[csaa-forum] CFP: Stand-up Comedy in the Global South (proposals due 30 March)

[Nick Holm]

Stand-up Comedy in the Global South (a special issue of Comedy Studies)
https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/stand-up-comedy-global-south/

Following decades of popularity in the US and the UK, stand-up comedy has begun to put down roots in the Global South at the beginning of the 21st century. Asia, Africa and the Middle East have seen a significant rise in the popularity of stand-up comedy in the last couple of decades.

Although often argued to have been inspired by the form and content of comic performance in the US and UK, the art and craft of stand-up in the Global South also has its own disposition(s) and ‘humour regimes’ (Kuipers 2011) that have produced more regional (glocal) versions of the stand-up form. Not only has the emergence of new media technologies and global market flows played a role in the growth and proliferation of stand-up comedy in the Global South, but the region also has a rich tapestry of performative traditions of humour that spans from pre-colonial to the colonial times and thereafter. Thus, contemporary stand-up comedy in these countries not only interacts with the humour-scape of the Global North, but also exhibits strong and dynamic connections to the diverse (pre)existing comic traditions (folk and indigenous humour, political satire, comic dissent and humour in popular culture to name a few) of the region.

Moreover, given the contemporary socio-cultural and political landscape of the region, stand-up comedy can potentially be understood within the context of the different dynamics and developments taking place in the Global South. Increasing online trolling, cancellation of shows, censorship and self-censorship are just some of the factors that have implications for the art and craft of stand-up in this region. Thus, one can ask, what is the state of stand-up comedy in the Global South and what will be its future? What were the conducive factors that led to its growth and proliferation? How does the audience in the Global South consume and respond to stand-up comedy? What kind of constraints do comedians face in pursuing their craft? How do comedians manoeuvre within their distinctive socio-cultural, political and economic landscape(s)?

This special issue of Comedy Studies invites scholars working in the field of stand-up comedy in the Global South to reflect upon and critically engage with the genre of stand-up comedy in the region.

Topics might include (but are not limited to)

  *
Emergence and growth of stand-up in the Global South
  *
Connections with folk humour, performative art forms, political satire, comic dissent, indigenous comic traditions
  *
Stand-up comedy and its linkages with popular culture
  *
Stand-up comedy and cultural revolution and socio-political revolution
  *
Stand-up comedy and new media technologies
  *
Global South responses to comedy in the Global North
  *
Presence and experience of comics from Global South in Global North
  *
Politics of identity
  *
Intersectional humour
  *
Future of stand-up comedy in the Global South
  *
Institutionalisation of stand-up comedy
  *
Canonisation of comedy
  *
Comedy collectives in the Global South
  *
Comedy and cityscapes in the Global South

Submission Instructions

Please submit proposals (250-300 words) to richa.chilana at ddn.upes.ac.in<mailto:richa.chilana at ddn.upes.ac.in> or rbhargava168 at gmail.com<mailto:rbhargava168 at gmail.com> by 30th March, 2025. Selection of proposals will be communicated by 15th May, 2025. Selected proposals will be invited to prepare original research articles of 6000-8000 words which will be due in July 2025 and will be peer reviewed.

Articles will be published on-line as they are accepted. The special issue will be published when complete. This is expected to take place in 2026.


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Dr Nicholas Holm<http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/expertise/profile.cfm?stref=990001> |Associate Professor in Media Studies|Editor, Comedy Studies | Book Reviews Editor, Humor

Building 7, Room 7C43 |Massey University |Wellington |Aotearoa New Zealand

DDI 04 979 3544 |ext. 63544 | nhfholm at massey.ac.nz<mailto:N.H.F.Holm at massey.ac.nz>

https://nicholasholm.wordpress.com/

Recent Publications
Holm, N. (2024) Humour versus Dignity in the Public Sphere<https://elements.massey.ac.nz/rt2repositoryfile.html?sid=24&rid=942851&fid=00683ba9-e34a-44b6-b7f6-e188d62a51ce> The European Journal of Humour Research 12.1

Holm, N. (2023) Everyone’s a Critic (So what comes next?)<https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/200> Media Theory 7.1.

Holm, N. and E. Tilley. (2023) The Aesthetics of Creative Activism<https://academic.oup.com/jaac/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jaac/kpad015/7185629> Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 81.2.

Holm, N. (2023) Advertising and Consumer Society: A Critical Introduction<https://www.routledge.com/Advertising-and-Consumer-Society-A-Critical-Introduction/Holm/p/book/9781032181363> (2nd Ed), Routledge.
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