“If you control the media, you control the people”: Kids say the funniest things.
- Ama Muotoh
- Jun 29
- 1 min read
Updated: Jun 30
Can Humour Disrupt the "Shock Doctrine"?
How do we reclaim our agency in a world that thrives on crisis? My latest work, Echoes of the Shock Doctrine: Comedy, Colonialism, and Control, explores the unsettling interplay between power, trauma, and the creative "pauses" that allow us to fight back.
Drawing on Naomi Klein’s theories of disaster capitalism and the revolutionary legacy of Fela Kuti, this dissertation navigates through the censored histories of Nigeria, the "rage bait" of modern digital algorithms, and the profound, often humorous insights of children.
By examining how "shocks" are used to manufacture compliance, I explore how satire, surrealism, and storytelling act as vital disruptors to systems of control.
This is an invitation to look at collective trauma not as a finality, but as something that can be "unloaded" to reclaim our national and personal identities.
[Click below to download and read the full dissertation]
A wonderfully written piece that covers how colonial rule has structurally dismantled the identity of most Africans. From mental slavery, to tragicomedy becoming engraved in the minds of Nigerians as a coping mechanism, fallen “heroes” whose acts seemed to have been in vain, to megalomanic institutions & companies “aiding & regulating” the “growth” of these so called “independent” African nations. A great wake up call to realize that a deeper & darker history has been left begging to be dug out within Nigeria (and Africa) beyond the distractions — tragicomic skits & SM posts, cultural attires & ceremonies, traditional foods, parties (Detty December) etc. — and choosing to remain mentally & institutionally enslaved by finding comfort in little frivolities no…