Humor as Social Critique: Widening the African Perspective

(Hardback)

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This interdisciplinary collection by Jennalee Donian and Andrea Hurst brings together insights from various humanities disciplines to examine humors role in navigating complex political, cultural, and personal landscapes.

Humor as Social Critique: Widening the African Perspective explores how humor functions as a powerful tool for social critique in the African context. Part I delves into humor's relationship with political critique, analyzing how comedians, writers, and artists use humor to resist oppressive power structures and foster dialogue. Part II examines humors potential for socio-cultural critique, exploring how it reflects and shapes cultural norms, identities, and power dynamics. Part III investigates the role of humor in self-critique, highlighting its therapeutic potential and ability to promote humility and self-awareness. By centering African perspectives while engaging with global voices, Humor as Social Critique challenges the notion that humor is a uniquely localized phenomenon. Instead, it celebrates humors ability to transcend geographical and cultural boundaries, enriching the tapestry of human experience. This book offers valuable insights for scholars and readers interested in the intersections of humor, culture, and social justice.

Reviews

"This volume breaks ground in its contribution to humor studies, African studies, and the study of social critique. From the realm of political satire to alternative therapy, Jennalee Donian and Andrea Hurst present humor as deeply transformative, generating profound insight into ethical, cultural, and political problems, by introducing us to Africas complex social landscapes. Everyday life comes alive through the interesting insights, the unusual perspectives, and the myriad ways in which the powers of humor are shown by the contributors of this very readable and pleasurable collection." * Lydia Amir, Professor of Philosophy, Tufts University, US *
This book is an insightful contribution to the growing corpus of studies on humor in Africa, which is known for its diverse, geographical, and disciplinary perspectives. Donian and Hursts painstaking efforts in collecting this wide range of essays on different forms of humor confirm Africas cultural heterogeneity in humor production, consumption, and dissemination. This book is a must read for those interested in learning about humor practices and understanding. The editors have curated a work that caters to the need for information, education, knowledge, and more importantly, humor, making this work enriching and rewarding for all readers. * Izuu Nwankwo, Assistant Professor of Drama, Theatre, and Performance, University of Toronto, CA *

Author Bio

Jennalee Donian is NIHSS-ISCIA post-doctoral fellow at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.
Andrea Hurstis professor of philosophy at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.