Search

The humour of political cartoons is studied in multiple disciplines, and African political cartoons are no exception to academic scrutiny. Their satire, however, is prone to Western models of analysis. One subsequent gap is the dismissal of important postcolonial realities, such as African political cartoonists' caricature of world news and not just domestic matters. To contribute theoretically to the study of humour in African political cartoons, I apply postcolonial translation theory to explore a selection of POV's political cartoons, which address both domestic and world news. I argue that the political cartoonist is a translator, not of languages, but of ideas about foreign affairs, transposed through translation strategies to convey meanings for local audiences. African humour in political cartoons, therefore, is not restricted to domestic matters. African cartoonists' engagement with foreign news invites the question about whether the humour is framed for Western audiences. I conclude that the occasional engagement with foreign ideas does not render an African political cartoon's satire inauthentic or less African. Instead, it is possible to reconcile the translation strategies of foreignisation and domestication, ensuring the humour of these political cartoons – visually translated for African contexts – is inclusive for local audiences and welcoming of foreign ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political cartoons are valuable cultural artifacts which not only capture moments in time but also offer the illustrator's insight into those moments. This essay examines how three of Israel's Religious Zionist cartoonists have illustrated the first three months of the 2023 nationwide protests and the judicial overhaul that sparked them. Shay Charka, Or Reichert, and Reut Bortz all self-identify as members of the Religious Zionist community but their cartoons show diverse reactions to the protests and proposed legislation. Examining their works provides insight into how the cartoonists themselves are navigating significant changes in their own society and also what messages are being conveyed to the Religious-Zionist readership. What emerges from this analysis are thematic overlaps in which the artists draw upon common visual tropes and themes but offer distinct readings of the judicial overhaul and the protests that ensued. The value of analyzing the three cartoonists' work in this way is that it provides insight into the messages that are disseminated to the wider Religious Zionist community given their role as figures who shape and construct Religious Zionist ideology and mentality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about whether the sexes communicate and behave differently continues. The stereotype that women are not funny or that their language or behavior is more "ladylike" is very widespread and has been current for decades, if not centuries. Gender differences in politeness and humor were also frequently reported by early anthropologists, sociolinguists, and cognitivists, but many modern linguists are far from convinced by such findings. Examining multimodal communication, a development phase within many fields, may help us find evidence to support or undermine a sociocognitive hypothesis such as women are more polite or are naturally less funny than men. Using a corpus of political cartoons, this study identifies whether there are gender differences in the use of taboo language and humor, putting special emphasis on impolite metaphor and metonymy. The results of this research show no differences between male and female cartoonists in the use of taboo or impolite metaphors and metonymies. Rather, individual variations are reported. This analysis, then, offers a new window on an age-old question about how men and women think, communicate, and behave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political cartoons play an important role in society as an alternative media. This study aimed to explore the democracy in, and politics of, Syria drawing upon political cartoons as a reference The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between media and power in Syria, analyze political cartoons as an alternative voice of the society, and observe their impact on society and politics. We used a qualitative methodology, as well as a visual ethnographic method, for analysis and synthesis. The findings of this study provide insights into the monopolization of media in Syria, where political cartoons portray an alternative reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the perspective of Slovakian mainstream dailies on religion through an analysis of their cartoons. Using a sample of 168 cartoons from three newspapers (SME, Denník N, Pravda), collected in the years 2015‒2022, the author applies a quantitative‑qualitative analysis based on attribution theory. She asks what characteristics and motivations caricaturists attribute to their objects. She relies on one of the principles of humour, which through typification represents the beliefs and prejudices of the wider community. She uses categories of attributes that emerged from her previous research on media attribution processes in relation to religion, the Church and believers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes 30 cartoons depicting the Deal of the Century as envisaged by two Jordanian cartoonists. Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier and Turner [2008, Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought , Cambridge University Press, 53–66]) and Multimodal Metaphor Theory (Forceville, 2008) are adopted as theoretical frameworks. The results reveal that the target domain the Deal of the Century was conceptualized mainly through layered metaphors that have metonymic basis and event metaphors/allegories. Five groups were identified: object or a situation involving objects, situations involving humans/hybrids of humans and objects, an animal or situation involving animal, hybrids of weapons and humans, and event metaphors used to build a story/allegory. The results demonstrate that the most widely used configuration to construe the metaphors was cross-modal of the type pictorial source–verbal target in line with Lan and Zuo (2016, Metaphor and the Social World 6, 20–51). This was probably due to the greater conceptual density and concreteness of visual representation as the target is better captured verbally because of its abstractness. In contrast, the source domains were mainly concrete and thus perceivable pictorially rather than verbally. The study mainly demonstrates the effect that metaphor and metonymy found in political cartoons can have on the perception of the target domain by the audience and by extension their attitude toward it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offense lurks behind the political cartoon like its shadow, capable of creating mixed reactions in the target. In terms of offense-giving, cartoonists are sometimes cautious and at other times cavalier, thereby causing intentional and inadvertent offense, respectively. This article examines the aspects of the political cartoon that facilitate the performance of offense, which is predominantly visual in nature. The article takes the position that there must be an earnest attempt at delimiting offense-giving. In order to emphasize this ethical turn, the authors attempt a delimitation exercise by experimenting with a select controversial cartoon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although political cartoons have been read as criticism in Kenneth Burke's burlesque rejection frame, this article presents an alternative reading, to consider their potential for expressing attitudes of acceptance via comic framing. A Burkean vocabulary for studying cartoons is provided, including the mechanism of perspective by incongruity, the attitudinal alignments of acceptance and rejection, the genres of comic framing and burlesque, as well as the phenomenon of bureaucratization of the imaginative. South African cartoons featuring President Cyril Ramaphosa are then analyzed to illustrate how cartoons can potentially offer more nuanced political critiques when expressing comic discounting rather than burlesque debunking. The article concludes by reflecting on the civic potential of comic framing, as a constructive alternative to polemical cartooning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview, the political cartoonist Steve Bell reflects on his past career and work, seeing it against the wider tradition of British political cartoons, and in relation to the work of other artists whom he admires. He answers questions as to the fundamental nature of visual satire and speculates as to its likely future in an age of media fragmentation, and ideological polarisation and intolerance. Although we now live in turbulent and divisive political times and in an era where it becomes ever harder for satirical artists to find outlets for their work, Bell is by no means pessimistic as he looks to the future. His view is very much that artistic quality and sharp observational wit will continue to find appreciative audiences, whatever the means or media their makers employ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to show the different ethé of Our Lady of Aparecida represented in political cartoons. What justifies the analysis is that the images built for Our Lady by the cartoonists are unique and different from those commonly made by the faithful. The productions were broadcast on the day dedicated to the patron saint of Brazil, October 12th, 2022. On that date, politicians who were competing for the elections scheduled for that month were present at the Sanctuary. The candidates' attitude was seen as a campaign act. The press suggested this and exposed, more explicitly in political cartoons on the subject. This text considers two of them because they synthesize two frequent ethé in the analyzed drawings: the victim and the vigilante. The article articulates theoretical notions from comics, discourse, and humor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article intends to introduce the topic of Six Information Revolutions based on Irving Fang's views in the book A History of Mass Communications. In a short review, the history of the emergence of caricature and cartoon is discussed and then the functions and importance of political cartoons in the mass media are examined. This assertion is generally agreed upon that the main place and origin of cartoons is in the press and political cartoons have a long life along with the print media. Relying on this fact, the evolution of political cartoons, especially in the period of the second information revolution, i.e. the Printing Revolution and afterward in the third revolution, i.e. the Mass Media Revolution, has been scrutinized. With the development of the printing industry and publishing of newspapers in high circulation, cartoons became available to the public as an important part of the traditional print media; quickly gained popularity and profound influence, and provided a new outlet for information. And it became a new way of launching socio-political debates. Finally, in a holistic approach, today's pluralized media landscape and the challenges facing editorial cartoonists in the new media space have been analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Comunicação Midiática is the property of Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes e Comunicacao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The newspaper Binômio, which circulated from 1952 to 1964, was marked by an oppositional personality throughout its trajectory. Thus, this article deals specifically with images signed by collaborating cartoonists, disseminated during the period of humor of the periodical, between 1952 to 1956. The main objective is to recover part of the graphic memory of this newspaper, based on an analysis of the caricature and denunciatory content of works produced by artists at the time. Through investigations in primary sources, bibliographic research and an interview with one of the founders, the results demonstrate that the political cartoon was an essential element in the construction of the Binômio's critical-humoristic approach in that period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core claim of this paper is that mainstream political cartoons uniquely combine three features of iconicity, direct resemblance, diagrammatic schematization, and metaphoric displacement, summed up by Charles S. Peirce under the concept of hypoiconicity. Accordingly, cartoon readers cannot but reconstruct direct resemblance relations with actual, historical persons and situations from their metaphoric distortion provided in the cartoon and retrace the cartoonist's schematized, diagrammatic reasoning in order to arrive at the cartoon's satirical message. The main source of the humorous effect of cartooning is shown to be the incongruity between the cartoon and the viewer's reconstruction of the cartoonist's satirical target. The paper rehearses the semiotic relations involved in Peirce's notion of hypoiconicity, before reviewing the cartoon literature from the angles of genre, reader response, and multimodal discourse, via a social semiotic approach. The paper concludes with a reading of a single-frame, political cartoon from the perspective of hypoiconicity, followed by a brief generic description. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual culture and artistic accumulation that societies have been developing since the past is reflected in the works done in different fields. In the production of comics, basic features such as character design and color applications sometimes vary between cultures. Therefore, although the artist who produces the comic determines the visual basic features of a comic, the culture of the cartoonist is effective in the development of his style. Comics are produced in many parts of the world. Different design approaches and styles in comics may vary from region to region in terms of geography. In addition to the "comics" in the USA or the Japanese "manga", the form of comics produced by French-speaking countries is one of the important schools today. The Franco-Belgian comic style has a deep-rooted historical development process back to pre-printing times. There is important information to support this proposition. Therefore, in the article, the historical development process of the comics in France was explained in basic terms, the effect of the historical development of the French-Belgian comics on the linear language, character designs and subject selection in the context of style was examined with examples, and information was given about its place in popular culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with political cartoonist, painter and architect Vilma Vargas is presented. Among the issues she discussed include the use of her cartoons for social resistance, the program she uses when making animation, and her opinion on the claim by some cartoonists that readers are no longer interested in printed cartoons since they want everything online and on social media.

Pictures have an essential effect on our thoughts and decisions. People have also noticed everywhere how these pictures produced in the form of cartoons affect their viewpoints. Advertises and cartoonists do so since people are addicted to social media to the extent it can manipulate their thoughts unconsciously and obnoxiously. Besides, people do not have the courage to express their viewpoints in public clearly, so they tend to use the satire to keep their face. This motivates the researcher to analyze the underlying structure of the satire presented in caricatures to read the message clearly. The present research aims at revealing the way, the political caricatures are produced and the main characteristics of political caricatures. Incorporating a methodology depending on selecting some samples randomly. The research is a semiotic analysis of political caricatures announced through the election campaign 2018 in Iraq. It concentrates on the format caricatures used as a communicative channel on various platforms to come up with essential senses and prevailing political matters. The present study is carried out by adopting Barthes’ semiotic model which is an apparent semiotic approach. It is a good means to analyze the implied structure, including the dictionary and implied senses of creating influence of political caricatures. In addition, it provides readers with a good means to interpret and understand political caricatures. The present paper is quite important since political cartoons work as an approach to comprehend human consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Confluenze. Rivista di Studi Iberoamericani is the property of Universita di Bologna, Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the monomodal and multimodal metaphors and metonymies employed in 25 proopposition cartoons depicting the Syrian conflict by the Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj. These cartoons were sketched and published between 2011 and 2018. The method adopted for the analysis is based on the framework presented by Bounegru and Forceville (2011) on verbal-pictorial metaphors. Data analysis reveals the use of many source domains that depict different aspects of the Syrian conflict. It also reveals multimodality as the pervasive type of the rendered metaphors. The researchers attribute multimodality to the different relations that the analysis established between words and images. In addition, data analysis indicates that the cartoonist not only comments through his cartoons, but also evaluates, criticizes, and condemns. The study concludes with recommendations for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text analyzes the series Mofli, el último koala (1987) and the feature film Despertaferro, el grito del fuego (1990), two productions aimed at children and young people, directed by Jordi Amorós (Barcelona, 1945) within the EQUIP production company. Both were productions made in Spain, with notable time duration, and they accessed commercial distribution. Thanks to Amorós Mofli and Despertaferro had a similar composition in the team, which included relevant cartoonists from the so-called adult comic boom in the design of sets and characters. Among them were Enrique Ventura, Adolfo Usero or Marika Vila. The differences in approach in the two productions show the adaptation of EQUIP to different projects. In addition, the success of Mofli, el último koala could condition the approach of Despertaferro, el grito del fuego, both in terms of economic ambition and technical aspects, in which Amorós tested new technical proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Chang Jin, an in-betweener among Chinese cartoonists, presented. Chang Jin talks about his inspiration and influence on cartooning, his cartoon works, correspondence cartoon class and cartoon exhibits in the 1980s and benefit he earned from the instructions he received from Chinese cartoon masters for his cartoon creation. He compares present and past Chinese cartooning and shares his thoughts on the future of Chinese cartooning.

An interview with Mayor Nidai Güngöordü of Kyrenia, Cyprus is presented. Güngöordü tells his reasons for promoting cartooning and the importance of cartooning art in Northern Cyprus. He talks about Kyrenia's financial support for the International Olive Festival and the InernationL Cartoon Contest and the role of the Olive Festival in promoting and developing the olive industry of Cyprus.

The article focuses on the influence of cartoonist Peter Arno on cartooning in "The New Yorker" magazine and single-panel comics in the U.S. and the artistic influence of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso on the cartooning of Arno. It provides a background on the artistic training of Arno and his aesthetic influences. It highlights the works of Arno in the field of advertising, Hollywood movies and art exhibits.

This interview with Belgian-Israeli graphic novelist and political cartoonist Michel Kichka covers his growing up in Belgium during the Golden Age of bande dessinée. The author discusses his early readings and influences, as well as the development of his own career in teaching and drawing. The discussion focuses in particular on the creation and publication of his graphic novels Deuxième Génération [Second Generation] and Falafel sauce piquante [Falafel with Spicy Sauce], published in 2012 and 2018. These works foreground essential questions about Kichka's experience as a second-generation Holocaust survivor and about his relationship with Israel. Taking an international perspective, the interview sheds further light on the emergence of the comics medium in Israel and the transnational reception of Franco-Belgian bande dessinée. It also considers Kichka's work and engagement as a political cartoonist. Interview conducted via email, following Michel Kichka's keynote at the "Tradition and Innovation in Franco-Belgian bande dessinée" conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) was an important German artist, writer and also co-founder of modern-day comics. The influence of his popular pictorial stories is also evident in the Czech lands since the 1860s. This aricle maps how the inspiration of Wilhelm Busch's work was reflected in the work of Czech cartoonists and comics creators, including such prominent artists as Mikoláš Aleš, Karel Václav Klíč, Josef Lada, Ondřej Sekora or Kája Saudek. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political cartoon has proven to be an effective means not only to mock but also to criticise the government of the day and to expose its abuse of power. The visual nature of cartoons, combined with humour, enables cartoon artists to bring across their message in a succinct manner. Cartoonists also employ references to events that their readership can relate to, making cartoons a mode of communication whose impact should not be underestimated. This article considers how cartoons that appeared in English-language South African newspapers viewed the Verwoerd government's policies, specifically the implementation of those regarding the Bantustans or homelands. The article focuses on how cartoon artists used two phenomena of the time, the Space Race and the Beatles, to convey their criticism of the National Party government. The article also considers the effectiveness of the cartoons artists – like jesters in the royal court, masking their moral judgement behind witty remarks – to unmask the true intentions of the government's homeland policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates a ubiquitous phenomenon known as multimodal recycling, so called because cartoonists frequently recycle pictorial and compositional ideas they have developed earlier. This phenomenon, it is claimed, presupposes fundamental cognitive processes, like schematization, binding, and categorization. This means that cartoons can be seen as symbolic assemblies ranging widely along three main parameters: symbolic complexity, specificity (or conversely, schematicity), and conventionality. These schemas are abstracted from recycled cartoons, and once established as units they can serve as templates guiding the formation of novel cartoons on the same pattern, just as is the case in language structure. Here, two basic types of recycling are posited: same narrative and narrative-shifting. Such research will aid both political cartoon scholarship and cognition studies based on pictorial as well as multimodal stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political cartooning is an influential medium that can be a significant indicator of the democratic health of a country. However, understanding the factors influencing and restraining political cartoonists has been neglected within political communication scholarship across the world for decades. Cartoonists globally cherish the level of freedom possessed by their American counterparts. Cartoonists in Pakistan are among those. Based on this assumption, this article investigates the factors that influence political cartoonists, including any filters through which their drawings pass before publication. Therefore, in-depth interviews of political cartoonists from Pakistan and the United States have been conducted under the umbrella of a model suggested by Gamson and Modgiliani (1989). This study compares cartooning in the ostensibly free environment in the United States and the visibly restricted atmosphere in Pakistan to see how the dynamics of free speech in political cartooning are changing. While the study reveals some largely predictable differences between Pakistan and the United States, there are some remarkable similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the authors feature several children and spouses of popular cartoonists in China and their opinions and stories about their deceased cartoonists/family members. Among the cartoonists are Zhang Leping, Zhang Guangyu, Feng Zikai, and Wang Zimei. Also mentioned are some of the children/offsprings of the cartoonists like Zhang Weijun, Zhang Linchun, and Huang Dagang.

The present work investigates the contribution of cartoons to the political opinion-forming of their viewers. Through the visual framing, from the caricaturist's subjective point of view, one aspect is emphasized, one problem is illustrated. By questioning certain facts or exposing things through the cartoon, the author challenges the viewer to think along, opens up new perspectives and helps him to form political opinions. The article aims to highlight the topics and the formal, content-related and stylistic structures according to which the cartoons from the Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Rumänien (ADZ) published in 2019 contribute to the political opinion-forming of its readers. It is important to determine which of the above-mentioned characteristics are mainly used to reflect, in excerpts, those states of affairs which the newspaper has put on the agenda of its readers and which have thus gained predominant importance. In order to investigate this, the following hypothesis is put forward which can be confirmed or disproved by analyzing the characteristics of political cartoons: The cartoons published in the ADZ contribute to the political opinion of the viewers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I connect the resistant, sociopolitically expressive graphic art created in Mexico with the political artivist work of U.S. Latinx nonfiction cartoonists creating today. I do so by identifying these contemporary artists within a history of Mexican political graphica that I trace back to 1900. In so doing, I include a brief list of events in Mexico since the beginning of the 20th century where Mexican graphica worked as a tool for artists and the working class to participate in politics. I then identify contemporary instances of this artivism with La casa blanca case that took place during Enrique Peña Nieto's administration (2012–2018). I conclude with my analysis of Lalo Alcaraz and Eric J. García, demonstrating how they inherited the artivist tradition from Mexican creators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the way in which the political cartooning of Lalo Alcaraz and Eric J. García uses parody and satire, the stylistic linchpins of the genre, to help their followers process and cope with the physical and social disease brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic. From their distinctly Chicanx perspectives, Alcaraz's and García's cartoons chronicle the way in which U.S. imperialism and neo-liberal socio-economic policies impact marginalized communities at home and around the globe, not only in their combination of text and image in their panels and strips, but also in the transcultural symbolism they draw from to depict U.S. politics and society. Because of the social artivism in which this work engages, it serves as a powerful shaping device, helping followers to process and cope with difficult realities while symbolically countering dominator discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to study a variety of cartoons by the famous Latvian cartoonist Gatis Šļūka who often represents Latvia and Latvians, capturing their very character and spirit. The main objective of this study is to examine diverse stylistic patterns and their visual and verbal interaction. The frequent use of stylistic patterns implies that Latvian thinking is naturally figurative. The cartoons often mock various predicaments in different domains of life. To appreciate the complete meaning of a cartoon, it is crucial to understand the historical and social context of the cartoon, especially if it is not analysed around the moment of its creation. The most recurrent stylistic pattern that appears in nearly all analysed cartoons is metonymy, thus it can be concluded that metonymy plays the most important role in meaning construction. There are other significant stylistic techniques such as personification, allusion and pun. In most cases it is possible to state that interaction of stylistic patterns is evident in the cartoons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Doxa / Doksa is the property of I. I. Mechnikov Odessa National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article offers information related to the works of Josy Ajiboye, a Nigerian artist and cartoonist. Topics discussed include use of realism to comment on cultural, political and social issues in Nigeria; displays of elitism by Ajiboye for the corrupt officials and the wealthy tycoons; and cartooning in Nigeria evolved as to include color and computerized technology. It mentions about the Art history in general and African art history.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union, many believed that other dictatorships around the world would subsequently fall. Unfortunately, dictators have remained in power. It is in part thanks to the efforts and courage of political and editorial cartoonists that we are better-informed world-citizens. One such cartoonist is Tanzanian Godfrey Mwampembwa, born in Kenya in 1969, who bears the pen name Gado and is the most syndicated political and editorial cartoonist in East and Central Africa. The sophisticated manner in which he depicts and exposes corrupt dictators is unequalled and unrivalled. The aim of this article is to bring well-deserved attention to Gado's work by analyzing and providing the appropriate context for some of his most recent cartoons, which depict the current turmoil in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and to promote understanding of what Gado has undergone and sacrificed on a personal level to ensure that the truth be told. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depending on context: to depict soaring prices as fires is to perform the act of complaining; to portray the perpetrator of a sex crime as a wolf is to accomplish the action of condemning; to draw the ship of state sailing toward catastrophe is simultaneously to perform the action of warning and to issue a prediction; etc. It follows that, if political cartooning is action, then having a cartoon spiked is failure to act. The discussion of silenced speech acts cannot fail to have already been noticed by other scholars. Yet, so far little attention has been paid to this phenomenon, especially in multimodal and intercultural pragmatics. Apart from substantiating the claim that it makes sense to study speech acts in political cartoons, this article investigates the situational factors that may affect the editorial decision-making of a given newspaper. Using a corpus of selected American, British, Egyptian, and Jordanian cartoons, it is argued that the appropriateness conditions of (verbo) visual speech acts (and of discourse generally) depend on the context models of the participants (cartoonists/viewers). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]