Bowie, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9084-2142 (2022) “A demonstration is also FUN”: humour as a tactic to disrupt the “rational” state during the 1968 protests. In: Chao, Shun-liang, Dahn, Alvin and Westbrook, Vivienne, (eds.) Humour in Times of Confrontations: 1901 to the Present. Routledge. (In Press)

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Abstract

The 1968 student protest movement is framed in the popular imagination as an outburst of youthful fury against an archaic, restrictive, and oppressive world order. What is often overlooked in these violent clashes is the inherent humour and sense of playfulness that was integral to many of the participants’ actions. Ideas about staging humorous protests travelled from members of the Situationist International to the Dutch Provos, the US Yippies, the Italian Provos groups and Germany’s Subversive Aktion, as well as many other smaller and ad-hoc groups. The demonstrations were intended to “to reveal the irrationality behind the rational order, to show in a funny way that the role models in this society are fools” (Kommune I 1966). Humour directly relates to everyday behaviour and is a means through which the standard presentation modes of the state are counteracted, alternative ways of living are actively practiced, an audience and sympathisers more readily attracted, and the perceived hysteria of the state and media laid bare. Music, actions, theatre, art, and DIY publications all served as vehicles for satirical critique of politicians, the state, and conservative society with the intention to show the absurdity of authority, bureaucracy, social expectations and accepted behaviours. This chapter will use examples from various cities during the ‘68 movement to demonstrate how the international tactic of humour was modified and adapted in confrontation with local conditions. It will be seen how fundamental the energy, playfulness, and irony with which the protesters interacted with their cities, provided the basis for fundamental change, as the complete antithesis to expected and accepted modes of representation and rebellion.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	humour, protest, urban space, 1960s, Europe, USA
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Design (DES)
Last Modified:	07 Dec 2023 15:53
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/39110

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