Explores the role that laughter plays in constructing, preserving and transforming contemporary social and political life Provides the first full-length study of the politics of laughter Rejects the traditional, normative question of whether laughter should play a role in politics in favour of a new, critical question of how laughter operates politically Advances a critical theory of laughter that challenges the conventional wisdom that laughter is a naturally emancipatory experience Critically re-reads the accounts of laughter offered by Thomas Hobbes, Theodor Adorno, Ralph Ellison and feminist and queer theorists such as H l ne Cixous and Judith Butler Demonstrates the contemporary relevance of these theoretical accounts through analyses of recent events of laughter including the 2010 Jon Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear"; Jordan Peele's 2017 film Get Out; and Hannah Gadsby's 2018 Netflix special Nanette Offers the theoretical resources to make sense of the political stakes and possibilities of the present Age of Hilarity

About the Author
Patrick Giamario is Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is the author of several journal articles and Laughter as Politics will be his first monograph. Giamario is a political theorist with research interests in critical theory, democratic theory, and the history of political thought. His research has been published in Contemporary Political Theory, Philosophy & Social Criticism, Political Research Quarterly, and Angelaki. He is currently working on a new project on the politics of deception.


Book Information
ISBN 9781474491556
Author Patrick Giamario
Format Paperback
Page Count 212
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press