CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: Humour in South African literatures and cultures from apartheid to the present

Dear contributors,

You are invited to submit abstracts to a special issue titled "Humour in South African literatures and cultures from apartheid to the present"

Different theorists of humour have attempted to define humour with very little success. In fact, the more they have sought to define it, the more humour evaded definition, technically poking fun at all those seeking to fix it to a definition. This probably explains why French philosopher, Henry Bergson (1900: 3) refused to define humour arguing that “we shall not aim at imprisoning the comic spirit within a definition” because it is “a living thing”. In Bergson’s formulation, humour was “a living thing” conterminous with human ontology itself. This idea is latter picked up by Russian linguist, Mikhail Bakhtin (1984: 66) who insisted that “certain essential aspects of the world are accessible only to laughter”, elevating laughter from the domain of entertainment to that of reason and intellectual enquiry.

Bakhtin’s idea of the carnival demonstrates not only the power of cultural performances and texts to subvert, interject and interrupt power but also the ambivalent relationship between official and popular discourses. Most philosophers of humour from Aristotle to Freud have theorized it as a mode of power and aggression. The question that this special issue seeks to tease out is how South African literatures and cultures have deployed humour as an aesthetic and/or narrative framework over the years, from apartheid to contemporary times. Since humour is usually associated with entertainment, there is an assumption that pain and suffering are anti-thetical to humour. In his book On the Postcolony, Achille Mbembe (2001) has suggested that the laughter of the oppressed is not necessarily a form of resistance since it takes place within the confines of a world created and sanctioned by the oppressor. How would South African literatures and cultures respond to this conclusion?

Is humour a subversive or collusive aesthetic, or is it both? How have South African literary and cultural texts fared in this debate, and what role does humour play in South African literatures and cultures? Here, we have referred to Western theorists (Bergson and Bakhtin), but we are also interested in African conceptions of humour as well as adaptations of Western theories to the African context. Can we decipher, from South Africa literatures and cultures, particular forms of laughter that can gesture towards some concepts about South African humour. Where do South African literary and cultural texts derive their humour and how does this humour speak to broader questions in the national imaginary?

This special issue, Humour in South African literatures and cultures from apartheid to the present, calls for submissions that engage with the issues highlighted above and any other issues relating to humour in South African literature and culture. While submissions can focus on specific texts, we also welcome theoretical engagements and historicised analyses that trace the development of humour in South African literatures and cultures. Scholars may submit papers on the following themes, or any other theme related to humour in South African literatures and cultures.

- Humour and politics in South African literatures and cultures

- Humouring pain, suffering and poverty

- Humour as resistance and resilience

- The South African short story and the humour aesthetic

- Humouring race and the absurdities of apartheid laws and logic

- Gangsterism, death, funerals and laughter

- Power, powerlessness and collusive humour

- Humouring the post-apartheid state from Mandela to Ramaphosa

- Corruption, black economic empowerment and laughter in contemporary South Africa.

- Humouring the figure of the president from Mandela to Ramaphosa

- Humour in crises- Eskom, loadshedding, poor service delivery

- Humour in the new politics of coalitions – the GNU, the alliance and governance

- Digital politics vs digital humour

 

FORMAT OF ABSTRACT

• The number of words should be between 250 and 300 words (including the keywords).
• Abstracts should be submitted to rodneymakombe@gmail.com by January 30, 2025. Please indicate “HUMOUR SA” on your file.
• All queries should be directed to lead Guest Editor, Prof. Rodwell Makombe at rodneymakombe@gmail.com

Authors will be notified by February 10, 2025, whether their full paper is invited for submission based on abstract review. Full papers should adhere to submission and formatting guidelines at https://journals.dut.ac.za/index.php/ajims/about/submissions. Kindly note that authors will be required to pay an Article Publication Charge (APC) of R13,000 if their submitted paper is accepted for publication.

 

Full Paper submission (5000 – 7000 words):

30 April 2025

Notification after the first round of reviews:

30 May 2025

Submission of revised versions:

30 June 2025

Notification of final decision

30 July 2025

 

GUEST EDITORS

Prof. Rodwell Makombe

Department of English

North-West University

Mahikeng Campus

Email: Rodwell.Makombe@nwu.ac.za

 

Prof. Irikidzayi Manase

Department of English

University of the Free State

Bloemfontein Campus

Email: irimanase@gmail.com

 

Silvia Anastasijevic, M.A.

Department of English, American and Celtic Studies

University of Bonn

Germany

Email: anastasijevic@uni-bonn.de