Gendered humour: Discoursing Playful Engagements Around COVID-19

The world grapples with gender relations on a daily basis. Issues of gender equality and gender equity are contentious in any society, and arguably even more so in Africa where patriarchal social constructs have existed for centuries. In times of crisis, gender disparities are revealed even more and in some instances, disparities become even more pronounced. Of late, one of the ways in which societies have brought gender relations to the fore has been through humour. Humour has been used in different ways including satirical depictions. Gendered humour refers to jokes about men and women and their relations, interactions and perceptions of one another and the world around them. Social media has been used as a platform where humour is shared in different forms including satirical depictions of a serious topic like gender relations. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has had (and continues to have) its fair share of humour associated with it. Some of this humour speaks to gender relations and perspectives about gender dynamics. This humour comes in various forms, pictorial, text and video clips. This week's presentation uniquely uses social media to examine and reflect on the meanings embedded and extended through humouring COVID-19 and gender. To discuss this interesting topic, we have Dr Ushehwedu Kufakurinani, an author and Senior Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.

This discussion is part of a Webinar Series that seeks to provide a platform for academics and non-academics alike to discuss international, continental, regional and country specific responses to the pandemics and disasters in general in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak which the world has been grappling with since January 2020. For more information on the nature and objectives of the overall series, click here: https://ysi.wisdmlabs.net/project/5e8ae46ba6a5c2058bcf3466. Should you also be interested in previous presentations in this series visit the following links:
Webinar no. 1"Grappling with the Pathocene: Africa and the Corona Virus Pandemic in Historical Perspective",
https://youngscholarsinitiative.zoom.us/rec/play/vMJ8I-Cu_zs3TICd4wSDB6dwW47sfa6s1HUcrqdenkixBnBSZ1T1M-NEM7TjYfCjTBJUyO917hMTyXRQ?fbclid=IwAR2BDqiFZ5QEul5No3og0de2CXORVup0WhsvgfZrcEf76fwW1W2Rz90Hdyg;
Webinar no. 2 "Fiscal and Monetary Concerns During the COVID-19 Pandemic" https://youngscholarsinitiative.zoom.us/rec/play/7pEscLj8pz43EtOcuQSDBaMrW466J62sh3Qf_PJcy0-8BnkFMFKvZ7ASZ7cAcJ-zgecj1x-Jk2ltl3rf

Webinar no.3 Economic Imapact of COVID-19 in South Africa
https://youngscholarsinitiative.zoom.us/rec/play/v5Eqfr-pr243H93BtgSDC6QoW9TpLa6s0iYZqPBZz0q9V3UEZwamZ7YWMLbydUskZ9ceOgs7EctjlXXf

Topic: Gendered humour on Social Media: Discoursing playful engagements around Covid-19
Date: Tuesady 16 June 2020
Time: 1600 (CAT)
Presenter : Dr Ushehwedu Kufakurinani
Author of:
Elasticity in Domesticity: White Women in Rhodesian Zimbabwe, 1890-1979
Editor of:
Victors, Victims and Villains: Women and musical arts in Zimbabwe – past and present (with B. Chinouriri and M. Nyakudya)