Britta Kallin, associate professor of German and director of graduate studies in the School of Modern Languages, contributed a chapter to the new book Minority Discourses in Germany since 1990. Kallin’s chapter is titled “German Comedians Combatting Racist Stereotypes and Discrimination: Oliver Polak, Dave Davis, and Serdar Somuncu.”

The chapter explores how Polak, Davis, and Somuncu question “established norms of whiteness and Christianity” in Germany and are still present in the current German national narrative.

“The comedians’ shows problematize the idea of a homogenous, unmarked white German identity,” the abstract states. “Despite shortcomings of reproducing misogynist, ableist, and homophobic stereotypes, the comedians perform anti-racist, transcultural comedy by including transgressive humor to resist racism, debunk the assumed fixity of the German cultural imaginary, and normalize a multi-ethnic Germany.”