Humour is a gateway to many emotions that can in turn make people advance human rights. Humour as a tool for human rights education, advocacy and communication has not been given enough attention and this is the road less travelled that is explored in this laboratory.
Humour can be a powerful tool for human rights. It opens doors to complex issues, persuades us emotionally, breaks down social barriers, challenges the absurdities of institutional power and creates communities. Saul Alinsky viewed a sense of humour as a key quality of a successful organiser, to ‘maintain sanity’ and to identify and make sense of contradictions. It also plays a role in communicating effectively ideas and feelings and bringing people together.
The objective of the Laboratory is to bring together in Padova around 15 interested individuals, human rights advocates/academics/practitioners, comedians, cartoonists, ... to discuss how we can use more and more effeciently humour to advance human rights. The participants might as well identify potential areas that could be explored further through academic and less acadmic projects.
The aim during this two-day laborary is to discuss the potential of humour as a tool for
- Educating about Human rights;
- Communicating human rights (E.g. What makes humour an honest and a direct communication tool for people? How do social networking and digital media transmit user- generated political and humorous content?)
- Advocating for human rights (E.g. Why do activists choose to use humour to expose the absurdities of institutional power and uncover human rights abuses? How can they use humour even more to achieve this?)
- Building communities centred on human rights (E.g. Can humour be the foundation for resistance? A coping mechanism that helps build community on joy?)
When and Where: June 15-16, Padova, Italy
The project will cover the travel costs (up to 400 euros) and the accommodation costs in Padova (up to 3 nights in a hotel). Taxi costs and other costs will not be covered.
If you are interested in joining for this Laboratory, please do apply by filling the form before May 5. (The organiser will get back to you by May 12 to let you know)
About the Road Less Traveled
The Road Less Traveled is a project initiated by the Human Rights Center of the University of Padova, and done in cooperation with Global Campus of Human Rights. The project explores how graduates from human rights master use their knowledge and their skills by taking less usual career paths.
This exploration of those less usual paths started in 2022 through a series of webinars, which was followed by a first season of podcasts. A second season of the podcast The Road Less Traveled started in March 2023.
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