Laughing through Brexit: Family humour practices, political troubles and everyday life

Abstract

Humour has a well-established role in the public life of politics; however, its use within families affected by macro-level political events remains understudied. This article explores how families employed humour to navigate family troubles introduced by Brexit, the United Kingdom’s tumultuous exit from the European Union. Through an ethnographic study, we demonstrate how extraordinary political times test the positive relational potentials of humour. Families reframed situations through ‘playfulness’, exercised gentle and well-timed teasing, and digitally shared Brexit-related comedy objects to alleviate stresses and anxieties. However, the intensity of the Brexit drama rendered some family humour practices futile, and in particular circumstances, humour became an additional burden. By examining the interrelations of political events, everyday family practices and humour, this article demonstrates the integral role of humour in the reconstitution of familial relationships, the importance of craft, and the significance of relational and situational contexts to the successful deployment of humour.