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Dr Simon Weaver
Reader

Marie Jahoda 203

Summary

Simon is a Reader in Media and Communications at Brunel University London. He is an internationally recognised expert on humour and comedy, whose research has provided a foundational critique of racist and offensive humour, and significantly reshaped understandings of the links between populism and comedy. Simon is a founding member of the Centre for Comedy Studies Research (CCSR) at Brunel University London. 

Simon completed his PhD in the Department of Sociology, University of Bristol, with a thesis entitled Humour, Rhetoric and Racism: A Sociological Critique of Racist Humour. That thesis formed the basis of his first book, The Rhetoric of Racist Humour: US, UK and Global Race Joking, which was published by Ashgate in September 2011. His first journal article (The ‘Other’ Laughs Back: Humour and Resistance in Anti-Racist Comedy, Sociology 2010 44.1: 31-48), won the British Sociological Association’s ‘Sage Prize for Innovation and/or Excellence 2011’. 

Between his PhD and arriving at Brunel in 2012, Simon worked as a Research Associate in Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester and held an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Communications and Media Studies, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University.

Qualifications:

  • PhD Sociology (Bristol)
  • MSc Sociology (Bristol)
  • BA History and Sociology (UWE)

Responsibility

Postgraduate Programme Coordinator, Sociology and Communications.

Deputy Chair of Board of Examiners.

Convenor, MSc Media and Communications.

Newest selected publications

Weaver, S. (2023) 'Towards a theorization of racist humour and affect: Book Review of The Souls of White Jokes. How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy, by Raúl Pérez'. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 30 (5). pp. 763 - 766. ISSN: 1070-289X Open Access Link

Journal article

Lockyer, S. and Weaver, S. (2022) 'On the importance of the dynamics of humour and comedy for constructionism and reflexivity in social science research methodology'. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 25 (5). pp. 645 - 657. ISSN: 1364-5579 Open Access Link

Journal article

Weaver, S. (2021) 'The Rhetoric of Brexit Humour. Comedy, Populism and the EU Referendum'. Routledge. ISSN 13: 9780367350987

Book

Weaver, S. (2019) 'Brexit Tricksters and the Reconstruction of Taboo. Populism, Irony and Satire in Post-Referendum Britain'. Comedy Studies, 10 (2). pp. 154 - 166. ISSN: 2040-610X Open Access Link

Journal article

Weaver, S. (2018) 'Brexit Irony on The Last Leg and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Critiquing Neoliberalism through Caricature', in Webber, J. (ed.) The Joke Is on Us: Political Comedy in (Late) Neoliberal Times. Lanham, Maryland : Lexington Books. pp. 65 - 86. ISBN 10: 1498569846. ISBN 13: 978-1498569842. Open Access Link

Book chapter
More publications(40)
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