HUMOUR and laughter will take centre stage at the 2017 GraceKennedy Foundation Lecture on March 8 at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, when Dr Michael Abrahams, well-known Jamaican comedian and gynaecologist obstetrician, explores these issues.

“Laughing ‘healthily and heartily’ has helped me to maintain the little sanity that I have and, apparently, I am not alone. The combination of humour and laughter has helped us to bond, to learn, and to live healthier and happier lives. Laughter is like a potent, psychoactive drug with minimal adverse side effects,” said Dr Abrahams.

When he presents the lecture, entitled ‘Humour, Laughter and Life’, Dr Abraham is expected to bring insight and humour to a complex subject.

Caroline Mahfood, executive director of the GraceKennedy Foundation, explained that in selecting the topic for this year’s lecture, the foundation sought to tackle a subject that would help us to understand the coping skills of the Jamaican and Caribbean psyche in the face of rapidly escalating crime and economic hardship.

“Kingston abounds with playhouses that serve up rib-tickling productions at least five nights of the week. All enjoy excellent support. This phenomenon seems contradictory in an environment that is often overwhelmingly depressive. The question arose as to whether this quest for laughter was merely a temporary mode of escape or provided a more lasting benefit. We believe that Dr Abrahams, a scientist who has become one of our leading comedians, is best placed to bring the rigour of research to enlighten us on the role that humour and laughter play in our lives,” said Mahfood.

Dr Abrahams graduated from the UWI in 1989 with the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degrees and with the Doctor of Medicine (DM) in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1997. In that year, also, he became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

A board member of the Jamaica Cancer Society, Dr Abrahams has been a volunteer physician there for the past 20 years. In 1997, he founded a group called HOPE — Helping Others Progress Emotionally — for women who experience miscarriages, stillbirths and neonatal death.

His recognition of the scourge of child abuse led him in 2015 to start a children’s rights advocacy group —Protect our Children. He was named Ally of the Year by J-Flag in 2016. Over the past decade or more, Dr Abrahams has become a serious social commentator and poet, using comedy as a vehicle for reaching his audience.

The GraceKennedy Foundation Lecture has established itself over the past two and a half decades as an invaluable instrument of social and intellectual discourse as it examines the many various national and regional issues. Culture, politics, gender affairs, the Jamaican family, food and nutrition, volunterism, technology, sports and well-being are only a few of the areas that have been subject to the insightful analysis of the lecture series.

The inaugural lecture was presented by G Arthur Brown, former governor of the Bank of Jamaica. The standard set then has been maintained by distinguished scholars such as Rev Burchell Taylor, Professors Don Mills, Patrick Bryan, Errol Miller, Michael Taylor and Barry Chevannes. The cadre of influential speakers also includes several outstanding Jamaican women, including cultural icon and musicologist Marjorie Whylie, Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie, Dr Maureen Samms Vaughn and Dr Pauline Milburn.

The lecture is streamed live via the foundation’s YouTube channel: GraceKennedy Cares. In addition, copies of the lecture book are distributed to schools and public libraries across the island, and the e-book is available online at www.gracekennedy.com in the hope that the lecture’s reach will extend beyond those present at its delivery.