Generation Turks’ identity politics in Germany through following the content of the movie, Berlin in Berlin

Year 2007, Issue: 22, 0 - 0, 01.04.2007

Çağlar Enneli

https://doi.org/10.1501/antro_0000000008

Abstract

In 1960s and 1970s, Germany was a country huge foreign labour force
from various ethnic origins migrated to as a result of the agreements signed
between German government and countries like Italy, Greece, Portugal, and
Turkey. Though considered to be the main reason of rapidly growing
German economy, this labour force, as time went on, was began to be treated
as problem, especially after the international oil crisis in 1973 and
unemployment problem in Germany emerged as a consequence of this
development. Turkish guestworkers were, probably, the main subjects of this
reconsideration as they both formed the biggest population among the
foreign labourers and were labelled as people with inability to integrate to German community. In this article, I will challenge the latter statement and
suggest that Turkish presence in Germany should be reviewed with the terms
of identity politics of betweenness, I mean, of everyday experiences of
Turkish people between what is thought to be German and what is thought to
be Turkish. Adding the content of one of the latest movies concerning Turks
in Germany, Berlin in Berlin, to my analysis, I will argue that adaptation,
rather than naïve statement of inability to integrate, is a key process, to reach
the terms of which first, second, and third generations of Turks in Germany
have distinct possibilities, limitations, strategies and choices especially in
respect of age and gender and that negotiation of identities in everyday lives
between two worlds is an ongoing practice through adaptation.

Keywords

Turks in Germany, Berlin in Berlin, identity

References

• Ankara Üniversitesi – Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Antropoloji Dergisi