Politics of Representation and Transformations in Representing Immigrants: A Comparative Analysis of ‘’Almanya Acı Vatan’’ and ‘’Gegen die Wand’’

Year 2019, Volume: 13 Issue: 19, 1202 - 1224, 30.09.2019

Feyda Sayan-cengiz

https://doi.org/10.26466/opus.559013

Cited By: 1

Abstract

This study discusses the transformation in the representations of immigrants from 1970s to the 2000s through a comparative analysis of two films which narrate stories of Turkish immigrants in Germany: Almanya Acı Vatan (1979) and Gegen die Wand (Duvara Karşı- 2004). It is widely argued that the popular and scholarly debate has shifted from discussing the immigrants as “workers” towards discussing them within the contours of issues of culture and identity. The findings of the comparative analysis in this study demonstrates that Almanya Acı Vatan, as an example of cinematic representations of first generation immigrants, frames the problem of immigrants’ social and cultural exclusion in tandem with the problem of workers’ alienation within industrial relations of production. On the other hand, “Duvara Karşı” formulates second generation immigrant experiences in terms of an endless search for belonging and authentic identity. This article suggests that it is possible to trace the shift in the cultural representations of migration and immigrants by conducting comparative analysis with regard to issues of identity, gender and space. 

Keywords

Migration, Politics of representation, Identity, Third space, Gender

Göçmenliğe Dair Dönüşen Temsiller ve Temsilin Politikası: ‘’Almanya Acı Vatan’’ ve ‘’Duvara Karşı’’ Filmlerinin Karşılaştırmalı Analizi

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’den Almanya’ya göçen birinci ve ikinci kuşak göçmenleri konu edinen Almanya Acı Vatan (1979) ve Duvara Karşı (Gegen die Wand-2004) filmlerinin karşılaştırmalı analizi yapılarak, sinemada ve popüler kültürde göçmen temsillerinin 1970’lerden 2000’li yıllara geçirdiği dönüşüm tartışılmaktadır. Göçmenliğe dair popüler ve akademik tartışmanın, göçmenlerin işçi olarak varlıklarından ve sorunlarından, kültür ve kimlik meselelerine doğru kaymakta olduğu sıklıkla yapılmış bir argümandır. Makale, iki farklı döneme ait iki filmi karşılaştırarak, bu dönüşümün sinemadaki göçmen temsillerindeki yansımalarını karşılaştırmalı olarak incelemektedir. Analiz sonucunda, sinemada birinci kuşak göçmen temsillerine örnek olan Almanya Acı Vatan’da göçmenlerin yabancılaşma ve dışlanma sorunu ile, işçilerin endüstriyel üretim ilişkileri içinde yabancılaşma sorununun iç içe geçmiş bir şekilde temsil edildiği; Duvara Karşı’da ise ikinci kuşak göçmen olma deneyiminin, sonsuz bir aidiyet ve otantik kimlik arayışına vurgu yapılarak çerçevelendiği önerilmektedir. Çalışma, sinemada ve popüler kültürdeki göçmen temsillerinin kimlik, toplumsal cinsiyet ve mekân bağlamlarında karşılaştırılması üzerinden, göçe ve göçmenliğe dair temsil politikalarının izleğinin sürülebileceğini öne sürmektedir. 

Keywords

Göç, Göçmen temsili, Kimlik, Üçüncü uzam, Toplumsal cinsiyet

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