Serving as introduction to this Special Issue, this article presents a thematic review of topics involved in studies on humour and belonging. It briefly elaborates on the intricacies of concepts such as humour, sense of humour and belonging and their relationships. It then provides a selective review of some major relevant studies. Finally, the themes and contents of the Special Issue are introduced.

This study examines the speech practice designated as hazer javabi (literally, 'ready response' in Persian (Farsi) using an ethnopragmatic approach; that is, it attempts to capture the 'insider' understandings of the practice by making use of semantic explications and cultural scripts. It is one of only a few papers about the Persian language that employ the ethnopragmatic approach. Section 5 .1 introduces the practice, offers some classical and contemporary examples, and draws attention to differences in similar-but-different speech practices in English and some other languages. Section 5.2 describes the analytical framework, i.e. ethnopragmatics. Section 5.3 provides historical and cultural contextualization, aiming both to scaffold a more precise understanding of the concept and to explain its cultural prominence. Section 5 .4 presents a script for hazer javabi. Section 5 .5 discusses broader issues and provides concluding remarks.

This paper intends to reread what Richard Rorty introduced as ironist in the context of one of the most contested topics in the realm of social sciences; i.e. agency and structure. Rorty maintains that ironist is the potential citizen of utopian liberal democracy. An ironist, in his words, is a person who a) has radical and continuing doubts about the final vocabulary she currently uses, b) realizes that argument phrased in her present vocabulary can neither underwrite nor dissolve possible doubts, and c) she does not think that her vocabulary is closer to reality than others. The main question of this study is where this conscious subject stands within the context of agency-structure dispute. First, relevant literature on the dichotomy is going to be examined, and then, while discussing other relevant terms in his philosophy, this paper will show how Rorty solves the agentic problem of his ironist with his introducing of the public-private distinction.

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