Project launch!
Four-year research project about humour in Europe begins
Democratic Literacy and Humour (DELIAH) examines the multifaceted role of humour in artistic forms, cultural spaces, and online and offline fora, focusing on the relationship between humour and democracy in Europe.
For the next four years, DELIAH will undertake research in Spain, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Slovakia, Spain and the Netherlands. The research is done by a consortium of universities, lead by Ghent University. The other partners are the University of Groningen, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Comenius University Bratislava, the University of Göttingen and the University of Tartu. Cartoon Movement, an online platform for international political cartoons, is part of the consortium to provide a practical perspective. The project is funded by the European Union as part of the HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-04.
At the core the project is academic research, but the output is meant to be usable not only for academics, but also for policy makers, NGOs, educators, satire professionals and the average European. Throughout its four year lifespan, the project will publish toolkits and white papers that will present the research results and translate them into clear insights, policy recommendations and educational tools.
Here are some of the things we'll be doing in the next four years:
-Provide an overview of how Europeans look at humour.
-Provide an analysis of how humour can foster democratic participation.
-Create tools to recognize humour that aims to undermine democracy.
-Provide guidelines for content moderation (when is moderation warranted and when should free speech prevail).
-How to recognize humour that aims to undermine democracy.
All the output will be made available on the project website deliah.eu. This Substack is meant to keep everyone interested in the project up to date. Here we'll provide the latest project updates, news about events, interviews and a weekly cartoon about democracy.