AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Teela Foxworth, for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Speech Communication, Speech Communication, and Business Administration presented on May 23, 2008. Title: Using Racial Humor at Work: Promoting Positive Discussions on Race Abstract approved: __________________________________________________________________ Celeste Walls Employees from two different organizations, a public university and a hospital in Oregon, were asked to take part in an interview to assess their perceptions of how race is discussed in their workplace, if racial humor is used in their workplace, if this humor offers an opportunity to discuss race further, and as a result of this discussion, if participants had altered their previous held beliefs about a particular race. Results proved that for the participants in this study, racial humor was used in the workplace and it did offer an opportunity to discuss racial issues further which for the majority of participants, resulted in altering their previous held beliefs about a certain race. © Copyright by Teela Foxworth May 23, 2008 All Rights Reserved Using Racial Humor at Work: Promoting Positive Discussions on Race by Teela Foxworth A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Presented May 23, 2008 Commencement June 2009 Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies thesis of Teela Foxworth, presented on May 23, 2008. APPROVED: __________________________________________________________________ Major professor, representing Speech Communication __________________________________________________________________ Director of Interdisciplinary Studies Program __________________________________________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. __________________________________________________________________ Teela Foxworth, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First I would like to thank my chair, Dr. Walls. Without her tremendous amount of time, support, and advice, this thesis would not have been possible. To Dr. Goodnow, Dr. McAlexander, and Dr. Campbell, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to serve on my committee. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude and admiration to my wonderful Mother, Terri, for her constant love, support, and incredible strength that I have found in her for the past 24 years and especially during this process of writing my thesis. To my father, thank you for all or your love and support throughout school, even though I decided to be a Beaver and not a Pilot. I literally could not have survived it without you. To my older brother Derrick, for being someone I aspire to be and believing and supporting me in everything. To both of my grandmothers, thank you for encouraging me to take this step into graduate school and for all the prayers you send my way. To Marci, the best sister and friend I could ever ask for, thanks for always being there to listen on those days I didn’t think I could get through and for always being “on board the ship” with me. To Kyle, for giving me confidence, always truly believing in me, and telling me that anything is possible if I want it bad enough. I couldn’t have made it through all this schooling without all of your help! Of course, to my wonderful cohort of the past 2 years, Carleen, Mike, Sarah, Crystal, Matt, Amanda, and Travis, I have learned so much from all of you and this process would not have been nearly as fun without having all of you along for the ride. Thanks to the SCT crew for holding me accountable to get this done! TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………...……………………….1 Relevance of Racial Humor Research……………………..……………….2 Chapter 2: Literature Review…………………..………………………………….4 Humor…..……………….………………………………………………....4 Storytelling…………………..……………………………………………10 Race……………………………………………………………………….14 Racial Humor……………………………………………………………..20 Conclusion and Research Question..……………………………………...26 Chapter 3: Methods……………...……………………………………………….28 Qualitative Research Design……………………………………………...28 Sampling Technique……………………………………………………...29 Sample………………………………………………………………….…29 Procedure…………………………………………………………………30 Measurement Instrument………………………………………………….31 Coding Scheme…………………………………………………………...32 Chapter 4: Results………………...……………………………………………...33 Talking Race……………………………………………………………...33 Using Humor to Discuss Race……………………………………………35 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Post-Humor Discussion…………………………………………………...39 Stereotype Change………………………………………………………..42 Conclusion………………………………………………………………..43 Chapter 5: Discussion…..……………….……………………………………….44 Theoretical Implications………………………………………………….44 Limitations………………………………………………………………..50 Future Implications……………………………………………………….51 Chapter 6: Conclusion…….....…………………………………………………...53 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………54 Appendices………………………………………………………………………..58 Appendix A IRB Consent Form…………………………………………..59 Appendix B Interview Questions…………………………………………61 Using Racial Humor at Work: Promoting Positive Discussions on Race Chapter 1: Introduction On April 12, 2007, popular radio show host, Don Imus, was fired by CBS due to a controversy that emerged from comments he made the previous week. During his radio show, Imus referred to the members of the Rutger’s women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hoes,” in which ‘hoes’ is slang for whores. This comment led to a national discussion regarding the boundaries of freedom of speech. Although much speech is protected, the concept of freedom of speech carries with it a responsibility for that speech. Arguably, Imus may have been trying to be funny, but given the heated debate that followed these comments, I believe it is our duty as a nation to discuss these types of racial issues further and not just for the sake of cleaning house once a wrong has been committed. Racial humor is prevalent in the media in the form of stand-up routines, sitcoms, and sketch comedies. The result of such broadcasts has been to transform race, arguably a sensitive and taboo topic, into something to laugh about. Shows such as Chappelle’s Show, Mind of Mencia, In Living Color, and The Boondocks are prime examples of the way humor has been used to address racial issues. Clearly, some people view some aspect of the racial humor as funny. Some research has shown that the humorous presentation of serious issues may mitigate defensiveness, thus generating increased opportunities for discussing racial issues further. Such discussions can have positive implications for diverse workplaces. Thus, the purpose of my paper is to learn how racial humor may be used positively to improve cross- racial relationships in workplace contexts. 2 Relevance Humor holds great potential for discussing serious issues (Lynch, 2002). However, if we continue only to laugh and not discuss the joke further, we are missing the opportunity to better understand one another. Worse yet, we may inadvertently cause harm to some individuals. Several critical benefits flow from increased cross- racial understanding, including the potential for less conflict and lower levels of divisiveness, both of which may lead to improved employee performance and productivity. First, engaging in proactive discussions about race involves learning about different others and can increase understanding between cross-racial counterparts. This can lead to a second benefit, which is preventing further divisive acts such as Jena 6 and Don Imus’ comments, contributing ultimately to improved cross-racial workplace functioning. After reviewing the relevant literature on humor and some overarching theories as to its use as well as the effects of humor in general, I will examine how jokes can be looked at as a form of storytelling and why people use humor to tell stories. Next, I will discuss race and stereotypes as the latter often is the material that forms the basis of much racial humor. Then, I will provide a brief history of racial humor along with both its negative and positive effects. From this discussion, I will show that research has not yet explored the potential for racially humorous stories to provide a segue for serious positive discussions on racial issues. Traditionally, racial humor has been examined in terms of its negative effects. However, this limited view omits the rest of the picture. I believe that a critical and complete analysis of the effects of humor will show that it can be used for positive 3 effects. In short, I believe racial humor as a form of storytelling, has the potential to promote serious discussions about race that can promote improved cross-racial understanding in organizational contexts. 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review Humor The fundamental goal of a joke is to produce humor. “[H]umor is an intended or unintended message interpreted as funny” (Lynch, 2002, p. 423). What is problematic is that humor is subjective, and although different people are able to enjoy the humor in the same joke, there will also be those who will not appreciate the humor (Perlmutter, 2002). Humor can also be seen as a good way to deliver bad information. In fact, humor is considered a good way to give unpleasant information because it can mask statements to make them seem less malicious than they really are (Young & Bippus, 2001). Why use humor. Three popular theories