Humour, Comedy And Laughter: Obscenities, Paradoxes, Insights And The Renewal Of Life (Social Identities, 8)

Anthropological writings on humor are not very numerous or extensive, but they do contain a great deal of insight into the diverse mental and social processes that underlie joking and laughter. On the basis of a wide range of ethnographic and textual materials, the chapters examine the cognitive, social, and moral aspects of humor and its potential to bring about a sense of amity and mutual understanding, even among different and possibly hostile people. Unfortunately, though, cartoons, jokes, and parodies can cause irremediable distress and offence. Nevertheless, contributors' cross-cultural evidence confirms that the positive aspects of humor far outweigh the danger of deepening divisions and fueling hostilities

• | Author: Lidia Dina Sciama
• | Publisher: Berghahn Books
• | Publication Date: Apr 01, 2016
• | Number of Pages: 220 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover/Social Science
• | ISBN-10: 0857450743
• | ISBN-13: 9780857450746