Satire, racist humour and the power of (un)laughter: On the restrained nature of Swedish online racist discourse targeting EU-migrants begging for money

Online racist discourse, in contrast to offline varieties, is often assumed to be emotionally unrestrained due to the anonymity of online settings. Taking an affective–discursive practice approach, this study challenges that assumption by analysing online racist satire and other forms of racist humour targeting European Union (EU)-migrants begging for money, as well as responses evoked by such humorous attempts, appearing in two discussion threads on the Swedish website Flashback. A discourse analysis is conducted, drawing on insights from theories of satirical discursive practice, critical approaches to humour and the sociology of emotions. The results show that online racism may be articulated in subtle and restrained as well as more explicit ways through different humorous techniques. Furthermore, laughing and unlaughing responses to satire and other forms of humour reveal an online racist affective–discursive order in the making, which demands clarity in articulating racist messages. This points to online racism’s restrained nature.