ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses the power- and peace-potentials of political humor and examines the relevance and importance for multiple types of humor in peacebuilding. Humor plays a role in peace and nonviolent movements. It facilitates embodied communication, identity clarification, conflict response, and affective reactions. In negotiations for conflict resolution, humor usage can help avoid circular argumentation and deadlocks. Training for effective conflict communication has involved role playing and emphasized creativity for the development of effective problem solutions. Additionally, its careful usage has been identified by research as advantageous in accomplishment of several professional goals. Though primarily a study on political humor as a performing art and peace energy, this discussion includes how nonformal peace education and applied theatre employs humor for goals of peacebuilding. It suggests that peace education be taken into spaces where performance of humor can serve as a bridge between the schools and the world outside.
