Week 4: The topic of this week was Classifying Difference, specifically race and sex/gender. I hadn't established ground rules or a learning contract with the students yet so I decided that this week would be a good time to do this, partially as a way to mitigate potentially problematic comments. I explained the usual points, such as respect (as pointed out by one of the students) and "I" statements. But I knew I wanted to really qualify the meaning of "respect."
One of the things I emphasized was that we need to pay careful attention to humour, that what we find funny is highly political. I asked the students, "What do we find funny?" After a brief moment of silence, one student answered, "A dog on a skateboard." Giggles from class. I asked, "Why is that funny?" Quiet. The same student mumbled something about a dog doesn't go on a skateboard normally. More giggles.
I took it up at this point and pointed out how a lot of humour is based on transgressing or pushing against boundaries of normality. So the image of a dog on a skateboard is funny because it blurs the boundary between human and dog. Dogs are supposed to be a certain way and not a certain way, i.e. human-like. Similarly, there are many different types of boundaries that can be crossed that could culturally register as humorous.
I decided on addressing politics of humour on a whim but I realized it's a great way to bridge discrimination at a conceptual level and at a practical level by engaging in how it manifests itself in everyday life.
Sometimes students are quite brilliant at coming up with the right examples, often without realizing it. It was a close one because I sure didn't have an example of something humorous! Dog on skateboard. I'm tucking that one away for future use.
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