Race, Humor, and Politics in France
In the context of political and polemical debates over integration and immigration, this course explores the shifting boundaries of (good/bad) taste and “political correctness,” as well as discourses around freedom of speech as it relates to humor and comedy from the 1970s to the present. We focus explicitly on how the targeting of racial minorities, particularly those racialized as Muslims, has become the litmus test for freedom of speech and the right to offend in contemporary French society. Course materials include stand-up comedy, sketches, comic strips, and films.
Adi Saleem Bharat, Ph.D. 