Extensive feminist critique of lad culture has raised serious concerns about its role in the sexualisation and objectification of women; its association with 'pack-like' boisterous behaviour and pressured heavy drinking of alcohol; and its use of banter, irony and infantile humour to provide a protective shield for sexist and homophobic practices.…

This article begins by examining the bad reputation humor traditionally had in philosophy and education. Two of the main charges against humor--that it is hostile and irresponsible--are linked to the Superiority Theory. That theory is critiqued and two other theories of laughter are presented--the Relief Theory and the Incongruity Theory. In the…

This article analyses how education is positioned in the current concerns about security and extremism. This means firstly examining the different meanings of security (national, human and societal) and who provides security for whom. Initially, a central dilemma is acknowledged: that schooling appears to be simultaneously irrelevant to the huge…

In this article I explore the pedagogical value of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's philosophical concepts for helping make an "event" of thought, with a view towards fostering deep learning in Chinese students' learning theory and criticism in a second language. Paying attention to the qualitative role of bodies, humour and…

The occasional role of humor as a vehicle for moral criticism is investigated. I begin by distinguishing between this particular role and the other kinds of ways in which humor and amusement might be regarded through a moral lens, consider historical approaches to humor that corroborate the kind of role for it on which my investigation focuses,…

This article examines a group of five ink, pen and wash drawings produced by the Anglo-Swiss artist Henry Fuseli in the mid-eighteenth century in Zurich. The drawings were produced for a "Narrenbuch" (Book of Fools) uniting visual images of folly with humorous slogans. The drawings are significant in that they imitate sixteenth-century…

This essay briefly explores reflections of Anna Julia Cooper concerning the meaning and significance of moments within educational settings when the conditions for laughter and language break down. The author suggests that what she presented as moments of social and political failure have become the aims of contemporary, rigid nonpromotion public…