Belonging and Otherness in Postmigrant Society: Experiences of Young Women of Turkish Background in Germany

Abstract

The social position of women of Turkish background has often been questioned on the basis of the dominant societal perception imaging them as being isolated in the domestic sphere, oppressed by traditional, cultural, and patriarchal norms, and thus unable to integrate into the broader German society. Although the younger-generation women, born and/or raised in Germany as children of Turkish migrant workers, to a great extent actively participate in public life via education and the job market, at a discursive and social-relational level they are still often perceived and categorized as the non-German and the non-European Other. This paper takes a closer look at the gendered and racialized experiences of young women of Turkish origin by paying special attention to how othering relates to belonging in the postmigrant social context in Germany. On the basis of ethnographic field data collected via in-depth and expert interviews, it intends to engage in a critical-reflexive discussion from the perspective of a social group that has long been imagined as dwelling at the margins of society. Drawing upon recent discussions on the culturalization of migration (and integration) issues, the paper traces the current articulations of the culturalized perceptions of ‘the Turkish woman’ through the reflections of young women of Turkish origin, and discusses belonging in light of their experiences of exclusion and otherness. Taking a critical approach to studying the concept of integration as a discursive historical process, the paper suggests that the self-positionings of the research participants have been substantially affected by the mainstream integration-centered discourse and its interfaces with othering. However, young women’s active and subversive ways of dealing with these exclusionary discourses and practices point to a rather critical view of belonging, articulated through a stated consciousness of the past and present context, and claims for recognition in postmigrant Germany.