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Apr 25, 2024
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ANTH 188 - Special Topics: Humor and CultureSemester Hours: 3
Humor is a fundamental form of creative human communication and expressive culture that anthropologists have encountered in diverse cultures globally. This ethnographic research provides this course’s focus on varied forms of humor cross culturally—from joking behavior and verbal dueling to mythological characters and stories to “ritual play” and performance, including contemporary sitcoms. To examine the roles of humor in the lives of people, particular attention is given to the specific context of a culture in order to explain how the humor affects people’s lives and its meanings to them. Humor’s communicative and expressive functions are explored in examining a range of topics from politics and resistance to class, race, and gender to values and religious belief. Students will undertake projects on humor in the United States or another culture of their choice. The course focus will be on humor traditions among Native Americans (Apache), Africa, and Japan; additional examples will be added.
Prerequisites & Course Notes:
Open to students who have completed at least 6 semester hours in anthropology and/or related social sciences. May be repeated when topics vary.
January 2008 Offering:
10105: M-Th, 9 a.m.-12:45 p.m.; Taylor; 101 Davison
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