“Still Alive: Memory of Economic Contribution of the Korean Guest Workers” by Jung Woo Park
As the wave of immigrants continues to flood into Germany fleeing the war-torn countries such as Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe dominates the newspaper headlines around the world. Interestingly, however, not all of the newspapers seem to have the same focus. While major Western news sources mostly focus on the political implications of this […]
“Made in Germany: Identity and Memory” by Jung Woo Park
Last Tuesday, we had the opportunity to watch the film Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland, a German comedy film about a former Turkish guest worker. The film was very interesting, not only because it deftly wove comedy into the history of the Guest Worker Program, but also because it reminded me of another film about […]
Multicultural Germany Course: Week 6 Summary (Oct. 5 & 7)
Migration brings both culture and religion. This week in our course we focused on religion and secularism, acknowledging the complexity of the terms in context of past and current migrations related to Germany. Our discussion found its beginnings in questions such as: Does religion form part of collective memory? Which conflicts arise around differing religious […]
The End of Migration As We Knew It
On October 4, 2015, a panel on “Ethnography and the Study of Diversity in Germany” held in Washington, D.C., questioned paradigms of research on transnational migration and diversity, focusing on the impossibility of containing these categories within nation-based frameworks of analysis. As part of a series of five panels on “Ethnography and German Studies,” organized […]
Multicultural Germany Course: Summary of the First Two Weeks
To summarize the first two weeks of the seminar “Multicultural Germany” (fall 2015) it is best to start off with the participants: One third of the class is exchange students, mostly from Germany. Due to this the class can benefit from the insights and background information these students bring to the table. Another bonus is […]
Multicultural Germany Course, Fall Semester 2015
This course addresses questions of mobility and borders in our increasingly connected and disjointed world. We will approach the history of post-World War II Germany through the lens of migration, reading a variety of texts critically and relating them to broader questions of economic and cultural globalization: the long term consequences of “guest worker” recruitment; […]
Multicultural Germany Class Final Paper: Staged Realities
At the end of the past semester, students in the Multicultural Germany class at UC Berkeley wrote final papers on topics of their choosing. To conclude our series of posts from this class, we are delighted to share several of their papers here. This paper is by Treasure Nguyen, who wrote about Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 film, Angst […]
Evet, Ich will!
The movie revolves around three different couples who have to overcome familial and cultural obstacles to be with their ones they love. A man looking for a bride-for-hire also learns the hard way that expectations and reality do not always come together well. Links: IMDB, Film official website Genre(s): comedy, romance Director: Sinan Akkus Cast: […]
Wut (Rage)
Der Teenager Felix Laub (Robert Höller) stammt aus wohlhabendem Hause und hat zum türkischstämmigen Can (Oktay Özdemir) ein zwiespältiges Verhältnis: Obwohl Felix von Can und seiner Gang drangsaliert wird, kauft er ihm gelegentlich eine Portion Marihana ab. Eines Tages geht Felix mit neuen Turnschuhen auf die Straße, die ihm prompt von Cans Bande ausgezogen werden. […]
Alamanya Alamanya – Germania Germania
Ein Zug fährt nach Deutschland – ein Zug mit Arbeitsmigranten. Züge wie dieser sind seit Ende der 50er Jahre ungezählte Male gekommen, aus Italien, Jugoslawien, Griechenland, der Türkei, aus Spanien und Portugal, und sie haben mit den Menschen, die sie beförderten, auch die Träume und Hoffnungen dieser Menschen auf ein besseres Leben und bessere Arbeitschancen mitgebracht. […]