UIS Speaker Series presents "Asian Americans Are (Not) Funny?: Comedy and Racialization"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speakers Series presents “Asian Americans Are (Not) Funny?: Comedy and Racialization”. The discussion will be led by Caroline Kyungah Hong, assistant professor of English at Queens College CUNY.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Hong's talk will discuss the common misconception in U.S. popular culture that Asian Americans are not funny, unless they’re being made fun of for their physical, cultural, and social difference. Asian American comedy and humor employ the very same mediums that have historically been used to exclude and mark Asian Americans as the racial other, in order to destabilize prevalent images of Asian Americans as the yellow peril, the perpetual foreigner, and the model minority. Through examining the past, present, and future of Asian American comedy and humor, it discusses how Asian American comedic tradition challenges stereotypes and fixed notions of race, gender, sexuality, and class.

Hong’s research interests include Asian American studies, comedy and humor, ethnic studies, women writers of color, gender and sexuality studies, race and popular culture (especially film, TV, and comics/graphic narratives), and American studies.

For a list of other ECCE Speakers Series events and more information, visit http://illinois.edu/goto/speakerseries. All events are free and open to the public.