Spiritual humour as resistance and renewal: Desmond Tutu and apartheid South Africa

Abstract

In contexts of systemic injustice and dehumanisation, humour can function as a significant form of spiritual practice through which individuals and communities resist oppression and foster renewal. Laughter in such contexts transforms relationships, strengthens resilience, and opens imaginative space for reconfiguring oppressive realities. Drawing on perspectives from Christian spirituality and humour studies, this article situates humour within its socio-political and religious contexts and argues that it functions as a spiritual praxis. It develops a typology of humour, with particular attention to its self-deprecating and mystical dimensions, showing how these forms of laughter cultivate interior freedom while sustaining communal solidarity and engaging questions of ultimate meaning. Apartheid South Africa is engaged as a paradigmatic example, with particular attention to the witness of Desmond Tutu, to illustrate how spiritual humour operates within conditions of extreme oppression. In this way, humour not only confronts injustice but also participates in the transformation of oppressive realities and the renewal of persons and communities. The article thus retrieves laughter as a vital yet underexplored resource for spiritual resistance, re-creation, and communal flourishing.