Theoretische Beiträge des Zentrums für Integrationsstudien Mi-Cha Flubacher & Sara Hägi-Mead (Editors) Taboo and Transgression Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Migration, Integration, and Diversity Mi-Cha Flubacher & Sara Hägi-Mead (Editors) Taboo and Transgression Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Migration, Integration, and Diversity Aus der Reihe: Theoretische Beiträge des Zentrums für Integrationsstudien Band 1 Unterstützt aus Mitteln des Zukunftskonzepts der TU Dresden (fnanziert aus der Exzellenz- initiative des Bundes und der Länder), gefördert durch das Sächsische Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst (SMWK). Bibliografsche Informationen der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbiblio- grafe; detaillierte bibliografsche Daten sind im Internet über www.dnb.de abrufbar. Korrektorat: Helena Uthof Satz, Layout: Jana Höhnisch, Timo Kracht, Karoline Oehme-Jüngling Umschlaggestaltung: Jana Höhnisch Fotos und Bildrechte: TU Dresden, Titelbild: pixabay.com © 2019 Technische Universität Dresden www.tu-dresden.de Diese Publikation ist nur als eBook erhältlich unter https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-353169 ISSN-Nummer: 2698-6744 Table of Contents MI-CHA FLUBACHER AND SARA HÄGI-MEAD Taboo and Transgression in the Context of Migration, Integration, and Diversity………….. 5 KATJA KANZLER (Meta-)Disparagement Humour: The Poetics and Politics of Mockery in the Sitcom Two Broke Girls ...................................................................................................................................... 15 PAUL MECHERIL AND MONICA VAN DER HAAGEN-WULFF Accredited Afects: Discourses and Taboos around Migration and Threat .......................... 25 SARA HÄGI-MEAD Taboos and Integration: Welcome to Germany ........................................................................... 39 LAURA RIND-MENZEL Taboos and Transgressions as a Result of Insufcient Consideration of Didactic Principles in Orientation Course Materials ................................................................................... 59 OLGA JUBANY AND ROSA LÁZARO CASTELLANOS Virtual Platforms, Real Racism: Online Hate Speech in Europe ............................................... 81 AMANDA HAYNES AND JENNIFER SCHWEPPE Hate Crime: Violently Policing Transgressions of Perceived Parameters of Acceptability……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 97 Author Information ............................................................................................................................. 111 MI-CHA FLUBACHER & SARA HÄGI-MEAD Taboo and Transgression in the Context of Migration, Integration, and Diversity Intolerance, discourtesy and harshness… are taboo in all good society and are surely contrary to the spirit of democracy. Mahatma Ghandi I believe that nothing should be taboo – no theory or prejudice should close one‘s mind to a discovery. Henry Moore All that is sacred and taboo in the world are meaningless. Anaïs Nin 1. Introduction In the quotes above, taboos emerge as constitutive of democracy, as preventing knowledge pro- duction but also as meaningless social conventions. But why are the understandings of taboos thus varied? What is the meaning of taboo – then and now? What is the analytical use of turning to such a concept and its counterpart, i.e. the transgression of taboo(s)? These are some of the questions we will address not only in this introduction but in the volume as a whole, as we will see what the upholding or breaking of taboos tells us about the power structure in a society, about the underlying ideologies as well as dominant discourses. In order to embed an otherwise rather theoretical and abstract discussion on taboo and trans- gression in current political economic conditions, we will briefy turn to the example of the cur- rent extreme right party Alternative für Deutschland (‘Alternative for Germany’, henceforth AfD), which has gained nation-wide momentum since its foundation in 2013, becoming the third larg- est party at this moment after the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands) and the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany, Sozialdemo- kratische Partei Deutschlands). ‘Taboos‘ emerge in the context of the rise of the AfD on several levels: First, and most importantly, as a result of the dismantling of the Nazi Third Reich (1933– 1945) under Adolf Hitler, it had been taboo in German politics to integrate extreme right wing ideology and narratives to ofcial political discourse, which is exactly what representatives of the AfD have openly done (while the party‘s ofcial political programme is hailing “democracy and core values”1). Secondly, at the onset of their ‘success story‘, the AfD was a political taboo in its own, i.e. they were considered an enfant terrible and, thus, unsuitable for collaboration by the other two major parties – but as the development of many taboos attest, this has changed, which is due to their success in local elections.2 Thirdly, the AfD fashions itself as a ‘taboo breaker‘, most importantly regarding the taboo of national pride, which, again, has been impossible to appropriate in Germany since World War II without a nationalist overtone.3 The AfD now reclaims such pride discourses, linking it to national identity with clear imageries of ‘us‘ in which the ‘others‘ are the immigrants, Muslims, refugees, etc.4 In the end, such “claims to taboo” (German: Tabu-Anspruch, cf. von Lucke 2010) and the political staging of taboo breaking (cf. Schröder/ Mildenberg 2012) employed by the AfD (and other comparable political parties or movements) aim to reverse agency, i.e. to present one‘s own opinion and group as tabooed, as silenced and, fnally, as victimised (cf. Hägi-Mead 2018), e.g. by agents of ‘political correctness‘. This becomes evident in the ofcial political programme of AfD, which celebrates conservative, nationalist, and chauvinist ideologies. The taboos in question here can thus be summarised as connected to narratives on World War II/Nazi Germany, on immigration and integration, on the ‘refugee welcome‘ culture promoted by German chancellor Angela Merkel, and related topics that have become inherent to the identity construction of a reunifed, tolerant and open Germany. 5 Mi-Cha Flubacher & Sara Hägi-Mead It is important to note that there are many local grassroots initiatives and institutional eforts to counter the rise of the extreme right in the name of a tolerant Germany. Universities in particular have spearheaded such eforts, from launching anti-racist campaigns to fully-fedged research centres, of which the Centre for Integration Studies (Zentrum für Integrationsstudien, ZfI) is an example, located at the TU Dresden.5 It is not a coincidence that this centre was founded in Dresden, as this former East German town has gained notoriety as the hotbed of Pegida (short for Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, a forerunner of the AfD) and for a high voter turnout for the AfD. This new online publication series is to be read as another counter-narrative on the hotly debat- ed topics of migration, integration and diversity, while adhering to critical thought and intellectual rigour. As is widely known, the shift to the right in political discourse is not restricted to Germany. Albeit the question of which taboos are ‘broken‘ depends on the political and historical context, right wing and authoritarian tendencies have dominated the media landscape and political scene all over Europe and North America over the last few years. While the societal and political discus- sions about ‘fake news‘ (Lügenpresse in Germany) and ‘alternative facts‘ shed light on the negotia- tions on the production of knowledge and on legitimate and authoritative news production that transgress an allegedly established consensus, political initiatives of the populist right have re- sulted in the founding of successful political parties, separation movements or governments that constantly firt with the breaking and transgression of taboos. In the light of these developments, it can be useful to go back to questions on the understanding, meaning, and analytical function of taboos that were raised at the beginning of this introduction. In the following, we will give a short summary of how to tackle the concept of ‘taboo‘ in an ana- lytical way and how to relate it to transgression. In a second step, we will outline a programmatic approach to taboo and how to apply it in a functional perspective for the analysis of contempo- rary society, which is increasingly marked by debates on migration, integration policies and nego- tiations revolving around diversity and identity. In a fnal step, we will present an overview of the individual contributions. 2. What‘s in a taboo? As the three quotes at the beginning of this introduction attest, taboos have diferent meanings in contemporary society. First, for Mahatma Gandhi (1883–1944), the famous leader of Indian in- dependence from colonial Britain, taboos appear to be of functional value. In that sense, he relo- cates the unspeakable and undoable into the realm of the taboo; in this instance, he describes “intolerance, discourtesy and harshness” as detrimental to the values of a recently installed and still vulnerable democracy. In contrast, the acclaimed British sculpture artist Henry Moore (1898– 1986) formulates the transgression of taboos as productive