Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism conference on 28-29 March 2025

Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism: Interdisciplinary Approaches conference will take place from Fri 28 – Sat 29 March 2025 in the Confluence building. The conference is open to all who are interested in attending. There is no need to register or pay a fee. 

Altogether twenty-four papers, out of almost one hundred submissions from a truly global array of scholars, were accepted. Professor Alya Aglan from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris will serve as the external keynote speaker: she is a world-renowned specialist of the Second World War and the French Resistance.

The two-day conference will explore the role of humour as a political coping mechanism and illuminate the uses of humour across disciplines and periods, stimulating fresh conversations about the actions and expressions that constitute resistance to power. 

Preliminary programme of the conference

Friday 28 March 2025

9:40 – 10:40 am Keynote 1 (Benedetta Carnaghi and Helen Roche)

10:40 am – 12:20 pm Panel 1: Music and Performance

1:30 – 3:10 pm Panel 2: Humorous Resistance

3:30 – 5:10 pm Panel 3: Caricature and Visual Satire

Saturday 29 March 2025

9:30 – 10:50 am Keynote 2 (Alya Aglan)

10:50 am – 12:30 pm Panel 4: Fascism and Dictatorship

1:30 – 3:10 pm Panel 5: Postfascism

3:30 – 5:10 pm Panel 6 (Online): Humour in Extremis

This conference builds on recent scholarship in analysing fascism and authoritarianism as global phenomena. The organisers aim to connect an interdisciplinary range of scholars—at all career levels—who will draw on history, literature, political science, and journalism to illuminate the political uses of laughter.

The conference is generously co-sponsored by Durham University’s Department of History, the German History Society (GHS), and the Association for the Study of Modern Italy (ASMI).