Laughter from the Margins: Minority Humor in Contemporary German-language Literature

This dissertation explores how humor is employed by minority authors of 21st-century German literature and how that humor contributes to redrawing perceived centers and margins in contemporary Germany. I investigate humor as a community-building tool that establishes points of identification that offer an alternative to traditional notions of German national identity, which historically tend to exclude, “other,” and even oppress minorities. My use of the term “minority” borrows from Fatima El-Tayeb’s notion of a “postethnic minoritarian identity,” which seeks to challenge the binational narrative via a larger diasporic perspective. I provide a close reading of humor in a selection of texts written in German by authors of diverse backgrounds, including, among others, Fatma Aydemir, Olga Grjasnowa, Yoko Tawada, and Abbas Khider. I place their experiences in the historical context of their unique diasporic moment, but also strive to find the similarities in their use of humor, moments of humor in their texts, and the content and function of this humor. My readings of these texts are informed by foundational theories of humor together with concepts from Critical Race Studies, Post-Colonial and Migration Studies, as well as Urban Studies in the German context and beyond. Ultimately, I seek to show how contemporary minority writing in Germany employs humor to reclaim the place of minorities at the center of their own stories—by preserving and defending their right to an experience of “the everyday” (German Alltag), despite traumas experienced; by solidifying their belonging to a generally local, urban, and neighborhood-based community; and by dismantling cultural hierarchies.