A CFP for people who care about comedy

I know a lot of funny teachers, and I know teachers who don't consider themselves funny but know how to use funny texts to help students understand important concepts, and I'm sure there are many more out there whom I haven't met yet. But I want to hear from all of them--or a good number, at least, because it's going to take a bunch of people who care about comedy to make this project happen.

Yes: I'm excited to announce that I'm seeking essay submissions for a new volume on Teaching Comic Texts, part of MLA's Options for Teaching Series. Click here to read the full Call for Proposals and see how to submit, but meanwhile, here's an excerpt to whet your appetite:

When comedy dominates popular culture so thoroughly that it’s difficult to distinguish spoofs from truths, when identities and relationships form and fumble on a foundation of comic memes, and when the powerful and the powerless wield comedy alternately as weapon or shield, it’s time for the academy to take comedy seriously. Teaching Comic Texts, edited by Bev Hogue, will examine how comic texts of many types can be deployed in classrooms, either as a topic of literary or cultural study or as a window into understanding other fields. In addition to exploring historical and theoretical contexts, essays in the volume will provide practical insights for teaching comic texts in a variety of disciplines. As part of the MLA’s Options for Teaching series, the volume will appeal to beginning or experienced teachers in undergraduate and graduate programs in literature and language, rhetoric and composition, culture studies, media studies, communication, philosophy, creative writing, and other disciplines where comic texts might prove useful. 

A field that ranges from Aristophanes to The Onion by way of Shakespeare, Charlie Chaplin, and The Simpsons offers a wide range of areas for inquiry open to a variety of methodologies. Comic texts may illuminate moments in history or the lives of others, offer models for rhetorical methods, challenge students to practice critical thinking skills, examine aspects of the human condition, and more. Students studying comedy might engage with plays, novels, and poetry alongside films, memes, and live stand-up performances, and they need a wide range of tools and activities to equip them to exist in a comedy-heavy media environment. Essays describing specific methods that can be adapted across disciplines are especially welcome, and the volume will conclude with a collection of lesson plans, assignments, and other practical resources.

Now don't you want to be a part of this project? Or maybe you know someone who needs to know about this--please share! I'm eager to see the proposals come pouring in from funny (or  unfunny) people who want to take comedy pedagogy seriously. Just click here to get started. Can't wait to hear from you!