Huumori ja turvallinen tila yliopisto-opetuksessa

This article examines the convergence of humor and safer space practices within higher education. We ask what teachers committed to the creation of safe spaces should take into consideration if they want to use humor in their classes. The aim of this paper is thus to scrutinize the tensions between laughter and safety, as well as the potentials and risks involved in the use of humor within teaching. Our main claim is that safe spaces can incorporate humor – even in its coarse forms. We maintain, that claims about the incompatibility of safety and intellectually challenging themes are erroneous, and we hold that humor may be both humane and biting at the same time because the topic of the joke alone does not determine the safety of the situation. On the contrary, when a space is safe, humor can be used to discuss even dark and difficult themes. Our analysis is philosophical and draws on humor studies as well as feminist and humanist pedagogy.