Inhabiting Whiteness, Defying Colorblindness: Race, Humor, and Post-racial Critique on YouTube

• In Event: 282 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 01. Race, Gender, and Media

Abstract

American comedians have long made the controversial topic of “race” into a joke, reflecting and challenging prevailing racial politics. Since there is a cultural notion that the U.S. is in a post-racial era, there is a particularly timely academic space to be filled that analyzes the meanings and possibilities of race humor content in the digital age. I provide a detailed comparative content analysis of the Buzzfeed YouTube viral video series “If [minority group] said the stuff white people say”. I examine the race humor that defies post-racial logic in each of the three viral videos (Black, Latino, and Asian), and employ critical discourse analysis to explain the most “liked” comments of each video. What do these videos suggest about contemporary understandings of race relations that is specific to this historical moment? What can the comparative popularity of such videos inform researchers about the efficacy of humor as a vehicle for racial discourse? I argue that the video series offers new insights on post-racial discourse: it reflects a defiance and re-articulation of racial literacy digitally, and mediates cross-racial relationships. The popularity of these videos suggests that embodying the position of racial power (whites) and innovating humor from microaggressions is effective in garnering views. The findings contextualize the meanings produced in each of the videos regarding particular stereotypes and microaggressions, in relation to the current racial moment and offer new understandings of race humor’s digital impact.

Author

• Sonita Moss, University of Pennsylvania