Talking about humour, racism, and anti-racism in class: A critical literacy proposal

Abstract

The goal of this study is to argue that humour as an entertaining and funny way of perceiving and discursively constructing social affairs is most useful and appropriate in literacy courses, because it could sensitise students to how and why people produce humour as well as to its potentially aggressive and deprecating functions. More specifically, a critical literacy approach to teaching about humour is proposed, focusing on material where ‘anti-racist’ humour is employed to undermine racist ideologies, but occasionally ends up supporting them. Some tentative teaching activities are put forward, which could help students detect humorous and racist ambiguities. Finally, potential objections and reservations concerning teaching about humour, racism, and anti-racism within a critical literacy framework are briefly addressed.