This article examines how Jordanian political humour has been strategically employed in social media spaces since the 2011 Arab uprisings. It explores how right-wing ideologies have given rise to Jordanian political humour, particularly of a populist nature in social media spaces, both to reflect and contest dominant political dynamics, social tensions, and public discourse in post-Arab Spring Jordan. While much of the existing literature on Jordanian political humour has tended to over-emphasise the application of linguistic theories of humour or Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of carnival and carnivalesque humour, this article offers a new perspective by arguing that Jordanian political humour in social media spaces is increasingly shaped by right-wing populist themes and ideologies. These include anti-government sentiment, nostalgic appeals, hyper-loyalist expressions of Jordanian identity, and misogynistic undertones that target the role and function of women in Jordanian society. The findings reveal that Jordanian political humour in social media spaces has recently been shaped by populist rhetoric that often engages with right-wing ideologies and, at times, with far-right nationalist discourses.
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