It's a political jungle out there: How four African newspaper cartoons dehumanized and 'deterritorialized' African political leaders in the post-cold war era

This article analyses cartoon images of African political leaders published in three African satirical newspapers: Le Cafard libéré (The Liberated Cockroach) of Senegal, Le Messager Popoli (Popoli Messenger) of Cameroon and Le Marabout (The Marabou) of Burkina Faso, and one 'traditional newspaper', The Daily Nation of Nairobi, Kenya, during the post-Cold War period (1995-2004). The cartoons used transilience, the African narrative device whereby human beings are given animal attributes for purposes of satire, and 'deterritorialization', whereby they are symbolically taken out of their natural 'territories' in order to denounce the excesses of authoritarianism. Transilience and deterritorialization are counter-discourses that present the idea that authoritarianism is animalistic and self-destructive.