Humour as a Strategy to Talk About and Challenge Dominant Discourses of Social Integration: A Case Study of Adolescent German Turkish Descendants in Germany

In line with Positive Psychology’s focus on humour as a coping mechanism for challenging situations, which has a positive impact on individuals’ psychological well-being (Peterson and Seligman, Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press, 2004), this chapter looks at how German Turkish descendants use humour as a strategy to cope with and challenge dominant Discourses of social integration in Germany. This chapter focuses on the perspective of those who are affected in different ways by mainstream Discourses around (and perceived lack of) integration into German society, namely adolescents of German Turkish descent. In over 13 hours of audio-recorded discussions, our participants often utilise humour as a coping mechanism to make fun of and at the same time criticise the difficulties of social integration. Findings illustrate that humour is an important strategy frequently used to assist speakers to talk about the unsayable (Billig, Discourse & Society, 12(3), 267–289, 2001), to collaboratively make meaning of their own experiences in a difficult context, and to eventually challenge, resist, and possibly change current mainstream Discourses about the difficulties of social integration.