So what do 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Michael Richards debacle, and the election of Barak Obama all have in common? They are all momentous events in our country that can be understood by the metric of race? They each constitute seismic shifts in the telling of what it means to be black in the US?? They each possess contested narratives negotiated by various racial groups??? Yes, but what they also all have in common is that they all provide great material for comedic routines! (Say what?) For this session, linguistic anthropologist Lanita Jacobs will show us how humor functions as political language and as a linguistic mediator of African American culture and identity. Jacobs researches humor as a revelatory space where Black comics can talk about painful events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and celebratory events such as the election of Obama through empowered racial positioning and experience. Professor Jacobs brilliantly and polymathically, through her study of Black comedy, will decenter us, reorient us, and reveal to us whole new ways to hear a joke. This session will be a serious hoot.
Oct
25
2016
When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza
Where: Harman Academy
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza
Event Details
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