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Abstract
Humorous joking, teasing, and banter are fundamental forms of social intercourse. This paper is about the role and effect of ‘humour’ in multiethnic blue-collar workplaces. Humour delineates boundaries of group membership, establishes insiders and outsiders, and offers a ritual solution to ambiguity and liminality, tension and social unease. Humour is Janus faced though. Historically, it has been a central tool of the racist; a way of expressing disgust and hatred with an exit strategy: ‘just joking’. This paper draws on these themes to consider findings from a large comparative study of ‘Everyday Multiculturalism at Work’ which compares workplaces in Singapore and Australia. The essay focuses on blue-collar male-dominated Australian workplaces and explores the role and function of interactional humour in mediating, reinforcing, and overcoming boundaries of racial and ethnic difference in a context of forced ‘encounter’. I consider both the positive, ludic qualities of humour as well as its negative dimensions and further situate the discussion in terms of certain forms of Australian working class masculinity. I offer the concept of‘convivial labour’ to describe the work that goes into negotiating interactional humour frames in multi-ethnic settings of forced encounter.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 481-500 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Journal of Intercultural Studies |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2 Sept 2016 |
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Dive into the research topics of 'Convivial labour and the 'joking relationship': humour and everyday multiculturalism at work'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Everyday Diversity at Work
Velayutham, S., Wise, A., PhD Contribution (ARC), P. C. & MQRES 3 (International), M. 3.
1/01/12 → 31/07/17
Project: Research