, visual humour to radio!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

The panel sums up!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Paolo and Raquel take us from the Civil War to Franco’s regime and onward to the return of democracy, tracing the fate of the Catalan avant-garde through Brossa’s life and work

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Finally, direct from Barcelona, Paolo Scotton and Raquel Cercós speak about the Catalan writer Joan Brossa and “When Poetry Turns Into Revolt”!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Our third speaker is Natalie Schwabl, presenting on “Coping with Fascism through Humour: Anticlerical Caricatures in Post-War Croatia (1945-1946).” Another fascinating paper, another era and area illuminated

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Oeser’s remarkable presentation explores the varieties of laughter, from mockery that can be turned against other victims to mockery that targets the powerful

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Alexandra Oeser speaks next, tackling one of the most difficult subjects: laughter in concentration camps. Through the life and work of Nina Jirsikova, Oeser delves into laughter as a weapon of oppression as well as laughter as resistance

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

As Jessica says, the conference is now exploring cinema as well cartoons, magazines, graphic novels, and radio!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Introduced by Jessica Wardhaugh, Francesco Saccà begins with comic writing and satire in Marc’Aurelio, an Italian anti-fascist magazine. A fascinating examination of Fellini’s early career in its pages (and other film directors too)

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

And now the first panel of the day! “Fascism and Dictatorship,” with Francesco Saccà, Alexandra Oeser, Natalie Schwab, and Paolo Scotton and Raquel Cercós. Their talks will range from Fellini’s antifascist writing to caricatures in Croatia, from poetry to laughter in the camps.

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

We started day 2 of the ‘Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism’ conference with Alya Aglan’s wonderful keynote, translated in English by @benfried.bsky.social. Alya tells us that wartime humor changes the unbearable reality. Without words, humor captures the essential @durhamhistory.bsky.social

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

A great day done (apart from the conference supper!). Another fascinating series of papers -- and another thread -- tomorrow. @durhamuniversity.bsky.social @durhamhistory.bsky.social

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Our last speaker of the day, taking us home till tomorrow, is Andrés Francisco Dapuez. His paper is about hunger and jokes in Argentina: "Moral Consumption, Throwing Polenta Away, and Joking About the State."

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

And now Valentina Marcella on "Coping with Authoritarianism: Humour and Satire in Turkey" (with a sharp focus on satirical magazines).

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Next up is Roman Mamin on "The Pragmatic Horizons of Late Soviet Jokes"!

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Nhi Yen Le kicks things off with "How the Duck Quacked Back," on satire, censorship, and resistance in 1930s colonial Vietnam

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

And now the last panel of the day: all-online, tackling "Humorous Resistance," and bringing together Nhi Yen Le, Roman Mamin, Valentina Marcella, and Andrés Francisco Dapuez. Kindly moderated by Xiaofei Tu

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Two case studies -- and two invigorating close readings of Carlo Emilio Gadda and Zerocalcare (teasing out the interplay of rationality and irrationality, lightness and seriousness, in both). Grazie, @serevandi.bsky.social!

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

And we stay in Italy with @serevandi.bsky.social! "Naked and Layered: Satire and Power in Two Italian Case Studies"

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

A magisterial overview of a century of political cartoons from all angles of commitment -- and what visual aids Luciano shared!

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Luciano Cheles brings us back to Italy now, examining satirical cartoons and magazines from the 1920s to the present day

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

In startling, galvanizing contrast to our earlier focus on humour as resistance, Vincent explores the power of humour as a tool of propaganda, paving the way to war

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Dr. Clare V. Church @clarevchurch.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Loved this example of "Laughter as Coping Mechanism" in one of today's talks @durhamhistory.bsky.social by Vincent Scotto. Especially enjoyed this US First World War satirical cartoon depicting the fear of German invasion, in which Canada is left to its "barbaric" ways 😂🇨🇦 #VisualSatire #History

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Followed by Vincent Trott on "Political Humour, Preparedness, and the Fear of Invasion in the United States, 1914-1917." Another fascinating look, after Yuetong Li's, at the comic and the serious together

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

First is Yuetong Li, speaking on Caricature and the Struggle for Freedom of Speech in Germany (1874-1914)

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Post-lunch, we begin again! Panel Two: Caricature and Visual Satire with Yuetong Li, Vincent Trott, Luciano Cheles, and @serevandi.bsky.social. From Wilhelmine Germany to the US during WW1 to satire in Italy

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Excellent Q&A to boot! Now to lunch (and some unexpected Durham sunshine) before coming back for Panel Two

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Bringing the panel to a resounding finish, Klara Beetz speaks on "Subversive Joy: Utopian Imagination in the Travesty Cabaret of East Berlin's Hibaré." We turn to the 1970s and queer daily life and performance

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

A very rich paper on the everyday contexts of political humour, on laughter as a weapon of the weak, and on the extraordinary range of opposition to Vichy. But, Wardhaugh asks, "what if the authorities laugh too?"

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Followed by Jessica Wardhaugh, who takes us to Vichy France and "The Limits of Laughter." Sweeping across song, satire, and subversion!

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

"Safe, Sanitized, and Altogether Unsexy": a fascinating talk on the Andrews Sisters during the Second World War by @clarevchurchphd.bsky.social

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Excellent opening keynotes complete, we move on to the first panel (on Music and Performance) with Clare V. Church, Jessica Wardhaugh, and Klara Beetz! (Photo featuring moderator Vincent Trott)

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

A wonderful, ranging, and (of course) funny overview of humour against Mussolini. Now @drhelenroche.bsky.social speaks on "Exploring Mockery and Humorous 'Resistance' by Nazi Elite-School Pupils"

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

And we're away with a joint keynote address from @benecarnaghi.bsky.social and @drhelenroche.bsky.social! Starting with "Undoing the Duce's Myth: Making Fun of Mussolini"

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Ben Fried @benfried.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

"Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism" begins at @durhamuniversity.bsky.social! All thanks to @benecarnaghi.bsky.social, @drhelenroche.bsky.social , and @durhamhistory.bsky.social. Two days of terrific papers: check out the schedule for today and join us!

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Benedetta Carnaghi @benecarnaghi.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

‘Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism’—a conference that @drhelenroche.bsky.social and I are organizing on March 28-29 for @durhamhistory.bsky.social—now has a website: laughterasapoliticalcopingmechanism.wordpress.com Huge thanks to #ASMI and @germanhistsoc.bsky.social for their sponsorship 🙏

laughterasapoliticalcopingmechanism.wordpress.com

Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism: Interdisciplinary Approaches

Website of the international conference taking place at Durham University on 28 – 29 March 2025

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