What's the difference between the comedy of Dave Chapelle and Tosh.O? Do you ever wonder why some racial comedy is "okay" while other racial comedy is, well, just plain offensive?
This independent study offers students the opportunity to view, discuss, and analyze popular racial comedy media. For example, we'll watch a music video spoof called "Typecast" based on a popular Lorde song; the stand up comedy of Louis C.K., Aamer Rahman, and Chris Rock; and news satire such as The Daily Show.
In collaboration with Ithaca College Professors of Education, Dr. Ellie Fitts Fulmer and Dr. Nia Makepeace, students will seek to understand the use of racial comedy in critical, anti-racist educational settings. Our research explores the intersections of comedy and race, as they pertain to the potential for a multicultural education pedagogy. Students who are interested in rhetoric, media, comedy, and education are welcome to join. This study is not only for future teachers, but for those interested in education more broadly.
Some background on this work:
Comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Eddie Murphy, and John Stewart offer examples of the comedic world “calling attention to the troubles of racial culture” (Rossing, 2011, p. 423) vis-à-vis jolting the public into productive conversations that may lead to “racial epiphanies” (Fulmer, 2012). We argue that comedy has the ability to vitalize important discourse about multicultural issues in a post-secondary setting. Particularly, we have seen evidence that racial humor can serve to dismantle racist thinking, particularly in the context of our own courses here at IC.
We invite up to 6 interested undergraduate students in their sophomore, junior, or senior years to join us for a one-to-three-credit independent study for the Fall 2014 semester. During semi-weekly (every other week) meetings lasting 1.5 hours, we will watch racial comedy media, document our reactions to the media, and discuss relevant scholarship on racialized humor.
For more information, contact Dr. Ellie Fitts Fulmer (efulmer@ithaca.edu), or Dr. Nia Makepeace (nmakepeace@ithaca.edu).
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Ellie Fulmer at efulmer@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1342. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20140903110056485