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ISHS Montreal

July 10-14 2017

 

Please note that the conference will be officially bilingual in French and English, since Canada is a bilingual country.

An Exploration of Humor

« Je ne sais quoi! »

There is something… There are somethings about humor that exert(s) an attraction, a strength as universal as gravity, but as diverse as human beings. Trying to understand it all at once is nothing short of a dream. But all dreams, before becoming reality, need a starting point.

We do not have the nerve to pretend that we will, once and for all, understand everything about humor in 2017, but to bring together humor experts and enthusiasts at the same venue should help our desire to better understand humor, no matter how we choose to look at it.

This year’s conference asks how to define and describe the force that is generated from and to humor. Why is humor such a distinctive aspect of our lives? Why do we need humor? Why is it sometimes inappropriate but still present? Why do we comply to that force even in our most darkest and serious hours?

We hope that these questions will be challenged as much by practitioners (therapists, teachers, commentators, communication professionals, artists, etc.) than researchers (from Arts & Humanities as well as Social & Applied Sciences). Doing so, we hope that this year’s conference will continue to promote the dialogue between artists, professionals and academics, and will bring us a little closer to a better understanding of what humor is all about.

All practitioners and researchers have been invited to share their most recent experiences and results at the 2017 ISHS Conference in Montreal (Québec, Canada) by submitting abstracts on the general theme or on any aspect related to Humor. We offer different ways to contribute to the discussion: paper proposal, workshop, poster session and panel proposal.

Paper proposal: Paper sessions will be 90 minutes in length with each speaker allotted 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for questions. Time limits will be strictly observed so as to give every delegate equal time for presentation – it is advisable to time your paper in advance to avoid being cut off. A 350-word abstract has to be submitted via the online form before March 15 2017.

Workshops: Workshops should be planned for a single 90-minute instructional/working session with one, two, or three facilitators. The proposal should include the completed online submission form with the workshop title and the names and contact information of all presenters. The proposal should include a 350-word abstract and has to be electronically submitted before March 15 2017.

Poster session: Poster session will run 90 minutes with each individual poster assigned a four-by-five foot space for presentation. Poster proposals must include the completed online submission form and abstract (350 words maximum). Please note that the Conference organizers may reassign poster submissions to paper presentations if too few poster submissions are received.

Panel proposal or symposium: Special Panels should be planned for a minimum of 90-minute format with three presentations. Proposals must provide the title of the symposium along with the names, affiliations, and contact information for the chair and all contributors. The proposal should include a session overview along with separate abstracts for each paper presentation, submitted electronically. Neither the overview nor the paper abstracts should exceed 350 words in length. Panel proposals must be transferred using the electronic form before March 15 2017.

Graduate Students Awards: Graduate students who submit papers for the 2017 International Humor Conference can apply for the Don and Alleen Nilsen Young Scholars Award (DANYS) and/or two additional ISHS Graduate Student Awards (GSAs). Recipients of these awards receive certificates of merit and monetary stipends ($500 for the DANYS and $250 for each GSA) and present their papers in a special conference session. To be eligible for these awards, students must register online and use the official online form for paper submissions (before March 15 2017) AND send the following document to this address ishs2017@uqam.ca:

 a) a letter of interest, describing their research program in Humor Studies,

b) their curriculum vita, and, for the DANYS award,

c) their completed conference paper.

 The deadline for Graduate Student Award applications is March 31, 2017.

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