Embracing the Carnivalesque: Young Children’s Humour as Performance and Communication

Abstract

Today, in the field of early childhood education and care in the UK we do not always demonstrate a constructive attitude towards humour and laughter. We have seemingly stood by as humour and laughter have been subsumed by rhetoric that intimates their importance and value but, in reality, sits on top of contrasting ingrained authoritative discourses that view humour and laughter as a challenge to seriousness, rationality and innocence-qualities that seem to be highly sought after within the early childhood field. A number of ideas have emerged from my data that suggest that any negativity associated with humour and laughter may be confined to adults, and that children may have a more positive approach that embraces Bakhtin's notion of carnivalesque humour. This paper addresses two findings that reflect the themes of children's humour and laughter as carnivalesque performance and communication. Firstly, it explores the idea that in nursery settings young children may use humour to perform, but not in the conventional performer/audience understanding of the word. Instead, it seems young children may engage in a carnivalesque performance in which there is no distinction between audience and performers. Secondly, the paper examines the notion that young children may use humour and laughter as a significant form of communication between themselves, as well as with adults. Evidence within the data suggests that this communication could facilitate adult understanding of children's intentions and motivations.

The Politics of Inversion: Carnivalesque Subversion in Nobody Killed Her

“…The carnivalesque analysis reveals that advertising, considered a part of popular culture, is shaped by earlier carnivalesque forms. Tallant (2017) talks about the role of carnivalesque humour in the educational backdrop, especially kindergarten education in the UK, and reveals that the kindergarten system presents a disparity in apprehending the role of humour and laughter. Despite recognizing their signi􀅫icance, prevalent authoritative and hegemonic discourses often discern them as de􀅫iance of gravity and reason.…”

Carnival Classrooms: Sites of Resistance in Secondary Composition Classrooms

“…A carnival pedagogy in the high school composition classroom allows educators to develop deeper mentor connections with students because humor can be a carnival component. Humor, to Bakhtin, is centered on the grotesque, understood as elementary-aged potty humor (Tallant, 2017). This type of crude humor is typically attributed to a child's learning about their body and their relation to others as a means of developing a more profound sense of self (Tallant, 2017).…”

“…Humor, to Bakhtin, is centered on the grotesque, understood as elementary-aged potty humor (Tallant, 2017). This type of crude humor is typically attributed to a child's learning about their body and their relation to others as a means of developing a more profound sense of self (Tallant, 2017). Yet, high school composition classrooms can be sites where crude humor exists, where the "de-crowning of authority" happens when teachers assume the role of learner (Lensmire & White, 2017, p. 13).…”

The Early Humor Survey (EHS): A reliable parent-report measure of humor development for 1- to 47-month-olds

“…Numbers are in bold for the factor onto which the item loaded best. Items are ordered by age of emergence, based on the percentiles Item Humor type Question Source r F1 EFA F2 EFA F CFA 25% 50% 75% 9 Hide & Reveal Games Peekaboo/ hide & seek, including variations, e.g., hiding objects in bags and revealing them (Addyman & Addyman, 2013 ; Fernald & O’Neill, 1993 ; Hoicka & Akhtar, 2012 ; MacDonald & Silverman, 1978 ; Shultz, 1976 ; Sroufe & Wunsch, 1972 ; Waters et al, 1975 ) .41 – 0.10 1.00 .16 1 1 1 8 Tickling Tickling, including variations, e.g., using objects to tickle, e.g., stick or feather (Addyman & Addyman, 2013 ; Hoicka & Akhtar, 2012 ) .33 – 0.15 0.93 .25 1 1 1 17 Funny faces Pulling/making silly faces, e.g., scrunching up face (Angeleri & Airenti, 2014 ; Hoicka & Akhtar, 2012 ; Loizou, 2004 ; Mireault, Poutre, et al, 2012 ; Reddy, 2001 ) .46 0.04 0.78 .38 1 1 8 10 Bodily humor Strange body movements, e.g., head through legs, kicking legs in air (Addyman & Addyman, 2013 ; Hoicka & Akhtar, 2012 ; Loizou, 2004 , 2005 ; Reddy, 2001 ; Sroufe & Wunsch, 1972 ; Tallant, 2017 ) ...…”