Illustration: Miguel Repiso

Following the conferences of Paris in 2022, with the question Humor in crisis?, and Lille in 2024, under the provocation The end of humor?, the XXII Conference of the ISLHHS, proposes a significant inflection in the thematic path of recent years. The 2026 edition aims to assert that humor 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. Humor 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 humor manifests itself and operates as a force for destabilizing hegemonic discourses, challenging fanaticism and reactivating critical thinking. In a global scenario often described as chaotic and fragmented, humor remains an active form of reading and intervention. Considering this, the XXII Conference underlines the importance of humor as an intellectual and cultural tool capable of restoring complexity to the human experience.

Since its founding in 1996, the International Society for Luso-Hispanic Humor Studies (ISLHHS) has established itself as a recognized forum for academic exchange, interdisciplinary research, and critical reflection on humor in its multiple manifestations and sociocultural contexts. The inaugural conference was held in Philadelphia, USA, marking the beginning of a trajectory that has expanded to several countries in the Americas and Europe. Since then, the society's annual (biannual after the pandemic) meetings have been held in prestigious academic centers, in cities such as Montreal and Sudbury (Canada); San Juan de Puerto Rico; Santiago de Chile; Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, La Paz (Mexico); Minneapolis, Kansas City, Honolulu (USA); San José de Costa Rica; Lisbon (in 2013), as well as two meetings in Brazil — in Cuiabá and Araraquara — and in the French cities of Paris and Lille. The conferences have attracted researchers from different areas of the Humanities and Social Sciences, such as Literature, Linguistics, Graphic Arts, History, Communication, Law, Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology or Education, interested in understanding and explaining humor as a complex phenomenon, crisscrossed by cultural, social and political tensions. With a broad and contemporary approach, the conferences have discussed humor in different media — literature, theater, cinema, music, comics and other graphic arts, digital platforms, television, press, performance — and in its relations with issues such as identity, gender, power, resistance, aesthetics or language.

Conference location and organisational details

The 2026 ISLHHS Conference will be held in the Campus Almada Negreiros (CAN) of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (NOVA FCSH), in the center of Lisbon. The Conference will take place over three days (wednesday, June 3rd through friday, June 5th). The following day, saturday, June 6th, 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.

Conference program and updates will be posted on CHAM and ISLHHS websites and social media.

We invite proposals that explore (but are not limited to) the following topics:

1. Humor strikes back from the perspective of literary studies
2. Humor strikes back from the perspective of linguistic studies
3. Humor strikes back from the perspective of the performing arts, including theater, cinema, music, stand up comedy
4. Humor strikes back from the perspective of the graphic arts, including cartoon, caricature, comics, memes
5. Humor strikes back from the perspective of communication and media studies, including press, television, radio, digital platforms, social media
6. Humor strikes back from the perspective of philosophy and aesthetics
7. Humor strikes back from the perspective of history
8. Humor strikes back from the perspective of sociology
9. Humor strikes back from the perspective of psychology
10. Humor strikes back from the perspective of anthropology
11. Humor strikes back from the perspective of law and politics
12. Humor strikes back from the perspective of educational studies

Useful information:

Submissions (title, 5 keywords and a 250-word abstract, as well as a brief resume of the author) should be sent until 5th December 2025 to the following Conference e-mail address: xxiicongressohumor@gmail.com

By 1st March 2026 the Organizing Committee will inform of their decision on the acceptance / no acceptance of the submissions. Accepted submissions will be presented in English, Portuguese or Spanish (20 minutes).

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

In order to become member of the ISLHHS you are required to fill the membership form and pay a fee of U$40 (pertaining information and link will be sent with the acceptance of the submission).

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 toxxiicongressohumor@gmail.com

Organising Committee

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

Organization

CHAM / NOVA FCSH

ISLHHS

IHC  IN2PAST

Call for papers (.pdf)