“It was Funnier the Second Time:” A Working Group on Repetition in Comedy Studies
There has been a tremendous energy institutionalizing the study of comedy, with the development of official “Comedy Studies” majors in schools like Columbia College Chicago, Emerson College, and Depaul University. Along with these new programs have come productive collaborations resulting from convened discussions within media studies (such as the American Studies Association, the American Humor Association, and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies).
Therefore, it is now time to gather comedy scholars working in theatre. The theme of "repetition" provides a fitting occasion since it has long been one of the key mechanics of comedy. In his essay, “Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic,” Henri Bergson argues for repetition as “one of the usual processes of classic comedy” because it brings together the incongruous elements of “something mechanical in something living.” Indeed, many of the well-known devices are founded upon repetition, such as the "rule of threes," call-backs, running gags, catch phrases, and joke formulas (e.g. "why did the chicken cross the road?"). Broader theoretical concepts related to comedy such as parody (Linda Hutcheon), mimicry (Homi Bhabha), imitation (Judith Butler), and signifyin' (Henry Louis Gates Jr.) all involve the concept of repetition. Participants in this working group can explore a broad array of questions surrounding repetition in comedy, such as:
What are the ways that repetition functions as a technique in works of comedy?
How are canons of comedy formed through repeated inclusion/exclusion of specific comedians? Similarly, how are joke types/formulas/subjects ‘canonized’ through repetition and recognition?
How does repetition in comedy reinscribe negative effects, such as harmful stereotypes, mythic beliefs, and rigid social structures? What room is there within repetition to undermine these effects?
How does repetition undermine or motivate innovation within the field?
Recognizing that Comedy Studies cuts across many fields, we welcome projects from scholars that examine repetition (broadly conceived) in comedy across geographical areas, disciplinary lenses, and historical periods.
Participants will share written works-in-progress ranging from 10-15 pages (such as articles, chapter segments, and conference papers) in small groups, where they will perform online peer-reviews to help these projects on their path toward publication. The session will culminate in a full-group discussion addressing the issues and questions that have been generated through the small-group peer-review processes.
Papers will be submitted to the working session conveners by September 25. The conveners will read all submissions and divide accepted papers into small groups based on related subject matter and methodological approaches. Conveners and small groups will conduct online discussions to exchange preliminary feedback and generate overall questions and themes by October 30.
During the conference session, the first part of the working session will reunite the small groups, allowing them to discuss the works in progress. The second part will facilitate a conversation with the larger group regarding takeaways, questions, and observations on the central idea of repetition. The group will ask what other tools and theories from broader theatre studies (and other disciplines) are useful for the distinct field of comedy studies.
TO SUBMIT
Potential participants must make an account on the American Society for Theater Research website (or already be members) to submit and should submit an abstract of approximately 250 words through the ASTR website. (ED Note: If you aren't a member -- you just need to go here and sign up for a "non-member" account so you don't have to pay a fee.)
For any specific questions, please contact the working group conveners:
Grace Overbeke, Columbia College Chicago: goverbeke [at] gmail.com
Matthew McMahan, Emerson College: matthew_mcmahan [at] emerson.edu
The form will allow you to indicate second and third choice working groups if you wish; if you do so, note that there is a space for you to indicate how your work will fit into those groups.
The deadline for receipt of working group participant submissions is 1 June 2020 and we anticipate that participants will be notified of their acceptance no later than 30 June.
Please contact the conference organizers at astr2020@astr.org if you have any questions about the process.
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