Stand-Up Comedy: A Forum for Making Identity

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Recommended: Concepts of personal identity

Identity is a fluid concept that has no static meaning. It continuously takes and loses references and connotations. This continuous change of identity results often from defining one’s place in the world and his/her relationship to others. Defining the other is, therefore, integral to defining the self and defining the self is indispensible from shaping one’s identity in others’ perceptions. Identity definition is a multifaceted complex process that is deeply rooted in the web of human social, cultural and lingual interaction as Jenkins suggested:

Identity is the human capacity-rooted in language-to know ‘who’s who’ (and hence ‘what’s what’). This involves who we are, knowing who others are, them knowing who we are, us knowing who they think we are and so on: a multi-dimensional classification or mapping of the human world and our places in it, as individuals and as members of collectivities….It is a process-identification-not a ‘thing’ (Jenkins 2008, 5)

Identity is not only constructed by the perceiver but it is also construed by the target. It is a process that includes a two-way identification of the self and the other. Changing the perceiver’s impression and understanding of oneself is a process through which the self is redefined and constructed. It is a process referred to by Swann as the “making of minds” through which “perceivers and targets interactively forge agreements regarding the identities of targets” (2005, 69).
This making of minds lies at the core of the making of identity. Colonialist and post-colonialist discourses rest on this idea of changing the matrix of relationships between perceivers and targets and making and remaking minds. The west, according to Edward Said, has historically used a colonial discou...

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...is another advantage of stand-up comedy. To speak taboos, anti-western remarks, or even anti-Arab sentiments on stage in comedy is more passable than in a serious drama. In a comedy, performers and producers can pass the program on the basis of “it is just a joke” license. Paraphrasing Mulkay, Mcilvenny says:

Works Cited

“Stand-Up Comedy: Arab-American comedians in New York (legendado).” 2012. Ajmantube Video, 06:47. Posted by EmyIncorporate, June 7, 2012. http://ajmantube.com/view/2187/standup-comedy-arabamerican-comedians-in-new-york-legendado/
“Maysoon Zayid performs at ATFP Fifth Annual Gala.” 2010. Youtube Video, 14:21. Posted by ATFP, Oct 26, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E01rp7nBtqw
“2008 New York Arab American Comedy Festival Stand Up Preview.” 2007. Youtube Video, 2:14. Posted by NYAACF, Dec 22, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0KAbBlzFbU

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