Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

“No Heart Attack”: How satire mediates civic cultures and cultural citizenship in polarised society - case study on ArmComedy

Madoyan, Gor LU (2026) MKVM13 20261
Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
Abstract
The Thesis examines how political news satire functions within Armenia's hybrid political regime by analysing ArmComedy, a well-known satirical show. Current scholarship on political satire mostly focuses on Western, developed democracies and examines effect-based questions of knowledge, mobilisation, engagement, and participation, leaving a gap in understanding how political satire functions in systems marked by limited public and institutional trust, polarisation, and post-war trauma. The thesis situates ArmComedy within Armenia's media and political environment by exploring how satire can reinforce civic cultures, support cultural citizenship, foster belonging, construct identities, and facilitate emotional processing.
The thesis... (More)
The Thesis examines how political news satire functions within Armenia's hybrid political regime by analysing ArmComedy, a well-known satirical show. Current scholarship on political satire mostly focuses on Western, developed democracies and examines effect-based questions of knowledge, mobilisation, engagement, and participation, leaving a gap in understanding how political satire functions in systems marked by limited public and institutional trust, polarisation, and post-war trauma. The thesis situates ArmComedy within Armenia's media and political environment by exploring how satire can reinforce civic cultures, support cultural citizenship, foster belonging, construct identities, and facilitate emotional processing.
The thesis combines Joke Hermes's notion of cultural citizenship with Peter Dahlgren's framework of civic cultures to research ArmComedy not merely as an entertainment or information source, but as a space where values, identities, trust, and practices of civic cultures are negotiated in everyday media use. Methodologically, it uses a qualitative, case study design, employing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the show's two hosts and eleven audience
participants. Then, it employs thematic analysis and open coding to integrate production and reception perspectives.
The thesis shows that hosts understand their work in hybrid terms, balancing roles as watchdogs, commentators, and satirists, while navigating the pressures of polarisation, accusations of bias, and self-censorship amid post-war trauma. The audience members, in turn, engage with ArmComedy to digest information and politically charged news. Audience gains knowledge about politics and experiences a sense of “we-ness”, while also recognising its contribution as
limited and even superficial.
To sum up, the thesis argues that ArmComedy functions as a modest yet meaningful site of civic cultures and cultural citizenship in Armenia's polarised media landscape, pushing forward debates on satire, democracy, and effect-based engagement beyond the Western-centric effects
framework. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Madoyan, Gor LU
supervisor
organization
course
MKVM13 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
satire, political satire, humour, comedy, polarisation, Armenia
language
English
id
9229316
date added to LUP
2026-06-03 12:06:48
date last changed
2026-06-03 12:06:48
@misc{9229316,
  abstract     = {{The Thesis examines how political news satire functions within Armenia's hybrid political regime by analysing ArmComedy, a well-known satirical show. Current scholarship on political satire mostly focuses on Western, developed democracies and examines effect-based questions of knowledge, mobilisation, engagement, and participation, leaving a gap in understanding how political satire functions in systems marked by limited public and institutional trust, polarisation, and post-war trauma. The thesis situates ArmComedy within Armenia's media and political environment by exploring how satire can reinforce civic cultures, support cultural citizenship, foster belonging, construct identities, and facilitate emotional processing.
The thesis combines Joke Hermes's notion of cultural citizenship with Peter Dahlgren's framework of civic cultures to research ArmComedy not merely as an entertainment or information source, but as a space where values, identities, trust, and practices of civic cultures are negotiated in everyday media use. Methodologically, it uses a qualitative, case study design, employing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the show's two hosts and eleven audience
participants. Then, it employs thematic analysis and open coding to integrate production and reception perspectives.
The thesis shows that hosts understand their work in hybrid terms, balancing roles as watchdogs, commentators, and satirists, while navigating the pressures of polarisation, accusations of bias, and self-censorship amid post-war trauma. The audience members, in turn, engage with ArmComedy to digest information and politically charged news. Audience gains knowledge about politics and experiences a sense of “we-ness”, while also recognising its contribution as
limited and even superficial.
To sum up, the thesis argues that ArmComedy functions as a modest yet meaningful site of civic cultures and cultural citizenship in Armenia's polarised media landscape, pushing forward debates on satire, democracy, and effect-based engagement beyond the Western-centric effects
framework.}},
  author       = {{Madoyan, Gor}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{“No Heart Attack”: How satire mediates civic cultures and cultural citizenship in polarised society - case study on ArmComedy}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}