Xenophobia and Intercultural Communication: Turkish Students in the Erasmus Program

Year 2025, Issue: 115, 29 - 55, 27.10.2025

Mustafa Naci Kayaoğlu

https://doi.org/10.12995/bilig.8351

Abstract

This study investigates the prevalence of xenophobia among Erasmus students and examines its relationship with their experiences and cultural integration. While the Erasmus program has effectively promoted intercultural communication, awareness, and a sense of European identity, insufficient attention has been given to the xenophobia experienced by students within the program. This mixed-method study addresses this gap by surveying 237 Turkish Erasmus students, revealing that despite their high levels of satisfaction with the program, xenophobia remains a significant issue, particularly for Turkish participants. The findings highlight the need for a stronger emphasis on social inclusion, equity, tolerance, and mutual understanding within the Erasmus framework. The study concludes that although the Erasmus program has significant potential to facilitate cultural integration, additional efforts are required to address and mitigate, if not eliminate, xenophobia and racism effectively.

Keywords

Xenophobia , Racism , Turkish Erasmus students , European identity , intercultural communication , tolerance

Yabancı Düşmanlığı ve Kültürlerarası İletişim: Erasmus Programındaki Türk Öğrenciler

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Türk Erasmus öğrenci deneyimi ve yabancı düşmanlığının yaygınlığını ve bunun kültürel entegrasyon üzerindeki ilişkisini araştırmaktadır. Erasmus programı, kültürlerarası iletişimi, farkındalığı ve Avrupa kimliğini etkili bir şekilde teşvik ederken, öğrencilerin yaşadığı yabancı düşmanlığının program kapsamında yeterince incelenmediği görülmektedir. Bu karma yöntemli çalışma, 237 Türk Erasmus öğrencisini anket yoluyla inceleyerek bu eksikliği ele almakta ve programdan duyulan yüksek memnuniyete rağmen, özellikle Türk öğrenciler için yabancı düşmanlığının önemli bir sorun olarak kaldığını ortaya koymaktadır. Bulgular, Erasmus çerçevesinde sosyal katılım, eşitlik, hoşgörü ve karşılıklı anlayışın teşvik edilmesine yönelik daha fazla odaklanma gerekliliğini vurgulamaktadır. Çalışma, Erasmus programının kültürel entegrasyonu kolaylaştırma konusunda önemli bir potansiyele sahip olduğunu göstermektedir. Ancak bu çalışma aynı zamanda yabancı düşmanlığını ve ırkçılığı ele almak, hafifletmek, hatta mümkünse ortadan kaldırmak için ek çabalara ihtiyaç duyulduğunu ortaya koymaktadır.

Keywords

Yabancı düşmanlığı , ırkçılık , Türk Erasmus öğrencileri , Avrupa kimliği , kültürlerarası iletişim , hoşgörü

References

• Allport, Gordon W. The Nature of Prejudice. Addison-Wesley, 1954.
• Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press, 2010.
• Aydın, Kamil. Images of Turkey in Western Literature. Eothen Press, 1999.
• Barın Akman, Filiz. “Turkophobia and Islamophobia in the Nineteenth Century Western/American Popular Fiction: An Orientalist Reading of Her Rescue from the Turks (1896).” Erdem, no. 76, 2019, pp. 23–42.
• Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
• Blumer, Herbert. “Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position.” Pacific Sociological Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1958, pp. 3–7.
• Erboğa, Abdullah, and Murat Yiğit. “Bölgesel Otonomi: Türkiye’nin Orta Doğu ve Kuzey Afrika Politikaları.” Muhafazakâr Düşünce Dergisi, vol. 19, no. 65, 2023, pp. 282–305.
• Essed, Philomena. Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory. Sage Publications, 1991.
• Fassin, Didier. Enforcing Order: An Ethnography of Urban Policing. Polity Press, 2011.
• Genç İlter, Binnur. “How Do Mobility Programs Change EFL Students’ Point of View?” Hacettepe University Journal of Education, vol. 44, 2013, pp. 181–188.
• Glick Schiller, Nina, et al. “Beyond the Ethnic Lens: Locality, Globality, and Born-Again Incorporation.” American Ethnologist, vol. 33, no. 4, 2006, pp. 612–633.
• Goldberg, David T. The Racial State. Blackwell Publishing, 2002.
• Goldberg, David T. The Threat of Race: Reflections on Racial Neoliberalism. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
• Hall, Stuart. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. SAGE Publications, 1997.
• Hornby, Albert Sydney. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Kayaoğlu, Mustafa Naci. “Reality of Erasmus Through the Eyes of Students.” The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, no. 15, 2016, pp. 315–320.
• Khan, Muhammad Mohiuddin, Riaz Ahmad, and Lloyd W. Fernald. “Diplomacy and Education: A Systematic Review of Literature.” Global Social Sciences Review, vol. 5, no. 3, 2020, pp. 1–9.
• Malet Calvo, Daniel. “Understanding International Students Beyond Studentification: A New Class of Transnational Urban Consumers. The Example of Erasmus Students in Lisbon (Portugal).” Urban Studies, vol. 55, no. 10, 2018, pp. 2142–2158.
• Mbembe, Achille. “Necropolitics.” Public Culture, vol. 15, no. 1, 2003, pp. 11–40.
• McGill Peterson, Patti. “Diplomacy and Education: A Changing Global Landscape.” International Higher Education, no. 75, 2014, pp. 2–3.
• Modood, Tariq. Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea. Polity Press, 2007.
• Mutlu, Sevda. “Development of European Consciousness in Erasmus Students.” The Journal of Education, Culture and Society, no. 2, 2011, pp. 87–102.
• Şehitoğlu, Recep, Bedia Tekin, and Oğuz Güner. “Education Diplomacy in Higher Education Institutions: An Evaluation of International Student Centers as Think Tanks.” Hacettepe University Journal of Education, vol. 38, no. 3, 2023, pp. 399–410.
• Taguieff, Pierre-André. The Force of Prejudice: On Racism and Its Doubles. University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
• Tajfel, Henri, and John C. Turner. An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict. The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, 1979.
• UNESCO. “UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence.” UNESCO, 2021, https://en.unesco.org/themes/educationpeace-and-human-rights/unesco- madanjeet-singh-prize.