Disability tends to be perceived as a serious matter across cultures, but humorous portrayals of people with disabilities have always existed. Nevertheless, there has been almost no theoretically and methodologically well-founded examination on the subject of ‘comedy and disability’, neither in cultural or media studies nor in social and educational sciences.
There is not only a lack of comprehensive theories, but also a lack of surveys and analyses of specific fictional and non-fictional texts. In light of the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in the context of inclusion, the question of the conditions under which comic portrayals of disability promote positive images of people with disabilities is more relevant than ever before. If one sees comedy and the laughter associated with it as a human reaction to impairments of possibilities for action and to violations of norms, the ambivalent potential of comedy for the topic of disability becomes immediately clear: the community can laugh because of or despite the disability, about the people affected or with them. The research network aims to explore this topic from the perspective of different disciplines. (DFG project number: 534997547)
First conference from 15 to 17 May 2024 at the University of Passau
Follow-up report
Conference poster / Conference programme / Reader for the conference
Interview with actor Samuel Koch on the topic of ‘Comedy and Disability’ |
| Prof. Dr. Berit Callsen | Universität Osnabrück, Romanistik |
| Prof. Dr. Susanne Hartwig | Universität Passau, Romanische Literaturen und Kulturen |
| Dr. Adrian Herrera Fuentes | Universität zu Köln, Romanistik/Komparatistik |
| Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann | Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Rehabilitationspädagogik |
| Dr. Karl Kleinbach | Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, Sonderpädagogik (emerit.) |
| Lukas Kleinhenz | Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Sonder- und Inklusionspädagogik |
| Katrin Kreuznacht | Leibniz Universität Hannover, Allgemeine Behindertenpädagogik und -soziologie |
| Prof. Dr. Dieter Kulke | Technische Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS), Soziologie |
| Dr. Daniela Kuschel | Universität Mannheim, Romanistik |
| Dr. Mirjam Leuzinger | Universität Passau, Romanische Literaturen und Kulturen |
| Prof. Dr. Anette Pankratz | Ruhr-Universität Bochum, British Cultural Studies |
| Dr. Soledad Pereyra | Universität Passau, Romanistik |
| Fabian Riemen | Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Sonderpädagogik |
| Theresa Stommel | Universität zu Köln, Pädagogik und Rehabilitation |
| Prof. Dr. Christian von Tschilschke | Universität Münster, Romanistik |
| Principal Investigator(s) at the University | Prof. Dr. Susanne Hartwig (Lehrstuhl für Romanische Literaturen und Kulturen) |
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| Project period | 01.05.2024 - 30.04.2027 |
| Source of funding |
DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
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