Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Ethnic clichés, jokes, and ethnic stereotypes represent repeated short statements about an ethnic people in a polyethnic society. They can emerge in polyethnic societies, and in some cases, be known as a source of ethnic conflict. Indeed, these kinds of ethnic jokes can produce an improper image of identity. Like many societies with ethnic diversity, ethnic people in Iran have their own positive and negative stereotypes; the latter are reproduced and revived in ethnic jokes. Gilak people, as an Iranian ethnic people, and their intellectuals respond differently to ethnic jokes and negative stereotypes. Response to this oral genre of literature can show the cultural and ethnic attitude of an ethnic group as the target of the ethnic joke. According to anthropological studies, changes in linguistic habits could be seen in responses to ethnic jokes. Owing to different reasons and causes, ethnic jokes have been recounted about Gilak ethnic group since the Pahlavi dynasty. What has been the response of the aforementioned ethnic group to these kind of jokes? Striving to scrutinize the response of one of Iranian ethnic group to these kinds of jokes, this article tries to show this response based on an anthropological study, and the influence of ethnic jokes on the use of the ethnic language and linguistic habits will be explained.