Humor’s Contemporary Sociopolitical Help and Harm

International Conference

Humor’s Contemporary Sociopolitical Help and Harm

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Date: January 8 (Fri), 9 (Sat), and 10th (Sun) 2027

Venue: Yonsei University, Daewoo Hall Annex, 1st Floor

Invited Speakers:

Confirmed

Hannah Kim (University of Arizona, USA) 

Tareeq Omar Jalloh (University of Oxford, UK)

Masashi Kasaki (Nagoya University, Japan) 

Claire Horisk (University of Missouri)

Elizabeth Cantalamessa (St.Bonaventure University)

Abstract

Recently, global political forces have attempted to censor the use of humor to criticize key political figures, where humor has been treated as a powerful political force. In philosophy, much attention has been paid to the harms of harmful humor and why it should be stopped. The problem, however, is that humor is often hard to stop, especially in cases of “viral” forms of humor like GIFs, digital memes, and related media. Further, some harms are taken as warranted, especially when they reveal genuine problems with, say, a targeted political leader. Though harmful humor is here to stay, few in the literature have mentioned how to stop it. In humor ethics, efforts have been made to classify the morally wrong, morally permissible, and morally acclamatory jokes by some set of criteria (Gaut (1998); Cohen (2001); Smuts (2009);  Benatar (2014). One problem, however, is that many jokes classed by these theorists as morally permissible can perpetuate serious harms (Luvell 2020), while others classed as morally impermissible or morally wrong can and have been used in ways which empower the very groups they were created to oppress (Gregg 2023).  This conference explores how to reclaim this humor or use it against itself. In particular, the program aims to demonstrate how oppressive humor can be reclaimed to empower those it was created to oppress. Additionally, the program concerns how humor taken to be harmless can perpetuate serious harms. 

Call for Papers

Papers on any topic relating to harmful humor (visual, verbal, written, or other)  are welcome. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

1. How jokes deemed morally off-limits have been used by marginalized communities to affirm rather than undermine. 

2. How jokes deemed harmful by humor studies, linguistics, or neuroscience behave in ways that defy this label

3. How harmful jokes can be used against themselves (e.g, contextual dismantlement or deactivation)

4. How harmful jokes can usefully revise and rework oppressive beliefs in sympathetic audiences

5. How jokes deemed harmless by humor theory and related fields can and/or do perpetuate harms

Submission Requirements

Abstracts of no more than 1,000 words should be submitted by November 25th, 2026. Abstracts should be sent [email protected] a subject line that reads “New Submission: Humor’s Contemporary Sociopolitical Help and Harm”

Registration

You are kindly requested to register in advance via the link below to ensure that we have enough seats to prepare the venue for the event. Participation is free of charge.

https://forms.gle/gxyD8UpRJAzWrDu37

Please submit your registration by November 25th, 2026.

Contact:[email protected]

Host:  Dr. Mary Gregg (Yonsei University)

Organizers: Dr. Mary Gregg, Mathilde-Emma Turpin

Funding: Yonsei University Future-Leading  Research Initiative Grant (project no. 2026-22-0230)