On Nov. 5 at 3 p.m., the Sociology department will host a lecture and discussion session in Clement Hall 135 led by Assistant Philosophy Professor Dr. Luvell Anderson entitled “Just Playin’: When Humor Is Racist.” The lecture will discuss the parameters and vocabulary of racially sensitive humor.
Anderson received his PhD from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., and participated in a one-year post-doctoral teaching fellowship in critical philosophy of race at Pennsylvania State. He joined the University of Memphis’ faculty in 2012. He specializes in the philosophy topics of language and race and has been published.
Anderson explained his reasons for holding the lecture.
“We need to move beyond humor being classified just as ‘racist’ or ‘not racist,’” Anderson said. “We need to find a middle ground category. Humor can be racially insensitive, but it’s only racist if the joke is motivated by malevolent attitude and disregard for whom the joke offends.”
Anderson states that he has been interested in humor all of his life and cites Richard Pryor as one of his favorite comedians, but stressed that the simple context of social gatherings are important to the discussion as well.
“Humor is one way to connect with other people. Sometimes it takes the form of racial humor,” Anderson said. “Racial jokes generally express racial stereotypes but the humor is not racist when the person is trying to subvert these stereotypes. Race is often a topic that is repressed and humor is a way to release some of that repression.”
One famous example of humor that subverts stereotypes and releases repression that Anderson supports is Dave Chappelle’s “Black, anti-black racist” sketch in which a blind white supremacist turns out actually to be African-American. The joke is not directed at the stereotypes of any race but rather the thoughts and actions of the character Chappelle plays and the idea of racial supremacy in general. Anderson expressed how other forms of media fail to accomplish what Chappelle does.
“My friends and I will see certain political cartoons or ads on TV that are meant to be humorous but maybe they don’t do it in a way that’s all that good,” Anderson said, “We’ll discuss and talk about why the producers of that type of humor didn’t recognize that. Usually it’s just an insensitivity to the people who are at the heart of the joke.”
Despite his expertise in the field Anderson explained that he had not yet been able to define where the line of racial humor should not be crossed and hopes students and faculty to join in the conversation.
“I’m hoping to set down some conditions and parameters so that people can have a discussion about if certain humor is racist or not,” Anderson said, “This is just one illustration of how philosophy can help everyday people think more clearly about everyday situations.”
