Integration and/or Transnationalism? The Case of Turkish-German Transnational Space

Abstract

This article is derived from the findings of an empirical study based on semi-structured and life course qualitative interviews conducted with Turkish-German migrants and their significant others in both countries.1 As the interviews involved different migrant categories, migrants’ life courses and different areas of action, the findings show a large variety of transnational contacts, activities and orientations. After explaining the methodology and the data, the article introduces a typology of transnationalism reflecting these varieties, which is followed by the argument that there is a positive, concurrent and mutually beneficial, relationship between transnationalism and integration

Keywords

• Turkey, Germany, migration, transnationalism, integration.

References

1. The empirical research was conducted within the framework of the European Commission FP 7 Project entitled “Transnationalisation, Migration and Transformation: Multi-Level Analysis of Migrant Transnationalism”, TRANS-NET, at http://www.uta.fi/projects/transnet/ [last visited 28 April 2012].
2. Ewa Morawska, “Immigrant Transnationalism and Assimilation: A Variety of Combinations and the Analytic Strategy it Suggests”, in C. Joppke and E. Morawska (eds.), Towards Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in Liberal Nation-States, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 133-176.
3. “Transnationalisation, Migration and Transformation: Multi-Level Analysis of Migrant Transnationalism”.
4. Ceri Oeppen, A Stranger at Home: Integration, Transnationalism and the Afghan Elite, DPhil thesis, Brighton, University of Sussex, 2009.
5. Christian Seipel and Peter Rieker, Integrative Social Research: Concepts and Methods of Qualitative and Quantitative Empirical Research, Weinheim, Juventa, 2003.
6. Jürgen Gerdes, Eveline Reisenauer and Deniz Sert, “Varying Transnational and Multicultural Activities in the Turkish and German Migration Context”, in Pirkko Pitkanen, Ahmet İçduygu and Deniz Sert (eds.), Migration and Transformation: Multi-Level Analysis of Migrant Transnationalism, Springer, Forthcoming.
7. Ceri Oeppen, A Stranger at Home.
8. See for example: Jose Itzigsohn and Silvia Giorguli-Saucedo, “Incorporation, Transnationalism and Gender: Immigrant Incorporation and Transnational Participation as Gendered Processes”, International Migration Review, Vol. 39 No. 4 (December 2005), pp. 895-920.

9. Steven Vertovec, Transnationalism, Abingdon, Routledge, 2009. 10 Ibid.
10. Peter Kivisto, “Theorizing Transnational Immigration: A Critical Review of Current Efforts”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 24, No. 4 (July 2001), pp. 549-577.
11. Barbara Ballis Lal, “Symbolic Interaction Theories”, American Behavioural Scientist, Vol. 38, No. 3 (1995), pp. 421-441.
12. Ceri Oeppen, “Can We Build on Empirical Examples to Develop a Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Interactions between Transnationalism and Integration?”, conference paper presented as part of the workshop: Integration and Transnationalism: How are the Two Connected?, at the IMISCOE 8th Annual Conference, Warsaw, 7-9 September 2011.
13. Patricia Ehrkamp, “Placing Identities: Transnational Practices and Local Attachments of Turkish Immigrants in Turkey”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2005), pp. 345-364.
14. Ruben Gielis, “A Global Sense of Migrant Places: Towards a Place Perspective in the Study of Migrant Transnationalism”, Global Networks, Vol. 9, No. 2 (April 2009), pp. 271-287.
15. Ceri Oeppen, “Can We Build on Empirical Examples”. Ceri Oeppen, A Stranger at Home.