Weaponized Humor: the Cultural Politics Of
WEAPONIZED HUMOR: THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF TURKISH-GERMAN ETHNO-COMEDY by TIM HÖLLERING B.A. Georg-August Universität Göttingen, 2008 M.Ed., Georg-August Universität Göttingen, 2010 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Germanic Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2016 © Tim Höllering, 2016 Abstract My thesis aims to show how the humor of Turkish-German ethno-comedians fulfills a double purpose of entertaining its audience while advancing a cultural political agenda that Kathrin Bower called “transnational humanism.” It includes notions of human rights consensus, critical self-reflection, respect, tolerance, and openness to cultural diversity. Promoting these values through comedy, the artists hope to contribute to abating prejudice and discrimination in Germany’s multi-ethnic society. Fusing the traditional theatrical principle of “prodesse et delectare” with contemporary cultural politics, these comedians produce something of political relevance: making their audience aware of its conceptions of “self” and “other” and fostering a sense of community across diverse cultural identifications. My thesis builds mainly on the works of Kathrin Bower, Maha El Hissy, Erol Boran, Deniz Göktürk, and Christie Davies. Whereas Davies denies humor’s potential for cultural impact, Göktürk elucidates its destabilizing power in immigrant films. Boran elaborates this function for Turkish-German Kabarett. El Hissy connects Kabarett, film, and theater of polycultural artists and ties them to Bakhtin’s concept of the carnivalesque and the medieval jester. Bower published several essays on the works of ethno-comedians as humorous catalysts for advancing a multiethnic Germany.
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