What is comedy? Can someone learn to be funny? Are there rules or guidelines for the production of laughter, the universal language? This paper, which outlines an investigation of successful comedians and the production of a short film, determines to aggregate as many of the relevant prerequisites of inducing giggles as possible, especially as they relate to the audiovisual medium of cinema.

One potent, yet little recognized tool in therapy is humour. As the desire to be entertained through humour is near universal the establishment and return of a positive sense of humour may be considered a goal of therapy. The goal of Gestalt exploration is awareness. From its origin Gestalt theory includes addressing body experiences such as laughter and emotional expression through humour. In Gestalt Theory a contact boundary disturbance such as deflection refers to the ways in which individuals may refuse contact with their environment in order to avoid aware¬ness. The goal of this study was to explore the implementation of humour as a deflective technique where contact boundary disturbances occur, to bring about change. Aspects of humour, namely the ability to perceive the comic as well as the ability to produce it, aid therapy and relationship building, and help the client to deflect in a way that enhances emotional well-being. / Humor, geringskat in terapie, is 'n uiters sterk hulpmiddel. Aangesien die behoefte om vermaak te word deur humor universeel is, is die terugkeer van 'n positiewe sin vir humor 'n deurdagte doel vir terapie. Die doel van die Gestalt eksplorasie is bewuswording. Van die begin af sluit Gestalt teorie liggaamservaringe soos lag en emosioneie uitdrukking deur humor in. In Gestalt Teorie verwys 'n kontakgrens versteuring soos defleksie, na die wyse waarop individue kontak met die omgewing vermy, om sodoende bewuswording te vermy. Die doel van die studie was om die implementering van humor as deflektiewe tegniek, waar kontak grens versteuringe en weerstande voorkom, as verandering teweeg kan bring. Aspekte van humor, naamlik die moontlikheid om die komiese waar te neem, sowel as om dit te produseer, versterk terapie and vehoudingsbou, beide aspekte help die klient om te deflekteer op so 'n wyse dat emosioneie goedvoel bevorder word. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

This study examines the paradoxical and at the same time interesting relationship between Christian religion and the system of slavery in the American historical context. Through the use of Kenneth Burke’s concept and theory of Perception by Incongruity as a theoretical and conceptual framework, this study examines Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Frederick Douglass’ The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. In the view of this study, Perception by Incongruity, as a theoretical and conceptual tool has the literary and the rhetorical resources to unmask the ironies and paradoxes involved in slave holding religion and religion holding slaves. The principal research question of the present study seeks to probe the usability of the Christian faith by slave owners to dominate and pacify the slaves, and the instrumentalisation by the slaves of the Christian faith as a liberatory and emancipatory belief. Perception by Incongruity enriches the present study in so far as it unmasks the incongruity and paradox of masters and slaves sharing the same definition of God and faith and still remaining in their conflictual positions of masters and slaves. Since this study is a study in literature, the methods of literature study and textual analysis are deployed in examining the primary texts, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. A multiplicity of secondary texts; in form of critical and empirical literature; are used throughout this study to support observations, arguments and conclusions that are advanced by the study. Summatively, this study observes and concludes that religion, in this case Christianity occupies a perceptively incongruous position where it is suable by people in conflicting situations. Further, where domination, power and capitalism as an economic system meet, religion belongs in the mind and the eye of the beholders who seeks to use it to justify and defend their particular interests and positions. / English Studies / M.A. (English Studies)

L’humour constitue l’objet d’étude de cette recherche qui a pour support Le Messager Popoli (LMP), presse satirique camerounaise. L’objectif principal est de démontrer qu’au-delà de ses fonctions ludique, marketing, critique et de démarcation médiatique, l’humour est révélateur de l’identité linguistique camerounaise. En postulant que le jeu dans LMP repose sur le code langagier, l’humour y est étudié sous l’angle de l’incongruité linguistique, autrement dit, sous le rapport de la rupture de la norme linguistique du fait de la distance interlinguistique entre le français standard et le français tel qu’il est employé dans ce journal. Ce travail met en exergue les mécanismes de l’humour et dégage leur fonctionnement. Il présente l’humour de LMP comme étant le produit d’une construction sémiologique qui puise ses arômes savoureux dans l’environnement linguistique de son contexte de gestation et dans la fertilité créatrice de ses rédacteurs. Il tente aussi, par le biais de l’humour, de saisir la dynamique du français camerounais et, à travers lui, la société camerounaise. La présente recherche ne néglige pas l’aspect du non verbal (iconique) qu’elle présente comme complémentaire du message verbal, mais surtout comme la photographie-identitaire de la société que l’iconique donne en représentation. Ce qui justifie de l’approche sémiolinguistique choisie. / The humor is the object of study of this research was to stand Le Messager Popoli (LMP), Cameroonian satirical press. The main objective is to demonstrate that beyond its fun features, marketing, media criticism and demarcation of humor is indicative of the Cameroonian linguistic identity. Assuming that the game in LMP is based on language code, the humor is studied in terms of linguistic incongruity, that means in the report of the out of the language standard because of the distance between the French interlingual standard and French as used in this paper. This work highlights the mechanisms of humor and releases their operation. It has humor LMP as the product of a semiotic construction draws its tasty flavors in the local context of pregnancy and in the creative fertility of its editors. It also attempts, through humor, to grasp the dynamics of French Cameroon, and through him, the Cameroonian society. This research does not neglect the aspect of non-verbal (iconic) presents it as complementary to the verbal message, but especially as photography-identity of the company that gives the iconic representation. It is what justifies the semiolinguistic chosen approach.

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / With an increased interest in work-family conflict, researchers have recently turned much of their attention to understanding what puts people at risk of experiencing higher levels of work-family conflict. The purpose of this paper is to examine how gender might influence work-family conflict (WFC) experienced. While past research has explored this topic, results have remained inconclusive. Although some research indicates that women experience more conflict, other research indicates that men experience more conflict, while still other research indicates no gender difference. It is proposed here that these mixed results indicate other factors may be present which moderate the effect of gender on work-family conflict. Drawing on the theory of work-family conflict and role congruity theory, this paper looks specifically at how the gender-type of a job moderates the relationship between gender and experienced levels of work-family conflict. Data from alumni from a large Midwestern University were analyzed using hierarchical regression. Job gender-type (i.e., femininity) was found to moderate the relationship between gender and work-family conflict such that women in jobs that were less stereotypically feminine reported higher levels of time based-conflict than women working in jobs that were more stereotypically feminine. Men reported similar levels of WFC regardless of their job type. Directions for future research on gender and WFC are discussed.

This project is by and large a project of elucidation: it may add something to studies of Kenneth Burke, but I doubt it adds much to Kenneth Burke's studies. This thesis begins and ends with analyses of Burke's famous motto Ad Bellum Purificandum (or Toward the Purification of War). The Introduction focuses on "war" while the Conclusion focuses on "purification." In short, purified war is a dialectical activity which actively and perpetually pits divergent perspectives against each other. Such an activity keeps the conflictual nature of divergent perspectives in verbal and symbolic arenas rather than physical ones. Burke owes this formulation to Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of "war" as an attitude toward life. Even as a project of elucidation, this formulation of Ad Bellum Purificandum still suggests related areas of study too extensive for one essay. The chapters of this thesis each comprise a foray into these areas. First, it is clear that Burke intends Ad Bellum Purificandum to be a means toward approaching more universal vocabularies, or what Burke calls a "consciousness of linguistic action generally" (Burke, Grammar 317). This poses a significant difficulty especially in regards to Burke's critical basis in Nietzsche. The problem is this: if all language, symbols, and thought are irreducibly and subjectively metaphoric (as both Nietzsche and Burke clearly agree on) then a universal frame of epistemological reference is impossible. Resolving this paradox is key in the purification of war. This involves resituating Burke's "representative anecdote" which he connects to the purification of war. Next, a study of dialectic itself is necessary since Burke's use of war is essentially dialectical. Because dialectic is the proving of equal contraries, and because dialectic implies learning new perspectives, such a project would view dialectic vis-à-vis democracy vis-à-vis education. Finally this project explains whereby a study of war's purification turns toward Kantian concerns having begun from Nietzschean questions. These projects (and others) serve toward an understanding (and therefore more effective purification) of Burke's use of "war."