“Scientists Joke”: Evolution and Genres of Humour about Science and Scientists in Russia

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“Scientists Joke”: Evolution and Genres of Humour about Science and Scientists in Russia

Journal Title: STYLES OF COMMUNICATION - Year 2017, Vol 0, Issue 0

Abstract

The paper analyses humour about scientists and humour produced by scientists in Russia. The aim of the study is to track back the evolution of scholarly humour and analyse social factors that stand behind professional humour in the academia. The analysis centres around three categories of humour: “intellectual” humour, which requires knowledge in a specific branch of science, “professor vs. student” humour, which is based on our understanding of social relations between two social groups involved in academic communication. Finally, there is profession-specific humour based entirely on professional experience and is best understood by those involved in research. While “intellectual” and “professor vs. student” jokes are not unique to the Russian culture, profession-specific ingroup humour reflects social problems characteristic of science in Russia. This category of scholarly humour has grown from the ongoing debates about criteria of academic excellence and the discussions about importance of science for society in general. Profession-specific humour mirrors social tension caused by the attempts to introduce quantitative measures of academic excellence and to reform science in Russia (the recent attempts at turning around the Russian Academy of Sciences being a good example of such a reform).

Authors and Affiliations

Ksenia Shilikhina

Keywords

EP ID EP184325
DOI -
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