An existentialist account of the role of humor against oppression
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Chris A. Kramer
Chris A. Kramer received his M.A., focusing on the philosophy of the mind and consciousness, from San Diego State University. In San Diego, he supplemented his income by playing in a rock band – he was not well paid. He then taught at Rock Valley College, in Rockford, Illinois, and is currently pursuing a PhD at Marquette University, where he is studying the intersections between humor, oppression, philosophy of mind, existentialism, and phenomenology. He also enjoys studying his two-year-old son Milo, and his response to incongruities in his environment: usually, Milo laughs.
Abstract
I argue that the overt subjugation in the system of American slavery and its subsequent effects offer a case study for an existentialist analysis of freedom, oppression and humor. Concentrating on the writings and experiences of Frederick Douglass and the existentialists Simone De Beauvoir and Lewis Gordon, I investigate how the concepts of “spirit of seriousness”, “mystification”, and an existentialist reading of “double consciousness” for example, can elucidate the forms of explicit and concealed oppression. I then make the case that subversive humor is an effective means to bring to consciousness the inconsistencies and incongruities of the serious oppressors. I also illustrate how humor can act as a bulwark against the rise and persistence of oppression by (non-violently) attacking the absolutist stance on human nature maintained through the use of dominating and “authoritative” language and action.
About the author
Chris A. Kramer received his M.A., focusing on the philosophy of the mind and consciousness, from San Diego State University. In San Diego, he supplemented his income by playing in a rock band – he was not well paid. He then taught at Rock Valley College, in Rockford, Illinois, and is currently pursuing a PhD at Marquette University, where he is studying the intersections between humor, oppression, philosophy of mind, existentialism, and phenomenology. He also enjoys studying his two-year-old son Milo, and his response to incongruities in his environment: usually, Milo laughs.
©[2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- Joking in the face of death: A terror management approach to humor production
- Getting dirty with humor: Co-constructing workplace identities through performative scripts
- The sacred comedy: The problems and possibilities of Peter Berger's Theory of Humor
- Affinity for political humor: An assessment of internal factor structure, reliability, and validity
- How adaptive and maladaptive humor influence well-being at work: A diary study
- Humor styles, risk perceptions, and risky behavioral choices in college students
- The impact of gelotophobia, gelotophilia and katagelasticism on creativity
- An existentialist account of the role of humor against oppression
- >Book review
- Book review
- Book review
- Book review
- Book review
- Book review
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Joking in the face of death: A terror management approach to humor production
- Getting dirty with humor: Co-constructing workplace identities through performative scripts
- The sacred comedy: The problems and possibilities of Peter Berger's Theory of Humor
- Affinity for political humor: An assessment of internal factor structure, reliability, and validity
- How adaptive and maladaptive humor influence well-being at work: A diary study
- Humor styles, risk perceptions, and risky behavioral choices in college students
- The impact of gelotophobia, gelotophilia and katagelasticism on creativity
- An existentialist account of the role of humor against oppression
- >Book review
- Book review
- Book review
- Book review
- Book review
- Book review
