Abstract
In this paper I borrow from Maria Lugones’ work on playful “world-traveling” and
W.E.B. Du Bois’ notion of “double consciousness” to make the case that humor can
facilitate an openness and cooperative attitude among an otherwise closed, even
adversarial audience. I focus on what I call “subversive” humor, that which is employed
by or on behalf of those who have been continually marginalized. When effectively used,
such humor can foster the inclination and even desire to listen to others and, if only for
brief moments, adopt their point of view. To be able to see oneself as others see you can
also be a desirable capacity, because along with such multidimensional seeing comes an
epistemic advantage lacking in those who have no need nor desire to see as others do,
especially if the vision of the others happens to be from below where one perceives that
the promises of our explicit ideals are constantly being implicitly broken. Such humor is
aesthetic, pleasurable in and of itself, and not amenable to scientific dissection. But it is
also a skill that can be honed into a powerful tool of persuasion in circumstances where
straightforward arguments are less effective. It can raise consciousness about the lived
experiences of those suffering under systemic oppression and foster world travelling.
Subversive humor encourages audiences, especially those who contribute to what Jean
Harvey calls “civilized oppression”, to playfully travel across worlds and “tarry along”
with the perspectives of the marginalized.