Humor, Identity, and Belonging

Humor is a powerful resource, often used when establishing one’s position in new social and cultural environments. This volume seeks a more complex understanding of the intersections between humor, identity, and belonging through an observation of Americans interacting in Japanese. The Americans in the study occupy a category that is simultaneously limiting and empowering. Though ostensibly positioned in social peripheries due to stereotypical assumptions about foreigners in Japan, they also have certain privileges owing to their association with categories like "native English speaker" that are believed to hold value in a global economy. The ways that participants use humor to navigate this unique positioning is examined through an analysis of intercultural interactions in institutional settings in Japan and an immersion program in the United States. This study challenges the idea that "being an outsider" is inherently marginalizing by illustrating situations in which embracing foreignness can also be helpful. Central to this is the important role that humor plays in accessing the empowering side of an otherwise othering social identity.