Humour as Test of Significance

Scholars perform seriousness. It is made evident in their publications, conferences, and obituaries. But the secret is sometimes out, as they might indulge in honesty about their own lives and what they know must be true for others. It can happen while teaching, advising a student, or REALLY getting serious about social existence. That is when we might encounter humour in the large sense, the use of self as intimate device to explain how the world works. We might even cross borders of gender, race, and nation. Unless there is humour, I would provoke, truth is held back by fear and obfuscation. Ken Plummer drove the other way: chuckling and sharing out loud. Behind each chuckle was pleasure from irony, learning, and appreciating others’ struggles to do their best. That is method at its finest – and topic of this chapter.