Humor is a significant tool that is used in most societies to promote social cohesion and teach the social norms of a community. Humor can manage groups' identity boundaries, group affiliations, construct the public memory and reproduce ideology (Fulmer & Nia 40). American comedies, for instance, are used in the acculturation of the various races thus delivering identification and exclusion teachings. Comedy has been used as the major of humor. Most comedians often make humor about race which can sometimes act as an oppressive weapon while to others it maintains their dominant status quo. Racist humor takes part in the public pedagogy of domination which reproduces racial hierarchies and divisions and dehumanizes those who are referred to the “others” while sustaining the privilege of those given the superior position (Rossing 11).
Comedians use racial comedy to point out the inequalities that exists in the existing ideals of justice, equality, and freedom as well as the discrimination that exists between races. Comedians from the marginalized population use humor as a way to encourage their community and nurture the optimism of a better change. On the other hand, the superior population uses humor to show how inferior the “others” are hence giving a reason why they should be looked down upon (Fulmer & Nia 42). Racial humor is likely to affect an individual, especially when in a mixed population, for instance, few African-Americans in a group of whites. This makes humor about race to be oppressive and promoting racist hegemony. In the context of racial humor, other individuals feel that it helps in the promotion of social change (Rossing 15). This is because jokes should not be taken seriously. Thus they should not offend the recipient.
Some of the research questions that will help in this study include:
1. What is the role of humor in promoting racism?
2. What are the elements of humor that promote racism?
3. How can humor be used to end racism?
To investigate the role of comedy in the promotion of racism, focus groups will be conducted. This method will be appropriate because focus groups closely mimic the setting in which comedy takes place. Besides, focus groups create room for a more natural flow of conversation, especially when discussing sensitive issues. The focus groups will comprise of black and white participants.
Works Cited
Fulmer, Ellie Fitts, and Nia Nunn Makepeace. "" It's Okay to Laugh, Right?": Toward a Pedagogy of Racial Comedy in Multicultural Education." Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education 12.1 (2015): 38-53.
Rossing, Jonathan P. "Emancipatory racial humor as critical public pedagogy: Subverting hegemonic racism." Communication, Culture & Critique 9.4 (2015): 4-19.
