Humour, comedy and laughter : obscenities, paradoxes, insights and the renewal of life / edited by Lidia Dina Sciama.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sciama, Lidia D., editor, contributor.

Series:

Social identities ; v. 8.

Social identities ; volume 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wit and humor--Social aspects--Cross-cultural studies.

Wit and humor.

Comedy.

Wit and humor--Social aspects.

Genre:

Cross-cultural studies.

Physical Description:

viii, 209 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Humor, comedy and laughter

Place of Publication:

New York : Berghahn Books, 2016.

Summary:

Anthropological writings on humour 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 humour 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 humour far outweigh the danger of deepening divisions and fuelling hostilities. Book jacket.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780857450746

0857450743

OCLC:

909317865

Publisher Number:

99968121085