“Humour at Work: Applications, Industries and Economies”
27th Conference of the Australasian Humour Studies Network
3-4 February 2021*
Massey University, Wellington Campus, Aotearoa New Zealand
From the Organising Committee
Unfortunately, due to ongoing travel restrictions in response to the global pandemic, the organising committee for the 2021 AHSN conference has needed to reassess the status of the event. In light of recent outbreaks in both Australia and New Zealand, we are no longer confident that we will be able to host a TransTasman event in February of next year.
We have therefore made the difficult decision to split the conference into two interconnected events:
- The first will be a two-day physical meeting open to delegates resident in New Zealand.
- The second will be an online event for Australian and International delegates.
The online event will be primarily asynchronous in order to account for multiple time zones, but will also include additional synchronous discussion where possible. The conference will be planned to facilitate communication between the two interconnected events. A small registration fee will be charged for the virtual event, but this will be substantially less than that for the physical event.
In addition, with the establishment of an online component for the conference we are now happy to invite international presenters to virtually ‘attend’ the event.
Given the changes to the organisation of the conference, we have decided to extend the dates for submissions by one month. Please see “Important Dates” below for more information.
Keynote Presenters
International/Online: Dr Christelle Pare (Research & Development, Just for Laughs/Juste pour Rire)
New Zealand: Dr Barbara Plester (Senior Lecturer of Management, University of Auckland)
More keynote presenters to be confirmed….
Call for Papers
Although often imagined to be aligned with the leisurely or the everyday—something to be pursued for its own sake and own pleasures—in practice, humour is often big business. Whether understood in terms of the international comedy industry, the role of humour in corporate contexts, or its instrumentalist application in a range of industries and activities, humour can be alternately lucrative or costly. Moreover, comedy is not just profitable, but also often shaped by profits as new technologies, institutions and economies change the way we laugh. From the rise of the Netflix stand-up comedy special to the advent of a new breed of online celebrity-comedians, shifts in political economy have had consequences not just for where and when we consume comedy, but also for the types of humour that circulate and which of them can find an audience.
For the 27th meeting of the Australasian Humour Studies Network, we would like to encourage presenters to follow the money, and consider the different ways in which humour can be thought to have either sold out or cashed up. How has humour been implicated in a wide range of business practices and cultures? How has humour been put to work to earn its keep? What changes have arisen from the increasing professionalisation of comedy? How might humour be implicated or understood in light of our wider economic context?
**Please note that papers and presentations that do not directly address the theme of ‘Humour at Work’ are more than welcome. As the official conference of the AHSN, we welcome researchers working on any and all aspects of the study of humour.
We would like to invite proposals for 20 minute presentations. We welcome contributors who hail from a broad range of disciplines and fields of study: media and cultural studies, linguistics, fine arts, psychology, communication, education, literary studies, politics and political science, business studies, history, geography, sociology, theatre and performance, to name a few.
We especially welcome papers from research students of their work in progress, and as usual there will be a limited number of scholarships awarded as registration fee waivers for the best student proposals.
We would also like to extend a particular welcome to contributors from outside the university, especially those who are involved in the production and distribution of comedy.
The 2021 conference of the AHSN invites papers that explore the industrial and economic aspects of humour, including but not limited to:
- The political economics of comedy production and distribution
- Joking about business and work
- Humour’s relationship to wider political economic contexts
- Applications of humour in workplace settings
- Comedy as art, business and vocation
- The professionalization of comedy
- The role of humour in workplace cultures
- Comedy industries and technologies
Abstract deadline and details
All proposals will be blind reviewed by members of the AHSN Review Panel. If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please submit a 250 word abstract with your name, e-mail address, and affiliation through the AHSN website submission portal. Any other enquiries regarding the event should also be addressed to: 2021AHSN@gmail.com.
For further information, please consult the main conference website.
IMPORTANT DATES (NOW EXTENDED)
Submission of abstracts opens: 15 May 2020
Close of submissions considered for Research Scholarships: 1 September 2020
Close of general submissions: 1 October 2020
Notifications of acceptance: 31 October 2020
Registration will open after acceptances are finalised
Conference Organisers
Massey University: Nicholas Holm, Bryce Galloway
Victoria University of Wellington: Meredith Marra, Stephen Skalicky
