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Excuse me, sir?: A critical race theory (hair) chronicle
Author(s) -
Lewellen Chelesea,
Bohonos Jeremy W.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/gwao.12522
Subject(s) - racism , excuse , resistance (ecology) , comedy , sociology , race (biology) , laughter , social justice , white (mutation) , coping (psychology) , variety (cybernetics) , critical race theory , merge (version control) , gender studies , criminology , law , psychology , art , political science , literature , social psychology , information retrieval , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , ecology , chemistry , computer science , biology , biochemistry , gene
While engaged in research and teaching regarding racism in US organizations, members of the writing team have frequently found that conscientious humour and the meaningful lessons it can encode provide needed releases from the stress associated with social justice work as well as serve as an effective pedagogical tool. Taking inspiration from contemporary satirical humourists, including Robin Thede, Issa Rae, Dave Chappelle and Jordan Peele, who have used comedy to expose serious aspects of racism, as well as leading critical race theorists’ use of fictional chronicles about race we present a comedic chronicle centred around an African American protagonist who demonstrates a variety of coping and resistance strategies in conversations with a well‐intentioned yet culturally insensitive white male co‐worker who regularly engages her about her hair.