CU RESEARCHERS EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMOUR AND DEMOCRACY IN A EUROPEAN PROJECT
Bratislava, 16 October 2025: Comenius University Bratislava (CU) joined a research consortium of six European universities funded by Horizon Europe. The project, titled Democratic Literacy and Humour (DELIAH), is conducting comprehensive research into the multifaceted relationship between humour and democracy. Over the next four years, DELIAH will focus on the following questions: How can humour contribute to public debate and democratic participation? And when does it undermine democracy by, for instance, spreading misinformation or inciting discrimination?
Four researchers from the Comenius Faculty of Arts represent CU in the DELIAH project – Associate Professor Nina Cingerová, Associate Professor Irina Dulebová and Associate Professor Katarína Motyková from numerous philological departments and Associate Professor Anna Sámelová from the Department of Journalism. As part of the project, they are researching Slovak humour in the online space. “Our goal is to better understand how the mechanisms of humour work online and what its pragmatic effects are. In general, we are interested in the role of humour in the support of democracy and civic participation,” as mentioned by Associate Professor Nina Cingerová.
On the one hand, humorous expression – even when provocative or controversial – is a vital ingredient of democratic life. On the other hand, especially in recent years, humour has been increasingly used as a disguise for spreading disinformation and hateful messages (for example in the form of racist or misogynist memes). Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has also been an increase in so-called “humour scandals”, starting with the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy back in 2006-2007 - when the publication of editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad resulted in widespread protests, riots, and death threats to the cartoonists. Humour-related controversies have only become more frequent in recent years, as both a cause and effect of increasing polarisation.
Launched in March 2025, the first tangible result of the project is a meta-analysis of contemporary humour practices and democratic attitudes in Europe. As DELIAH member Dr. Aitor Castañeda-Zumeta of the University of the Basque Country remarks, “The way humour contributes to a better democracy is still not clear, but it has a great power to affect the way we see and understand the world. In this sense, we want to discover which are the best humour practices to promote democratic values.”
In addition to a better understanding of the role of humour in democracies, DELIAH will also develop evidence-based approaches to humour-related controversies. It will work with social media companies to develop more effective policies for the adjudication of humorous expression, with activists and civil society to develop effective counter-speech strategies, with schools and other organisations to develop educational programs and with different levels of public administration to formulate better policies.
“The research being conducted by the DELIAH team could not come at a better moment,” says DELIAH project coordinator Prof. Dr. Andrew Bricker of Ghent University. “We are addressing both sides of humour: the way humor contributes to democracy and public debate and the way humour sometimes harms European democratic participation by eroding trust, spreading disinformation, and undermining democratic values.”
DELIAH is made up of researchers divided into work packages from Ghent University (Belgium), the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), the Comenius University Bratislava (Slovakia), University of the Basque Country (Spain), University of Göttingen (Germany), University of Tartu (Estonia), and Cartoon Movement (The Netherlands).
DELIAH has two sister projects that are also funded by Horizon Europe. All three research projects were funded through a call for proposals focused on Culture, the arts and cultural spaces for democratic participation and political expression, online and offline.
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