Political Cartoons in a Model African State: A Case Study of Botswana Newspapers

Abstract

Cartoonists' stock-in-trade has been to lampoon the excesses and moral foibles of political power holders. Cartoonists have been most unkind to misrule, abuse of power, and authoritarianism. The overarching aim of this study was to find out if cartoonists would be gentle and kind to Botswana political figures seeing that they preside over a state which had been held up as beacon of hope and a model of good governance. Cartoonists employed Eko's transilience to animalize African leaders for satirical purposes deterritorialization to remove them from familiar territories for ethical criticisms. This chapter examines the themes and direction of the cartoons, the study's findings indicate that Botswana newspaper cartoonists largely engage in deterritorialization more than transilience. However, the global trend of irreverence and negative portrayal of politicians persists.