Ethnic humor as counternarrative in Turkish stand-up comedy

This dissertation explores whether and how ethnic jokes in stand-up comedy operate as political counternarratives in the Turkish context. It approaches ethnic humor as a discursive practice that reveals how identity is constructed and circulated in contemporary Türkiye. The analysis investigates how comedians position themselves within these conditions and how their narrative choices reflect the political atmosphere surrounding ethnicity. Within the scope of this dissertation, the combined use of representation, narratives, humor, and voice formed the analytical ground for interpreting ethnic humor as political counterspeech. The election timeline of 2023 general elections provides a concentrated setting in which ethnic humor, political discourse, and digital circulation converge. The research follows an exploratory research design with a sequential approach. The research questions were therefore structured around political counterspeech, narrative form, and cultural commentary. To that end, a thematic analysis with MAXQDA was conducted to determine the themes of stand-up performances in the designated timeline. Then, a structural and dialogic/performance narrative analysis was carried out to identify the narrative elements in them. The final step of the analysis included semi-structured in-depth interviews with comedians to gain insight into their perspectives on ethnicity and comedy. The dissertation contributes to research on counterspeech by examining how ethnic humor in Turkish stand-up comedy operates as a counternarrative form. It also introduces the concept of reverse ethnic humor as a discursive strategy used to reframe representations by turning stereotypes into comedic materials of critique.