Caricature as political rhetoric against authoritarianism in Equatorial Guinea: A semiotic perspective

Abstract

Like many other sub-Saharan African countries, Equatorial Guinea has, for many decades, been chafing under an authoritarian system of government. Partly characterized by rigged elections, farcical political pluralism, human rights violations and the like, this undemocratic system has fueled a mitigated social discourse in Equatorial Guinea. A number of local opposition leaders, pressure groups, adversarial journalists, cartoonists and social critics have, in various ways, sought to denounce the aforementioned authoritarianism, sometimes using an aggressive rhetoric that has often provoked the raft of the Malabo government. Although a good number of researchers have focused on the aforementioned oppositional and adversarial tendency, scholarly attention has mainly been confined to the political, sociological, historical, and anthropological dimensions of the phenomenon. The socio-linguistic dimension of this adversarial and oppositional tendency has remained glaringly understudied. To fill this gap, the present study examines how political cartooning has represented authoritarianism in Equatorial Guinea. Specifically, the study provides a semiotic analysis of selected editorial cartoons penned by dissident authors to criticize the authoritarian government of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Findings reveal two things: first, Equatoguinean cartoons penned by anti-government authors deploy indexes, symbols, double entendre, captivating metaphors and anchors, to associate Obiang’s presidency with such vices as corruption, political failure, xenophobia and political brutality among others. Second, any reader must consider various idiosyncrasies and principles of iconography to understand anti-Obiang political cartoons.