Bibliogr. s. 41-44

The increasing polarization in European nations and in European politics as well as debates on the limits of freedom of expression have been the stimuli to develop a project entitled “Humor in the European public sphere: Fostering societal debate about contested expression in a globalizing world”, which was funded in 2021 by the consortium of major European universities, including Catholic University of Leuven, University of Bologna and the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. As part of the project, the international team of researchers from across the European Union have presented how humor (largely visual) has been used in public by politicians, journalists and other members of the public in different European countries, frequently causing or responding to what has been called humorous controversies or scandals. On the website humorinpublic.eu, 24 short contributions are presented in an attempt to explain the humor across the borders of language and culture in a way that they will be understandable and interesting not just for scholars but also for the general public. Specifically, each contribution is divided into three sections (1) what do we see? (the content that perhaps would not all be noticed by readers from outside the culture) (2) what public issue is addressed?, and (3) what does humor do? Each contribution is also tagged with three kinds of keywords – (1) humor form/genre, (2) humor mechanisms, and (3) themes. The website also comprises a glossary with the key terms in humor studies, including humor mechanisms, explained to the interested readers in relatively simple terms. The website is set to develop and turn into a major vehicle of commenting on the growing number of humor scandals across Europe, although due to increasing globalization, it does not avoid references to global controversies either. Its general aim is to foster an understanding of the multifarious nature of humor.