Keynotes

To view the full updated event schedule, please visit our program.

Keynote Lectures

Keynote 1: Humor as an Anti-Victimization Strategy

Daniel Kupermann (USP)

July 6, 6:30 PM

Daniel Kupermann is a psychoanalyst, Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Psychology of the University of São Paulo (USP), and a CNPq Research Fellow. He serves as Vice President of the International Sándor Ferenczi Network and is a member of the Brazilian Sándor Ferenczi Research Group. He has authored numerous articles published in scientific journals in Brazil and abroad, as well as several books, most notably Crossed Transfers: A History of Psychoanalysis and Its Institutions (Transferências cruzadas: uma história da psicanálise e suas instituições), Why Ferenczi? (Por que Ferenczi?), and Daring to Laugh: Humor and Creation in Psychoanalysis (Ousar rir: humor e criação na psicanálise).

Venue: Sala Nelson Pereira dos Santos (Av. Visconde do Rio Branco, 880, São Domingos, Niterói, near the UFF campus)

Keynote 2: What Is Humor Studies For? And Why Study Racist Humor?

Raúl Pérez (University of La Verne)

July 7, 7:00 PM

Raúl Pérez is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of La Verne in Southern California. His research examines the intersections of racism, humor, and social conflict in the United States and globally. His first book, The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy (Stanford University Press, 2022), received the 2023 Mary Douglas Book Prize from the American Sociological Association’s Section on the Sociology of Culture and was a finalist for the 2022 C. Wright Mills Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Venue: ICHF Auditorium (Block P, UFF Gragoatá Campus, near the IACS Building)

Keynote 3: We Don’t Know How to Curate a Meme Exhibition

Clarissa Diniz (UFRJ)

July 8, 7:00 PM

Clarissa Diniz is Professor in the Department of Art History and Theory at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from UFRJ and conducts research at the intersection of modern and contemporary art, anthropology, and politics. She has published numerous exhibition catalogs and articles in specialized journals, including Concreta, Latin America, ARS, MODOS, Arte & Ensaios, Concinnitas, and Espaço Ameríndio. She served as a curator at the Rio Museum of Art (MAR) from 2013 to 2018 and has collaborated on numerous other curatorial and research projects. Most recently, she curated MEME: no Br@sil da memeficação (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, 2025–2026).

Venue: ICHF Auditorium (Block P, UFF Gragoatá Campus, near the IACS Building)

Keynote 4: Humor on Skin: The Malfeitona Case and the Materiality of Comedy

Helen Fernandes (aka Malfeitona)

July 9, 7:00 PM

Helen Fernandes (better known as Malfeitona) is a Brazilian multitalented artist, tattooist, content creator, comedian, and digital influencer. She gained widespread recognition on social media for her distinctive “badly done” (malfeita) tattoo style and her humorous videos, which blend irony, improvisation, and observations on everyday life while engaging with meme culture and internet vernacular. Her work spans tattooing, sculpture, multimedia performance, DJing, and a variety of other artistic practices.

Her keynote draws on her own artistic trajectory to reflect on how humor can move beyond words and performance to become a material and embodied practice. The session explores tattoos as a medium for comedy, identity, and self-expression, examining how the body itself can become a site where humor is created, shared, and performed. The keynote will be followed by a hands-on workshop (with limited enrollment) in which participants will create temporary humorous tattoos and experiment with the body as a canvas for comedic expression.

Venue: IACS Auditorium (Please note that attendance for this keynote is limited, as it is linked to the workshop of the same name. See below for more information on how to register for the keynote+workshop session.)

Guest Roundtables

Roundtable 1: Humor, Image, and Culture

Benjamim Picado (UFF), Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste (Georgia State University), João Senna (INCT.DD/UFBA, chair)

July 7, 4:00 PM

Roundtable 2: Humor, Journalism, and Mis/Disinformation

Roberto Kaz (Piauí Herald), Marcelo Zorzanelli (Sensacionalista), Clara Balbi (UFF, chair)

July 8, 2:00 PM

Roundtable 3: Humor and Gender

Clarice Falcão (Porta dos Fundos), Adriana Falcão (Porta dos Fundos), Dida Camero (Porta dos Fundos), Bella Camero (Porta dos Fundos), Thaís Leão Vieira (UFMT, chair)

July 8, 4:00 PM

Roundtable 4: Humor and the Regulation of Digital Platforms

Thales Bueno (Kwai), Rodrigo Carreiro (Aláfia Lab), Luisa F. Isaza-Ibarra (University of Groningen, chair)

July 9, 9:00 AM

In addition to these guest roundtables, the program also includes several roundtables proposed and organized by members of the ISHS 2026 community. Stay tuned!

Workshops

The ISHS 2026 program also features three workshops with limited capacity. These short practical and theoretical sessions explore a range of topics related to humor.

Workshop 1

Irreverent Narratives vs. Official Narratives: Historical Satires to Reflect on Human Rights and Reimagine Reality (Portuguese only)

Eduardo Katz

July 7, 2:00 PM

Workshop 2

Humor and Cultural Critique in Contemporary Practices and Generative Music: A Workshop on Musical Creation with AI

Sebastián Piracés-Ugarte

July 9, 11:00 AM

Workshop 3

Humor on Skin: The Malfeitona Case and the Materiality of Comedy