Using humorous texts to address social justice issues
a goal of social justice is to help "students recognize subltle forms of bias, discrimination, and inequity (Goebel, 2018, p. 48)
humorous text authors often use humor to call out biases and inequities (Goebel, 2018)
ex., Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, modern-day comedians
"...humor can motivate those readers and listeners who might otherwise be resistent to conversations about social justice " (Goebel, 2018, p. 49).
Challenges
humor also has the ability to reinforce stereotypes and may be used to deflect or express negativity (Goebel, 2018)
educators must use caution in selecting texts that can be used to advanced social justice work (Goebel, 2018)
irony, paradody and word play leaves text interpretation wide open (Goebel, 2018)
can be addressed through prereading strategy
set a reading purpose: How does the author use humor to achieve...?
Teacher practice
Humorous texts (Goebel, 2018)
use to break up more serious texts
pair with tragic texts
shape into short units
start with texts that are the least likely to be misread
Questions to consider
How is the author arguing for more equitable treatment?
What misconceptions are depicted?
What are the origins of the misconceptions?
How does the author use (literary terms) to achieve (goal)?
What does the author want the reader to understand about...?
What kinds of humor strategies does the author use? How effective are those strategies?
Researcher look-fors
References:
Goebel, B. (2018). What's so funny about social justice? English Journal, 107(6), 48-53.
Grennon Brooks, J., & Thomspon, E. G. (2005). Social justice in the classroom. Educational Leadership, 63(1), 48-52.
Koltz, J., & Kersten-Parrish, S. (2020). Using children's picturebooks to facilitate restorative justice discussion. The Reading Teacher, 73(5), 637-645.
Steele, J. (2002). Acknowledging diversity in the classroom. In L. Darling-Hammond, J. French, & S. P. Garcia-Lopez (Eds.), Learning to teach for social justice (pp. 13-21): Teachers College Press.