US Foreign Policy during the Presidency of Trump: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Selected Political Cartoons in Al-Ahram Weekly

Abstract

The present study investigates how US foreign policy during the presidency of Donald Trump is represented in the Egyptian political cartoons published in Al-Ahram Weekly Newspaper in Egypt. Political cartoons represent an influential means of expression as they use an accessible means of visual communication and represent current political events in an ideologically shaped way. They are multilayered, with a variety of verbal and non-verbal elements, and they use humor to express the viewpoints in a light manner and avoid censorship. This study analyzes a corpus of twenty cartoons published in Al-Ahram weekly newspaper from January through December 2018. Based on a multimodal discourse analysis, the study finds that political cartoons reflect major global political issues as well as people’s reactions towards them. This is achieved by using various means such as represented participants, objects and settings. It is recommended that further studies tracking political cartoons under different circumstances be applied.