Hodja Fools Them All: Middle Eastern Folk Humor and the Cultural Cold War

• In Event: Minor Genres in Circulation: Cultural Flows and Friction in the Late American Empire

Abstract

This paper explores how both the U.S. State Department and the Soviet Union utilized Muslim folk humor, specifically the Nasreddin Hodja stories, as ideological tools during the Cold War. In the US-made puppet shows exported to Muslim-majority countries, Nasreddin Hodja’s puppet promoted joining forces against Communism. These shows depicted a negative young character with socialist sympathies to symbolize the perceived threat of "brutish" masculinity and rebellion; in contrast, Hodja represented Islamic tradition, moderation, and quietism. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, employed Nasreddin Hodja as a symbol of anti-traditionalism, using the character to critique religion, class inequality, and gendered oppression in its propaganda across Muslim-majority regions. Soviet films, such as Nasreddin v Hodzente (1959), reimagined Hodja as a progressive reformer advocating for women’s rights and social justice, with the character’s unveiled wife serving as a model of modern womanhood. As a wise fool and folk trickster, the Hodja of the oral traditions could clash with either ideological vision. This analysis highlights how both superpowers used the family unit and gender ideals as central motifs in their respective propaganda campaigns, reflecting divergent visions of progress that did not always align with local realities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Author

• Perin Gurel, University of Notre Dame