Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Humor in Native North American Literature and Culture: Survey
- 2 Reimagining Nativeness through Humor: Concepts and Terms
- 3 Expressing Humor in Contemporary Native Writing: Forms
- 4 Humor at Work in Contemporary Native Writing: Issues and Effects
- Conclusion
- Appendix: The State of Research on Humor in Native Writing
- Works Cited
- Index
4 - Humor at Work in Contemporary Native Writing: Issues and Effects
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Humor in Native North American Literature and Culture: Survey
- 2 Reimagining Nativeness through Humor: Concepts and Terms
- 3 Expressing Humor in Contemporary Native Writing: Forms
- 4 Humor at Work in Contemporary Native Writing: Issues and Effects
- Conclusion
- Appendix: The State of Research on Humor in Native Writing
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
BASED ON THE THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS of identity and humor in chapter two, this analysis focuses on the major thematic and functional foci of humor in contemporary Native writing. While the unifying idea of reimagining Nativeness through humor runs through the entire chapter, the thematic range covered by humor in contemporary Native texts is far from homogeneous. Accordingly, rather than following a strict analytical pattern, the discussion has to accommodate the respective context. Humor is, after all, both a reaction to and a form of interaction in specific situations. Parameters for the analyses may include: the raw material or occasion that triggers the humor; the historical and cultural background the humor originates from and situates itself against; the motivation for the use of humor instead of other responses in that particular situation; the ends humor is put to; the participants in the humorous interaction; and the envisioned audience. The degree to which these parameters play a role in the various sections differs. Therefore, it may be useful to take an initial encompassing look at the chapter as a whole before starting in on the specifics of each of the functions by themselves. Mapping the thematic and functional terrain covered below, one can detect a gradual development: At the beginning stand issues mainly arising from and directed at Native-White interaction, that is, humor targeting externally imposed definitions of Nativeness in a deconstructive/critical way and addressing mainly Euro-American readers; towards the end of the chapter, humor is more concerned with intracultural Native issues, engaging in a renegotiation of Nativeness in a reconstructive/reconfirming or healing way and addressing mainly Native readers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Humor in Contemporary Native North American LiteratureReimagining Nativeness, pp. 116 - 223Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008