Interrogating the Phenomenon of Suffering and Smiling by Nigerians: A Mixed Methods Study

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

Authors

  • Onwu Inya
  • Blessing Inya
This chapter examines the phenomenon of suffering and smiling amongst Nigerians. It operationalises this phenomenon as a show of resilience and agency by Nigerians in the face of personal, and especially, socio-political troubles, occasioned by leadership failure. In order to achieve the aim of the study, an online survey that requested Nigerians to self-report their emotional and cognitive responses to cartoon depictions of Nigeria’s experience of recession was designed. The choice of recession cartoons was strongly motivated by the assumption that the caricaturing of suffering might have the potential of evoking the feelings of amusement together with those associated with suffering. The study adopted a mixed methods approach which accommodated both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Key quantitative findings indicated that Nigerians considered the caricaturing of the recession as a coping strategy, and the phenomenon of suffering and smiling as a cultural response to troubles, a show of resilience, among others. The overall emotional reactions of the respondents to the recession cartoons could be described as high feelings of unhappiness, insecurity and dissatisfaction about the recession experience and with the leadership of the country. Futhermore, the failure of leadership underscored the participants’ emphasis on the agency of Nigerians with respect to taking their destinies in their own hands. The chapter concludes that the phenomenon of suffering and smiling as a show of resilience and agency might account for the happy, upbeat disposition of Nigerians despite troubles.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Palgrave Handbook of Humour Research
EditorsElisabeth Vanderhaiden, Claude-Hélène Mayer
Number of pages22
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Publication date01.06.2024
Pages241-262
ISBN (print)978-3-031-52287-1, 978-3-031-52290-1
ISBN (electronic)978-3-031-52288-8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.06.2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.

Recently viewed

Activities

  1. Lodz University of Technology
  2. Workshop MECS - 2015
  3. Open Access in der Gesellschaft für Informatik e. V.
  4. Repository of Memories or Catalyst of Illumination? - 2003
  5. Sanjeeva Balasuriya
  6. Workshop „Science Fiction – Die Zukünfte des Computers” 2002
  7. Contingencies Of Art Policy: Comparing Probabilistic and Deterministic Cultural Planning Modes in Baltimore and Hamburg
  8. Stolpersteine bei der Dissertation
  9. The Simulation of Everything: Social Simulations 1970 | 2010
  10. Begriffliche Probleme lyrischer Subjektivität
  11. Maintaining the Reputation of Reputation: About the Control of Consumer-generated Reviews in Travel and Tourism.
  12. (Re)Constructing a Sociology Of the Arts In the 21th Century: Problems and Perspectives - Inserting "Space" In The Sociology Of The Arts
  13. Corruption and Trust: A model design
  14. 10. Graduiertenkonferenz an der Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg - 2011
  15. DFG-Round-Table zur Etablierung eines Schwerpunktprogramms „Das digitale Bild“
  16. MA-Arbeiten 2016
  17. Vorlesung und Diskussion: Computersimulation als Erkenntnismehtode
  18. ENTER Conference 2011
  19. Mitglied des IFIP-Beirats, Sitzung des IFIP-Beirats
  20. How to develop the professional Identity of prospective teachers
  21. Issues in Social and Environmental Accounting (Zeitschrift)
  22. Topic development and backchanneling in learner-native speaker voice-based telecollaboration (Third Bonn Applied English Linguistics Conference 2014 - BAELc3)
  23. Chandigarh University, India
  24. Tagung der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung "PISA – folgenlos?" - 2011
  25. NETTS – Einblicke in die Hamburger Forschung
  26. Performing Organization
  27. International law’s boundaries for an EU Collective Economic Defense
  28. Technikpolitik, Technikfolgen-Abschätzung und Partizipation
  29. HyperKult X - Computer als Medium: Spiel-Welten 2001
  30. National University of Singapore
  31. Pierre Bourdieu im ästhetischen Feld
  32. Jahrestreffen des DFG-Schwerpunktprogramms 1881
  33. On the structuration of museums: Visitors' influences and interferences
  34. A Sparkling Project oder von mehr Fragen als Antworten
  35. Challenging misleading positive (re-)framings in work and organizational psychology [Panel].
  36. Electronics (Fachzeitschrift)
  37. PhD Workshop im Rahmen der Enter Conference 2011
  38. Vortrag „Visualizing a thousand Years: On Jewish Cemeteries and the dH Situation“