Humour, Comedy and Laughter (Paperback)

Lidia Dina Sciama

ISBN 10: 1789200709 / ISBN 13: 9781789200706

Published by Berghahn Books, Oxford, 2018

About this Item

Paperback. 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 An examination of the cognitive, social, and moral aspects of humour and its potential to bring about a sense of amity and mutual understanding, even among different and possibly hostile people. Describes how the positive aspects of humour far outweigh the danger of deepening divisions and fuelling hostilities. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781789200706

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Humour, Comedy and Laughter (Paperback)
• Publisher: Berghahn Books, Oxford
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1789200709
• ISBN 13: 9781789200706
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

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

About the Author

Lidia Dina Sciama (1932-2024) was former Director of the International Gender Studies Centre (formerly the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women), University of Oxford, where she was a Research Associate. Her publications include A Venetian Island: Environment, History and Change in Burano (Berghahn 2003).