Humour and Politics in Africa: Beyond Resistance - Hardcover

by Daniel Hammett (Author), Laura S. Martin (Author), Izuu Nwankwọ (Author)

Analyses of humour often focus primarily on the Global North, with little consideration for examples and practices from elsewhere. This book provides a vital contribution to humour theory by developing a Global South perspective.

Taking a wide-ranging view across the whole of the continent, the book examines the relationship between humour and politics in Africa. It considers the context of the production and reception of humour in African contexts and argues that humour is more than just symbolic. Moving beyond the idea of humour as a mode of resistance, the book investigates the 'political work' that humour does and explores the complex entanglements in which the politics, practices and performances of humour are located.

Author Biography

Daniel Hammett is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield, UK, and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Laura S. Martin is Assistant Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham, and a research affiliate and advisor at the University of Makeni (UNIMAK), Makeni, Sierra Leone.

Izuu Nwankwọ is Research Fellow with the project CEDITRAA in the Department of Anthropology and African Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.