Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach

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Main Author: Tambawoga C. Muchena
Other Authors: Department of African Languages and Culture Midlands State University
Format: book part
Language:English
Published: Langaa RPCIG 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5461
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1rcf2cz.10
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author Tambawoga C. Muchena
author2 Department of African Languages and Culture Midlands State University
author_facet Department of African Languages and Culture Midlands State University
Tambawoga C. Muchena
author_sort Tambawoga C. Muchena
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description Abstract
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spelling ir-11408-54612023-03-22T15:14:50Z Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach Tambawoga C. Muchena Department of African Languages and Culture Midlands State University COVID-19 cartoons genre multimodal semiotic textual analysis Abstract 129 Chapter 6 Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach Tambawoga C. Muchena Abstract Having first been detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus (henceforth COVID-19) quickly spread across the world leaving a trail of destruction on people’s lives and sending social and economic shock waves. The rapid spread and the devastating effects of this respiratory disease resulted in the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring it a pandemic in March 2020. Zimbabwe has not been spared by this global pandemic as the virus continues to affect and infect its citizens instilling fear and shock amongst the populace. As the virus continues to spread, media has taken a leading communicative role in spreading news concerning the disease through its multi-modal tools at its disposal. Through the newspapers’ use of language resources to attract public attention and interest by the media, journalists, especially cartoonists, harness both linguistic and non-linguistic elements ingeniously and persuasively to create effect in a literary or dramatic passion and to evoke a particular response from readers (Sani, Abdullah, Abdullah and Ali, 2012). Newspaper cartoons have successfully constituted a distinct multimodal genre that parades graphic art and text whose use is to provide specific knowledge on contemporary issues. Through a qualitative multimodal analysis, this chapter focused on the analysis of purposively selected 13 newspaper cartoons carrying COVID-19 themes published in the Chronicle between March and May 2020. Taking a semiotic and textual analyses approach, the study envisaged that the editorial cartoon is a powerful weapon for communicating important news and the Chronicle used this genre extensively in following up with the themes that were introduced through the Zimbabwean government’s policies enacted to fight the deadly virus – COVID-19. 129 152 2023-03-22T15:14:49Z 2023-03-22T15:14:49Z 2021-05 book part https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5461 https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1rcf2cz.10 en COVID-19 Manifestation, Ramifications and Future Prospects for Zimbabwe: A Multi-disciplinary Perspective 9789956552122 open Langaa RPCIG
spellingShingle COVID-19
cartoons
genre
multimodal
semiotic
textual analysis
Tambawoga C. Muchena
Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach
title Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach
title_full Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach
title_fullStr Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach
title_full_unstemmed Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach
title_short Of COVID-19 and Zimbabwean Newspaper Cartoons: A Multimodal Approach
title_sort of covid-19 and zimbabwean newspaper cartoons: a multimodal approach
topic COVID-19
cartoons
genre
multimodal
semiotic
textual analysis
url https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5461
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1rcf2cz.10
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