This panel will deal with the close connection between power and comedy throughout European history from the high Roman Empire to the early nineteenth century. How can power be expressed through comedy and how can it be undermined by it? What are the relations between humor and such categories as gender, class, and the very notion of categorization? The panelists will trace new ways of incorporating humor into serious historical research. Featuring:

Alexander Clayton (Graduate Student, History, University of Michigan)
John Finkelberg (Graduate Student, History, University of Michigan)
Alex Tarbet (Graduate Student, Classics, University of Michigan)
Haley Bowen (chair, Graduate Student, History, University of Michigan)
Jaime Kreiner (respondent, Associate Professor, History, University of Georgia)

This event is part of the Friday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.