About

My name is Marianna Keisalo, I am an anthropologist studying stand-up comedy in Helsinki, Finland and this is my research blog. I have a PhD from the University of Helsinki, my doctoral dissertation was an ethnographic study of clowning in the Easter rituals of the Yaquis, an indigenous group in Northern Mexico. Comedic performance is a long-time research interest for me, in very general terms I am interested in how comedic performances create and shape cultural contexts (and vice versa).

I have been doing field work by going to comedy clubs and hanging out with comedians in Helsinki since January 2015. In the fall of 2015 I took a stand-up comedy course and in December 2015 I started performing at open mic clubs. The picture is from my first performance at On the Rocks, a long-running open mic club, the picture is from a video shot by Bahar Tokat.

The purpose of this blog is to document and provide info on this on-going research.

Comments and questions in both English and Finnish are welcome, you can contact me at marianna.keisalo ( a ) gmail.com

 

My doctoral thesis Cosmic Clowns: Convention, Invention, and Inversion in the Yaqui Easter Ritual can be downloaded here.

You can also find more info on my writings and download texts on my Academia.edu page.