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Visual Rhetoric in Mediating Impartial Humor: Political Cartoons on the Russo-Ukrainian War

2025/10/06 by Орест Семотюк · 1 voice
Computer Science · #Library Science and Information Systems

paper · doi:10.16995/olh.25162

openalex publication_date 2025/10/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.This study investigates the intersection of visual rhetoric and impartial humor in political cartoons portraying the Russo-Ukrainian War. Drawing on foundational works on visual rhetoric, the paper situates political cartoons within the broader context of political discourse. The data set includes 18 political cartoons from Australia, the USA, Algeria, Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Greece, Taiwan, Qatar, Iran, Ukraine, and Russia. The paper examines how cartoonists employ visual rhetorical devices to craft impartial humor. The analysis is based on the corresponding parameters of political cartoons (goal-target, frame of reference-focus, and means-presentation) supplemented by two criteria: a) the author’s attitude toward the conflict parties and b) the author’s position towards the war and its consequences in general. Methodologically, it is supported by quantitative and qualitative content analysis using MAXQDA (2024). The author concludes that even if political cartoonists do not take a clear stance on the conflict parties, their work still reflects a vision of war as a global evil without borders.

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