Humour, Comedy and Laughter: Obscenities, Paradoxes, Insights and the Renewal of Life (Social Identities Book 8)

Anthropological writings on humor are not very numerous or extensive, but they do contain a great deal of insight into the diverse mental and social processes that underlie joking and laughter. On the basis of a wide range of ethnographic and textual materials, the chapters examine the cognitive, social, and moral aspects of humor and its potential to bring about a sense of amity and mutual understanding, even among different and possibly hostile people. Unfortunately, though, cartoons, jokes, and parodies can cause irremediable distress and offence. Nevertheless, contributors' cross-cultural evidence confirms that the positive aspects of humor far outweigh the danger of deepening divisions and fueling hostilities.. Introduction / Lidia Dina Sciama -- The Origins Of Comic Performance In Adult-child Interaction / Ian Wilkie And Matthew Saxton -- Learning From The Ludic : Anthropological Fieldwork / Judith Okely -- Humour As A Form Of Cognition / Elisabeth Hsu -- Comic Strips And The Making Of American Identity / Ian Rakoff -- Jokes Without Frontiers, War Without Tears : Humour, Stress And Power In An Anglo-german Bank Branch / Fiona Moore -- Laughing At The Future : Cross-cultural Science Fiction Films / Dolores Martinez -- Male Dames And Female Boys : Cross Dressing In The English Pantomime / Shirley Ardener -- The Function Of Satire In Italian Popular Song / Glauco Sanga -- Laughing At The Past Among Venetian Islanders : Carlo Goldoni's Scuffles In Chioggia / Lidia Dina Sciama. Edited By Lidia Dina Sciama. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction 1Lidia Dina Sciama 1. The Origins of Comic Performance in Adult-Child Interaction • Ian Wilkie and Matthew Saxton 2. Learning from the Ludic: Anthropological Fieldwork • Judith Okely 3. Humour as a Mode of Cognition • Elisabeth Hsu 4. Comic Strips and the Makings of American Identity • Ian Rakoff 5. Jokes without Frontiers, War without Tears: Humour, Stress and Power in an Anglo-German Bank Branch • Fiona Moore 6. Laughing at the Future: Cross-Cultural Science Fiction Films • Dolores P. Martinez 7. The English Christmas Pantomime: Toying with History, Playing with Gender, Laughing at Today • Shirley Ardener 8. The Function of Satire in Italian Popular Song • Glauco Sanga 9. Laughing at the Past among Venetian Islanders: Carlo Goldoni’s Scuffles in Chioggia • Lidia Dina Sciama Index Anthropological writings on humour are not numerous, but they do contain insight into the social processes that underlie joking and laughter. This volume examines the cognitive, social, and moral aspects of humour and its potential to bring about a sense of mutual understanding, even among different and possibly hostile people.