It’s actually not funny: a critical dramaturgical analysis of race, communication, and humor for individuals in Black-white romantic relationships

In this study, I examine how humor operates within Black–white interracial romantic relationships, focusing on its role in managing racialized interactions. Drawing on in-depth interviews, I introduce Critical Dramaturgy, a novel theoretical framework that integrates Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis with critical race theories to foreground how race, power, and positionality shape impression management. My findings reveal that humor serves distinct dramaturgical functions linked to one’s racial positioning: white partners often deploy humor to manage impressions and avoid appearing racist, while Black partners use humor to navigate bias, critique whiteness, and negotiate racial hierarchies. Together, these dynamics reveal that seemingly innocuous humor reproduces racial power, sustaining whiteness and reinscribing the subjugation of Blackness. This study advances scholarship on interracial intimacy, racialized labor, and impression management by showing how relational practices that appear humorous carry profound racial consequences. In doing so, Critical Dramaturgy offers a broader analytic lens for examining how the racialized social order is reproduced through routine performances across social and intimate contexts, illuminating the disproportionate burdens placed on Black persons and the racialized relational asymmetries that structure social life.