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Inanthropology, ajoking relationship is a relationship between two people that involves aritualised banter of teasing or mocking.
InNiger it is listed on theRepresentative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[1]
Analysed by British social anthropologistAlfred Radcliffe-Brown in 1940,[2] it describes a kind ofritualised banter that takes place, for example between a man and his maternal mother-in-law in some South African indigenous societies. Two main variations are described: anasymmetrical relationship where one party is required to take no offence at constant teasing or mocking by the other, and asymmetrical relationship where each party makes fun at the other's expense.[citation needed]
The joking relationship is an interaction that mediates and stabilizes social relationships where there is tension, competition, or potential conflict, such as between in-laws and between clans and tribes.[3]
Joking relationships can also exist between nations. Writing on the joking relationships between the Scandinavian countries, sociologist Peter Gundelach states, "Joking relationships are social relations where citizens of two nations tease one another by employing stereotypes. Therefore a joking relationship can only be established between nations that are somehow related to each other."[4]
While first documented academically by Radcliffe-Brown in the 1920s, this type of relationship is now understood to be very widespread across societies in general. InWest Africa, particularly inMali, it is regarded as a centuries-old cultural institution known assanankuya.[citation needed]
Joking relationships existed among theTio people (inRepublic of Congo) between members of the opposite sex and same generation, and between grandmothers and grandchildren.[5]: 57–8
This type of relationship contrasts strongly with societies where so-calledavoidance speech or "mother-in-law" language is imposed to minimise interaction between the two parties, as in manyAustralian Aboriginal languages.Donald F. Thomson's articleThe Joking Relationship and Organized Obscenity in North Queensland gives an in-depth discussion of a number of societies where these two speech styles co-exist.[6] The joking relationships which are most unconstrained and free are between classificatory Father's Father and Son's Son—which appears to be the same situation as in thePlains cultures of North America.[citation needed]
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