Audre Lorde

I came across this striking quote and wanted to share it with you.

"Institutionalized rejection of difference is an absolute necessity in a profit economy which needs outsiders as surplus people. As members of such an economy, we have all been programmed to respond to the human differences between us with fear and loathing and to handle that difference in one of three ways: ignore it, and if that is not possible, copy it if we think it is dominant, or destroy it if we think it is subordinate. But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals. As a result, those differences have been misnamed and misused in the service of separation and confusion" (Lorde 2007: 115; original emphasis).

For a short biography of Audre Lorde please click here.

Reference:

Lorde, Audre: Sister Outsider. Essays and Speeches. Berkley: Crossing Press, 2007 (1984).

migration and ethnicity

     This weeks reading evolve around the issue of migration and ethnicity, providing three different views. Let me start with briefly outlining the authors’ main arguments. Sirkeci, writing about – bluntly put – the reasons for migration, argues for the inclusion of ethnicity ‘among explanatory variables in future analyses of Turkish international migratory regimes’ (Sirkeci 2003: 204). Although it may not be the most important variable it can still add to the “environment of insecurity”.

     Soysal, then, criticizes the notions of “second generation” and “in-betweenness” as it locates migrant youth neither in the everyday life of Germany where s/he was born, but outside or on the peripheries; nor is s/he ‘longer inside Turkishness, since [s/he] was born in Germany (Soysal 2002: 125). Further, Soysal argues that stories of integration, which come along with notions such as second generation, ‘rely on taken-for-granted conceptions of identity that singularly take “national” as the defining parameter of identity and belonging’ (ibid.: 133). Consequently, Soysal argues in favor of situating migrant youth in an institutional setting, ‘in the social and cultural spaces within which they realize their life stories, make and have cultures, and converse and cooperate with their peers’  (ibid.: 123). Soysal’s approach results in a move away from generational and ethnic categories.

     In a similar vein, Glick Schiller argues against “methodological nationalism”, which takes the nation-state as containing social and historical processes, as “naturally” constituting borders, separating different homogeneous identities. The author calls instead for the ‘examination of non-ethnic forms of incorporation and transnational connection’ (Glick Schiller 2008: 1). Taking ethnicity as an analytical unit in the study of migration is likely to leave un-researched and under-theorized possible non-ethnic forms of settlement and transnational connection, and the significance of locality of the city in a migrant settlement. Further, a unit of analysis based on ethnicity homogenizes the community, which is actually highly heterogeneous as it bears divisions of class, gender, generations, region of origin or politics.

     The movie Kebab Connection (2004) written amongst others by Fatih Akin helps to understand especially Soysal’s and Glick-Schiller’s arguments. On the one hand we see how the migrant youth (Ibo and Valid) cannot be regarded as somewhere in between. By running a restaurant and through the making of movies Valid and Ibo constitute an active part of the city they inhabit and contribute to the art and culture of it. On the other hand, we also see connections across ethnic groups, although at the beginning especially among the youth. This also supports the argument that ethnic groups are heterogeneous and that through an approach of ethnic unit, this heterogeneity would be undermined and overshadowed. Taking for example Ibos family as a and other Turkish migrants as a unit of analysis would not reflect social reality, especially in the case of Ibo, who engages with the son of a Greek migrant and has a German girlfriend.

     This turn away from ethnicity as Soysal and Glick-Schiller propagate it is not in contradiction to Sirkeci’s claim to include ethnicity into the explanatory variables of migration as they focus on different phases of the migratory process. Sirkeci does not call for taking ethnicity as a unit of analysis, but rather for it’s inclusion in the analytical process, as ethnicity can contribute to the reasons for migration. In relation to Soysal’s article the question arises of who “qualifies” as migrant youth? What is necessary to “count” as migrant youth, when does someone stop to be part of migrant youth (not so much in terms of age but of the “migrant”). And then, what is the difference of utilizing the term “migrant youth” (or “migratory background”/Migrationshintergrund which seems like the German equivalent) to using “second generation”? Do not both equally contain notions of not being completely in the ‘everyday life’ of the country of residence (using migrant as part of the term), but neither being inside the …-ness of the parent’s country (using youth in the term)?

References:

• Fatih Akın, Kebab Connection (2004)
• Sirkeci, Ibrahim. "Migration from Turkey to Germany: An Ethnic Approach." New Perspectives on Turkey 28-29  (2003): 189-207.
• Glick Schiller, Nina. Beyond Methdological Ethnicity: Local and Transnational Pathways of Immigrant Incorporation ). Malmo: Malmo University, 2008.
• Soysal, Levent. "Beyond the 'second generation': Rethinking the Place of Migrant Youth Culture in Berlin." Challenging Ethnic Citizenship: German and Israeli Perspectives on Immigration. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002. 121-36.

Tamil Youth Organization

The website I would like to present for his week is Tamil Youth Organization Switzerland (TYO). It is an independent branch of the international Tamil Youth association. Among the goals of the Swiss branch are:

• socio-cultural problems with special focus on the Tamil Youth;
• enhancing intercultural contact of the Tamil population in Switzerland and the Swiss population;
• fostering the Tamil youth (equality of opportunity and knowledge) and preserving characteristics of Tamil culture;
• organization of seminars about a variety of issues (school system in Switzerland, war, racism,…);
• tutoring for children and support for parents in terms of language (translations);
• information about the situation in Sri Lanka; support of the victims of the civil war in Sri Lanka;
• vouching for right to self-determination (in Sri Lanka)

The page provides information about the Tamil population in Switzerland, the actual information in Sri Lanka (although there are only two documents of which the newer is from 2011), news are provided by the members of the page or translated form Tamil into German, information about Tamil culture, language, history, music, diaspora,…, a list of events organized by  TYO, announcements of projects. Further, there is a gallery, a video collection, surveys, music, columns where everyone who is registered on the page can publish articles, and information about using computer in Tamil. Moreover, there is a area “school”, where one can find worksheet and exercises (at the moment for German and Mathematics). Further, the website is managed by three persons of Tamil origin, the main language is German, but there is also a version in Tamil, which seems to be slightly different (comparing the pictures on both pages). Italian and French versions are under construction. To access the internal part of the page registration is needed (which I could not manage to do as there is only a login but no registration option…).

For those interested, here some background knowledge on the situation of the Tamil diaspora in Switzerland (these are to paragraphs from a paper I had written during my undergraduate studies in Switzerland):

The first Sri Lankan immigrants entered Switzerland mainly as asylum-seekers in 1971, because of the conflict between the Tamil and Singhalese population4 in Sri Lanka reaching exacerbating dimensions by the beginning of the 1980s. The number of Sri Lankans asking for asylum in Switzerland increased in the following years, reaching a peak in 1991. The first Sri Lankans attained Swiss citizenship in the 1970s, with steadily increasing figures in the subsequent decades. Between 1973 and 2006 11’000 Sri Lankan were naturalized (Moret 2007: 44). Since the 1990s the percentage of Swiss born with Sri Lankan roots is increasing, was it 19% in 1997 it augmented up to 44% in 2005 (ibid.: 44).

What is the general perception of the Tamil Diaspora among the Swiss society?

At present, they are seen as a well-integrated ethnic community (in the sense of hard working and peaceful). In terms of Esser’s notion of ‘systematic integration’ (Esser 2001: 39) the Tamils could be seen as well integrated. With regard to their ‘social integration’, however, a slightly different assessment could be made. Socially the Tamils seem to be less integrated, as they maintain social relations mainly within their community – which becomes particularly discernable in practices such as endogamy, speaking their own language, etc. Nevertheless this does not seem to bother Swiss society. Has it, however, not always been like that? Have the Tamils not always represented that type of immigrant the Swiss have desired? During the first years of Tamil or Sri Lankan immigration they were associated with violence, criminality, drug dealing and social fraud – the same aspects that are associated with the immigrants of today (e.g. coming from the Balkan region or Africa). So when did the perception of the Tamil change? The perception of the Tamil population in Switzerland altered in the 1990s, with better economic integration – which includes important values for many Swiss citizens (e.g. punctuality, hard work, cleanness and discipline) – and the family reunion, leading to the arrival of Tamil women and thus reuniting families.

References: 

• Esser, Hartmut (2001): Integration und Ethnische Schichtung. Mannheim.
• Moret, Joëlle, Denise Efionayi and Fabienne Stants (2007): Die Srilankische Diaspora in der Schweiz. Bundesamt für Migration.

good happens

Faïza Guène’s novel Just Like Tomorrow provides insights into the life of Doria, a teenage girl living in a Parisian banlieue (suburban area). Her parents had emigrated from Morocco to France in  the hope of a better life. What they found, though, was poverty and marginality. When Doria was in her mid-teens, thus shortly before the events depicted in the novel, the family father left Doria and her mother to marry another woman in Morocco who finally gave birth to the father's long-awaited desire to have a son.

The novel displays an admirable change in the character of Doria. At the beginning, the girl, disappointed of every aspect of her live, is very pessimistic, extremely introverted and suffering under  a self-imposed state of mind which does not allow her to dream about a better future. But then good things started to happen in her life. One day the Super’s wife tells her about the woman looking for a baby-sitter and that she had thought of Doria – of her, and not of someone else. Other than that, Doria's mom got to go to alternating training where she learned to read and write and get help with her job search. Further, Doria attained the chance to start at a technical school which would enable her to make a hairdresser’s certificate. The guy who helped her with school also turned out to be really nice, and in the end, Doria could even stop seing her psychologist. These events essentially prompted Doria to see her life in a more positive light, which is very evident in the following remark: ‘With all the events, of this year, I was thinking that, frankly, life’s too unfair. But now just recently, I’ve changed my mind a bit … Lot’s of things have happened that have changed my point of view’ (Guène 2006: 72).

In addition to this positive transformation,  the novel also demonstrates the difficulties Doria has at first  to accept that something good can actually happen to her. She always expected the worst and to get disappointed. This negative perception of her environment seems also to hold her back of dreaming for the better and longing for achieving more. One example of such negativity are her teachers who gave her bad feedback, denying any capacity she could have. Why then should she work harder? The only teacher she liked is her plastic arts teacher who wrote Doria had “malleable skills”. Even though it does not mean a lot, according to Doria, she did appreciate it. Another example is when the social worker asked her about the last book Doria read and she rather makes her believe she had not read anything, even though she did read a book. Further, in terms of interpersonal contact, Doria was rather reserved, and also in this realm she got a lot of negative reactions, even without her doing anything beforehand. Her lazy, uninterested and reserved behavior could, thus, also be a defense mechanism to not become more disappointed, and as a consequence Doria actually fulfills the image people have of her - the effect of the so-called “self-fulfilling prophecy”.

Through the positive events, which occurred not only to Doria, but also to people around her, the protagonist’s behavior and perception changes, she becomes more positive and ambitious, and allows herself to dream again; she even contemplates going into politics one day. In the end instead of saying “kif-kif tomorrow” which means “same shit, different day” as she used to, Doria says “kiffe kiffe tomorrow”, using the verb kiffer which is utilized to say that you really like something or someone.

The novel further raises questions about how to read literary texts and how to treat what we read. Faïza Guène informs us before starting the novel that '[t]his is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, and events are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental' (Guène 2006: 4), nevertheless we are - or at least I am - very tempted to regard the story of Doria as true and reflecting social reality. As Leslie A. Adelson writes in Against Between: A Manifesto about political science and literary interpretation that although they generally employ very distinct approaches 'the growing and diverse field of Turco-German literature [or more general literature by (second) generation immigrants] may well be the only sector in literary studies today where an entrenched sociological positivism continues to hold sway. This positivist approach presumes that literature reflects empirical truths about migrants' lives' (Adelson 2002: 245). Adelson goes on that the writings are legitimated by the author's biographies and that '[m]eanwhile, the literary elephant in the room goes unremarked' (ibid.: 245). In regard to Guène's novel the author's biography shows striking similarities with the novel's protagonist. Both are children of immigrants and grew up in the Parisian banlieues, further, both experience positive events in their mid-teens.
The question arising then for me are: on what basis to we legitimize taking literary texts as reflections of  reality? What factors influence the perceived "realness" of a text? How, for example, would our perception change if the author of Just Like Tomorrow was French and born to non-immigrant French parents?

References:

- Adelson, Leslie A. "Against Between: A Manifesto." Unpacking Europe. Ed. Hassan, Salah and Iftikhar Dadi. Rotterdam: NAI Publishers Museum BoijmansVan Beuningen, 2002. 244-55. 

- Faiza Guène, Just Like Tomorrow, London: Definitions, 2006.