AFRAMER 112. Black Humor: Performance, Art, and Literature

Instructor: Glenda Carpio
Monday , 3:00-5:00 pm | Location: Barker 230

This course explores the cultural richness of African American humor through analyses of stand-up, drama, comic strips, and narrative fiction. We will thus examine questions of genre: how does the aesthetic form shape the content and impact of humor? What are the limits and possibilities of particular genres? Although we will engage with the history of African American humor, our approach will not be historical. Rather, we will begin by exploring theories of humor in general and then examine expressions of African American humor topically. That is, we will explore how black humor has been mobilized to address major topics in African American history and culture: 1) slavery, and Jim Crow segregation, 2) race and identity—passing; mixed-race; “post-race” 3) class and gender in relation to race. Writers include Charles Chesnutt, Zora Neale Hurston, Fran Ross, Paul Beatty, Suzan Lori-Parks, Aaron McGruder with a special focus on Ishmael Reed.