Transgressive Humor in the Critical Literacy Classroom

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Youths' Critical Literacies in and Beyond Classrooms: Exploring Race, Censorship, and Transgressive Humor (Table 20)

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between teacher-initiated critical literacy lessons and students’ critical joking practices. The goal is to explore how teachers and students negotiate understandings of transgressive humor and progressive social critique vis-à-vis the critical literacy curriculum. This work demonstrates: 1) the productive and subversive power of humor in ELA classroom settings, 2) the chasm between social critique and academic appropriateness that punching up illuminates, 3) the need for teachers and researchers to consider the function of transgressive humor in critical literacy contexts, and 4) the need for educators and administrators to acknowledge the destructive role of punching down and to develop better strategies for responding to oppressive humor at a structural/institutional level.

Author

• David E. Low, California State University - Fresno