‘Have we lost our sense of humour?!’ Affective senses of racial joking in Danish schools 

Posing the rhetorical question ‘Have we lost our sense of humour?’ in the presentation I explore sensory experiences of humour, showing how senses of humour are both affective corporeal experiences – such as laughter – and an affective relational flow between and among bodies.

Drawing on interview material gathered in culturally diverse schools in Denmark, I analyze how students negotiate the use of racial humour with particular focus on tonalities of humour and the affective stakes involved in laughter and unlaughter. I argue that affect theory can help bridge a gap in the literature on humour, which either reduces humour to bodily, mental and cognitive predispositions, or to social and cultural functions. At the end of the presentation, I address the role of humour in education, particularly as a pedagogical tool that can enable discussions on contemporary social issues, challenge the existing power structures and foster critical thinking.

Mante Vertelyte is a postdoctoral researcher at Danish School of Education, Aarhus University. Her research focuses on everyday engagements with diversity and inequalities in education, youth studies and state-citizen relations within educational settings in the Danish welfare state.