Conference of the International Society for Luso-Hispanic Humour Studies that underlines the importance of humour as an intellectual and cultural tool capable of restoring complexity to the human experience.

Laughter Strikes Back. Humour in a World Turned Upside Down

XXII Conference of the International Society for Luso-Hispanic Humour Studies (ISLHHS)

Following the conferences of Paris in 2022, with the question Humor in crisis?, and Lille in 2024, under the provocation The end of humour?, the XXII Conference of the ISLHHS proposes a significant inflection in the thematic path of recent years. The 2026 edition aims to assert that humour has not only resisted the multiple crises that have marked contemporary times, but remains active, relevant and in constant renewal. Under the title Laughter Strikes Back. Humour in a World Turned Upside Down, the conference assumes that laughter continues to represent a decisive resource for lucidity and criticism in contexts of instability and disorder. This proposal is configured as an ironic and reflective pause, an attempt to catch one’s breath and reaffirm the vitality of
humor as a form of resistance. Laughter, in this context, is equivalent to a gesture of symbolic resilience in face of the seriousness of the events that are currently taking place.

The event’s program will include contributions from researchers from the most diverse areas of knowledge, such as History, Literature, Linguistics, Graphic Arts, Law, Sociology, Psychology, Education, Anthropology, Philosophy or Communication, with the aim of examining the multiple languages and supports in which humour manifests itself and operates as a force for destabilising hegemonic discourses, challenging fanaticism and reactivating critical thinking. In a global scenario often described as chaotic and fragmented, humour remains an active form of reading and intervention. Considering this, the XXII Conference underlines the importance of humour as an intellectual and cultural tool capable of restoring complexity to the human experience.

Writer and researcher Rui Zink will be a keynote speaker.

The 2026 ISLHHS Conference will be held in the Almada Negreiros College (CAN) of the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, in the centre of Lisbon. The conference will take place over three days (Wednesday, 3 June through Friday, 5 June). The following day, Saturday, 6 June, will be dedicated to a social program to be announced. The conference will include an opening reception, coffee breaks, the conference dinner and comedy night.

Attendance of the conference (live or online) is open to members of the ISLHHS.

At the end of the conference will be announced the mode of publication of a selection of papers presented (selected according to the process of evaluation of double blind peer review)

Contact:
If you need more information on the conference, please send an email to xxiicongressohumor@gmail.com

Organising Committee

João Pedro Ferreira, CHAM, vice-president ISLHHS
Paulo Jorge Fernandes, IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST
Thaís Leão Vieira, UFMT
Dorothée Chouitem, Sorbonne Université