“Our joy is very shallow.” The mayor of a Mindanao municipality stated this in response to a question about Filipinos’ cultural responses to talking about tragic events. The response that we received in most interactions and meetings was a giggle at times when speaking about tragic events.
In our first meeting our host discussed conflict, rido (clan conflict), internally displaced camps and every once in a while he would laugh a little. My first instinct when someone else laughs is to laugh because it is contagious and something is funny, but really from my end there was nothing to laugh about. I was confused because I thought I was missing something, that a joke flew over my head, it would not have been the first time. So I listened and paid attention to everyone around me to see their responses. No one seemed as curious as I or they really weren’t showing it. Meeting after meeting laughter was a common cultural response when speaking about high stress situations.
In our first meeting our host discussed conflict, rido (clan conflict), internally displaced camps and every once in a while he would laugh a little. My first instinct when someone else laughs is to laugh because it is contagious and something is funny, but really from my end there was nothing to laugh about. I was confused because I thought I was missing something, that a joke flew over my head, it would not have been the first time. So I listened and paid attention to everyone around me to see their responses. No one seemed as curious as I or they really weren’t showing it. Meeting after meeting laughter was a common cultural response when speaking about high stress situations.
In the U.S. laughter occurs most in times of joy and lighthearted easy moments. There are also moments when you laugh at things that do not seem funny at all, for example when you hit your funny bone or when you get hurt and you laugh at yourself in an embarrassing manner. I find myself laughing at times that I am nervous as well.
Digging a little deeper and doing some research on psychological studies Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran theorizes “that laughter evolved as a signal both to ourselves and others that what may appear dangerous or threatening actually isn’t.” As a defense mechanism we are signaling ourselves that whatever traumatic event we have just experienced isn’t really as horrible as it seems, which is what we would like to believe. Laughter can also be used to protect ourselves against anxiety. The protection enables us not to ignore traumatic events but to face them head on.
Usually after a traumatic loss there has been a time of healing prior to having the capability of laughter. What at one time made you cry, in time you may be able to laugh about it. We asked so many questions on how trauma is dealt with in Mindanao and the simple answer may be laughter. Through the western perspective we want to see steps to processing trauma but for the Mindanaon’s “being able to face an old trauma with humor may very well then be considered a reliable signal of psychological recovery.”
In Mindanao the culture has known violence and conflict as a constant for over thirty years. Laughter isn’t something we think about as a link to suffering but it just may be the tool needed to encourage ourselves to move forward. In the U.S. we may laugh until we cry but in Mindanao they just laugh.
Digging a little deeper and doing some research on psychological studies Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran theorizes “that laughter evolved as a signal both to ourselves and others that what may appear dangerous or threatening actually isn’t.” As a defense mechanism we are signaling ourselves that whatever traumatic event we have just experienced isn’t really as horrible as it seems, which is what we would like to believe. Laughter can also be used to protect ourselves against anxiety. The protection enables us not to ignore traumatic events but to face them head on.
Usually after a traumatic loss there has been a time of healing prior to having the capability of laughter. What at one time made you cry, in time you may be able to laugh about it. We asked so many questions on how trauma is dealt with in Mindanao and the simple answer may be laughter. Through the western perspective we want to see steps to processing trauma but for the Mindanaon’s “being able to face an old trauma with humor may very well then be considered a reliable signal of psychological recovery.”
In Mindanao the culture has known violence and conflict as a constant for over thirty years. Laughter isn’t something we think about as a link to suffering but it just may be the tool needed to encourage ourselves to move forward. In the U.S. we may laugh until we cry but in Mindanao they just laugh.
(Photos by Lauren)
