Discourses of Humour - International Conference

Hírek Discourses of Humour - International Conference

2019. december 12.

A Sapientia Erdélyi Magyar Tudományegyetem Csíkszeredai Karának Humántudományok tanszéke nemzetközi angol nyelvű konferenciát szervez.

The Intercultural Confluences Research Centre of the Department of Humanities, Faculty of Economics, Socio-Human Sciences and Engineering, Miercurea Ciuc, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, organizes the international English language conference Discourses of Humour in the campus of Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Romania, on 24-25 April, 2020. Submission until 1st March, 2020.

Humour, wit and laughter surround us everywhere. According to the French philosopher Henri Bergson, the fundamental source of comic is the presence of inflexibility and rigidness in life (see Laughter. An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic).

As a multi-disciplinary field of research, humour has been studied from various perspectives, in many domains of science such as psychology, philosophy, literature, linguistics, and sociology. Several theories of humour have emerged, including the relief theory, which focuses on physiological release of tension; the incongruity theory, singling out violations of a rationally learned pattern; and the superiority theory, involving a sense of victory or triumph, where humour arises from mischances, infirmities and indecencies. Psychological research has revealed that there are two types of humour: adaptive (facilitative and self-enhancing) vs. maladaptive (self-defeating and aggressive). Humour also involves the concept of game, in the sense that in superiority theory there is always a winner (the joking person) and a loser (the butt of the joke).

Today, we experience humour in many forms: in the offline world, in literature, press, television, but also in the online world.Our conference aims to create a forum to debate reflections, dilemmas, case studies, evaluative surveys and new paths in connection with all these issues. We encourage interdisciplinary approaches to humour, ranging across literary, linguistic and cultural studies.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

Literature and literary genres involving humour
Humour and narrative
Cross-cultural humour
Humour in the media
Psycho- and sociolinguistic approaches to humour
Visual humour
Humour in educational settings
Humour in performance (theatre, cinema, stand-up comedy, etc.)
Translation of humour
Gender and humour
Stereotyping through humour
Humour in time
Humour as a form of resistance
Humour in folklore
Humour online

Keywords: humour, wit, irony, laughter, joke, games, gamification, parody, satire, comedy.

The conference will embrace parallel sessions. Each paper will be allotted 20 minutes for the presentation, followed by discussions. The programme will also include a virtual panel.

Submission Guidelines

In order to participate, please fill in the online registration form below. We expect abstracts of maximum 250 words. The abstract submission deadline is March 1st, 2020.

Notification of acceptance will be sent by March 8, 2020.

A selection of the papers will be published in the 2020 issues of the English-language scientific journal Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, indexed in several international databases:

http://www.acta.sapientia.ro/acta-philo/philologica-main.htm

Early-bird participation fee – paid by bank transfer between March 10 and March 24, 2020: 40 EUR /200 RON

Participation fee paid on site: 50 EUR /250 RON.

Virtual panel – paid by bank transfer between March 10 and March 24, 2020: 30 EUR.

Looking forward to welcoming you in Csíkszereda / Miercurea Ciuc!