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Kritika Kultura

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6745-6490; https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9039-1648

Abstract

In this article, we argue that negative affects play crucial roles in shaping the identity of Malaysian Chinese within the context of Anglophone stand-up comedy. While prior studies on stand-up comedy have largely focused on individual affects such as shame or anger, little attention has been paid to the relational and synergistic dynamics of negative affects, particularly within racialized and postcolonial contexts. To address this gap, we conceptualize stand-up comedy as an affective arena, which allows for a nuanced examination of enduring social issues in Malaysia around conflicts and disparities in race and culture. To this end, we adopt an affective methodological approach informed by purposive sampling and close reading of four selected comedy clips from Jason Leong, a renowned Malaysian Chinese comedian, to trace and examine how negative affects are negotiated within the ambiguities interwoven with Malaysianness and Chineseness. Incorporating an archipelagic perspective inspired by Édouard Glissant’s notion of relation, we propose the concept of archipelagic negative affects to capture the fluid, rhizomatic, interconnected, synergistic, racialized, and ambivalent qualities of negative affects, as they manifest explicitly in performative contexts. In conclusion, we contend that negative affects, through stand-up comedy, are rechanneled towards constructive ends, making possible tension relief, inner solidarity, and fortified resilience. Our findings offer broader implications for theorizing archipelagic affects within racialized performance practices in postcolonial contexts.

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