“This Coronavirus Didn’t Ask Questions before Entering Nigeria”: A Socio-cognitive Account of Covid-19 Humour in Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study is to critically examine humorous responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, in various contexts, with a focus on discursive structures of presupposition and dissociation which are ideologically laden based on people’s prior knowledge about Covid-19 situation management in Nigeria, and their attitudes towards the published guidelines. The study is based on Teun van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to discourse, which attempts to show how the relation between discourse and society is cognitively mediated by way of the mental representations created by language users as members of society. The data for this study are Nigerian comedies about the novel coronavirus, purposively selected from YouTube. The study finds that Nigerians consider the guidelines published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as ridiculous, hence the humorous responses found in comedies. The study also finds that this attitude may be based on people’s views of the intrigues surrounding the pandemic, and that the laughter generated signifies audience involvement in the humour created when the comedies reference the NCDC guidelines.