Dr. Ellie Fitts Fulmer (Ithaca College, Education Department) and Dr. Alesha Gayle (University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education) presented a paper at the Literacy Research Association’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Their paper, titled “LOL? Racial Literacy Through Humor in Teacher Education” explores using racial comedy media in teacher education, using literacy as a lens for understanding more about this practice. Specifically, Fulmer and Gayle focused on students’ hesitation to laugh as an avenue for zeroing in on, and expanding, their racial literacy.
Drawing upon Howard Stevenson’s (2014) work on racial literacy, and building on Fulmer’s work with Dr. Nia Michelle Nunn (Ithaca College, Education Department) (Fulmer & Makepeace, 2015), Drs. Fulmer and Gayle articulate a new theory of racial comedy as a tool for working towards teachers’ knowledges about discussing race. There are clearly risks and benefits to this practice. As such, Fulmer’s and Gayle’s theory centers on unpacking students’ hesitation to laugh at racial comedy media, which the pair argues is a source of fruitful self-exploration and racial learning, stemming largely from uneasiness around racial conflict.
Speech Pathology & Audiology student Stephanie Graziano (’17) helped with a literature review for this manuscript.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20161206124332569