A Handfull of Stars
Rafik Schami’s young adult novel A Hand Full of Stars details three years of a young Syrian boy’s life as he attempts to come into his own during the turbulent decades that ensued after Syrian independence in 1946. The book shows the difficulties of life under an unstable government, whose leadership was constantly changing due […]
Plantation Memories. Episodes of everyday racism
In Grada Kilomba’s Plantation Memories: Episodes of Everyday Racism, the Black male subject has been further complicated by the persistent cultivation of the Black female subject, who, in the case of Kilomba is also directly engaged in the process of knowledge production, like so many of her female counterparts. Kilomba writes, “ this study seeks […]
Jakob Arjouni’s “and still DRINK MORE!”
The protagonist of Jakob Arjouni’s fictional detective story and still DRINK MORE! is German-Turkish private detective Kemel Kayankaya. The story-line, although relatively simple, follows Kayankaya and his search, bottle by bottle of consumed Vodka and Schnapps, and pack by pack of cigarettes, to find the missing “fifth person” of a crime scene in and around […]
Documenting and Explaining the Persistence of Homeland Politics among Germany’s Turks
Since Turks are one of Europe’s largest predominantly Muslim immigrant communities, their political interests play an important role in the controversy confronting Western democratic societies. Western Europeans are concerned about whether and how immigrants introduce homeland conflicts into host societies. The text addresses this issue of politics among Turks in Germany. First, data is presented […]
Troublesome convergences: a short comment from a continental perspective
This article compares the UK’s and Germany’s post 9/11 developments. In the situation with the UK the author claims the authorities have reneged on their promises of a multicultural society made to immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s. They justified the invasion of Iraq and targeting Muslims as part of domestic security through the “War […]
Illegal Migration: What Can We Know and What Can We Explain?
This article analyzes types of illegal immigration, particularly smuggling networks. Though the article emphasizes German illegal immigration it remains highly methodological in its approach. Heckmann begins with two anecdotes of illegal migration into Germany. Their purpose is to distinguish immigrants who can enter legally without such documentation and then remain undetected and illegally and smuggling […]
Headscarves: A Comparison of Public Thought and Public Policy in Germany and the Netherlands.
This article takes a comparative approach to analyzing the structuring of the concept of citizen ship in two countries ( Germany and the Netherlands) and how this relates to their treatment of the Muslim hijab. The primary investigation deals with the hijab, or headscarf as less of an ideologically charged issue and more as an […]
Speak German or Sweep the Schoolyard: A Social View on the Integration of Children in Germany”
Although Lucinda Martin’s work article serves as a voice for many immigrants living in Germany, I have to side with the German government on many of the points addressed in this article, especially the notion that “language is the key to integration.” Martin’s article begins with the situation at The Hoover School in Berlin. This […]
Turks in the New Germany
This article presents a new viewpoint on the lasting identity problem faced by the Turkish population living in Germany. As a third generation of Turkish Germans comes of age, the problems of identity, integration and acceptance into German society is still a problem for many of the young, in a more precise way, “German Turks.” […]
At Home in the New Germany? Local Stories and Global Concerns in Yüksel Yavuz’s Aprilkinder and Kleine Freiheit
Kraenzle’s article begins with a discussion about the rise of Turkish-German cinema within the past decade and the common sentiment during the 1990s that it was the successor to the New German Cinema of the 1970s, due to the common social themes they address about marginalized individuals. Kraenzle, however, warns against drawing this direct link. […]