Jesse van Amelsvoort, University of Amsterdam
Vol. 41, No. 2 (Fall 2022), 285-300

This article reads Sharon Dodua Otoo’s fictional oeuvre as a creative and playful encounter with issues of belonging, inclusion, and the limitations of our partial perspectives. In her novellas—from the English-language the things i am thinking while smiling politely (2012) and Synchronicity (2015) to the German-language Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin (2020)—Otoo interrogates how we see, understand, and make sense of the world around us. The article examines Otoo’s use of humor and play to subtly tease and mock notions of Germanness and German identity. Humor offers a reprieve from stringent identity constructions but is never toothless; Otoo’s playfulness explores serious ethical, political, and epistemological questions.