In eight pages this paper examines ethnicity as it impacts upon identity and humor. Four sources are cited in the bibliography.
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ethnic humor has become a large part of ethnic identity. Ethnic humor in Native American humor has found to have elements of oppression of the Natives but then relates how
the Natives overcame this oppression which is considered a major theme in the literature of Native American ethnic identity. The Jewish American population has a distinct ethnic humor which is
not affiliated with any religious Jewish heritage but is Jewish in its identity issues of oppression, instability and mockery. Japanese ethnic humor helps to clear up misunderstandings between Japanese traditions
and Western ways and applies a more subtle approach which may gently comment on Japanese traditions but also rebuffs Westerners from their stereotyping and misunderstanding of Japanese traditions. This subtle
humor has very much become a part of the Japanese identity and their adaptation to Western society. While ethnic humor is more often considered unique to one ethnic group, comedians
and researchers have recently begun to explore the possibilities of using similar features found in some humor to help forge relationships between two ethnic groups. Ethnic literature in North America
has been traditionally thought of as literature which is post-colonial when in actual fact Native Americans obviously believe that the roots to North American literature should be found in the
literatures of the Native American Indians. There was a significant oral and narrative gamut of American culture which is both historically and ethnically significant. There are currently two types of
Native American literatures which exist today: historical works made of Native Americans and their traditions; and, literary works made by Native Americans themselves (Vasudeva, 1997). One aspect of this work
which has virtually gone unnoticed in the modern literary world is that of ethnic Native American humour and how it relates and affects the identity of the Native American culture.
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