Humor in the collectivist Arab Middle East: The case of Lebanon

Abstract

The Lebanese people are lovers of the social and the humorous, and the soul of their humor is manifest in their social gatherings, tales, civil and religious celebrations, songs, jokes, literature, theatre, cartoons, and spontaneous wit. In the present article, humor, Arabic (fukaha), in the collectivist Lebanese culture is discussed with particular focus on comparisons with Western humor scholarship. The discussion is illustrative rather than exhaustive and is informed by Western contemporary humor theories regarding conceptualization of humor and its varied forms and functions. In addition to providing Arabic humor terminology and English equivalents, culture-universals (mass media, rhetors humor, jokes, wit and accidental humor) and culture-bound (zajal and Zalghouta) humor in the Lebanese context are described. Finally, the psychological and social functions of Lebanese humor are identified, as are gaps in research and the need for a science-driven agenda for cross-cultural humor scholarship involving Arab Middle Eastern and EuroAmerican humor scholars.