Fluid adaptation of contested citizenship: second-generation migrant Turks in Germany and the United States

This paper explores belonging in the context of legal citizenship for second-generation Turkish immigrants in Berlin and in New York. Fluid adaptation refers to the discursive boundaries of immigrant identity articulations, the contextual and shifting adjustments immigrants make to their sense of belonging. Immigrant belonging, gauged by ‘encounters’ with bureaucracies and participatory expressions, is shaped in large part by the receiving state's legal framework and citizenship status. Belonging is complicated by racialization and exclusion, and affected by intersectionalities of immigrant experience. Limited citizenship models necessitate deployment of fluid and alternative membership models. Alternative forms of belonging underscore the power of the nation-state in delimiting belonging.     

Home and belonging: a comparative study of 1.5 and second-generation Egyptian ‘expatriates’ in Qatar and ‘immigrants’ in the U.S.

This article compares how two different migration models – legal permanence and legal temporary settlement – shape 1.5 and second-generation Egyptians’ feelings of belonging towards the host countries of the U.S. and Qatar. Relying on formal semi-structured interviews, I argue that the inability of Egyptians in Qatar to obtain Qatari citizenship contributes greatly to their lack of sense of belonging to Qatar. However, a central paradox appears when Egyptians in Qatar simultaneously discuss other factors, such as family and/or friends’ networks, comfort, safety, and country familiarity, which make them feel Qatar is home. Conversely, while Egyptian-Americans appear to be more confident with their host country relationship because of their experience in a country of immigrants, factors such as post-9/11 discrimination and U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East complicate their relationship with the U.S. Both groups reflect simultaneous feelings of home, belonging, discrimination, and/or exclusion in their respective ‘host’ countries but in different ways. These case studies demonstrate that different migration models do not necessarily lead to predicted understandings of home and belonging. This article thus argues for the need to reassess the assumptions we have of the relationship between citizenship and belonging.     

Making a difference in Mogadishu? Experiences of multi-sited embeddedness among diaspora youth

ABSTRACT

Civic participation today is increasingly multi-sited, operating in, between and across specific locations. Growing numbers of people experience multi-sited embeddedness, which I understand both in the sense of belonging to and engaging in multiple communities. In this article, I focus on those who left Somalia as young children or were born to Somali parents in exile, and ask what motivates these young people to return or turn to the Somali region. What experiences shape their civic engagement and where do they engage? How does their hybrid, multi-sited or embedded sense of identity impact their engagement in several locations? And how does that engagement affect their sense of identity? The article is based on 80 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions in Garowe, Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Oslo and the Twin Cities. Informants stayed for shorter or longer durations in the Somali region but lived for the larger part of their lives in Norway or the United States. I illustrate how young people’s civic engagement impact feelings of belonging as much as their sense of belonging influences their civic actions. In this article, I argue for non-binary ways of studying multi-sited embeddedness that do justice to diaspora youth’s everyday negotiations.     

Shame and pride in second-generation German identity in Melbourne,Australia: emotions and white ethnicity

As members of an established, well-integrated, white ethnic group, second-generation Germans are largely invisible in Australian society. Given this, they are easily presumed a group for whom Gans’ notion of ‘symbolic ethnicity’ might apply. However, based on interviews with adult children of German immigrants in Melbourne, Australia, this article suggests an alternative interpretation using recent literature on the role of emotions for identity. In the interviews with adult children of German immigrants in Melbourne, Australia, the notions of shame and pride in relation to ethnic identity were clearly evident. Shame often emerged in interaction with other people in Australia, and particularly in relation to Nazism and the Second World War. However, most respondents felt equally proud of their German heritage, particularly later in life. These findings suggest that ethnic identity for these second-generation Germans is a deeper, embodied experience that is similar to what Bourdieu terms habitus.     

Racial and Structural Discrimination Toward the Children of Indigenous Mexican Immigrants

My research examines the role of patron saint celebrations in how the children of indigenous Oaxacan immigrants living in Los Angeles, California form ethnic, community, and national identities. Religious practices among immigrants have been characterized as a reterritorialization of religious practices (McAlister in Gatherings in diaspora: Religious communities and the new immigration, 1998). Importantly, legal status may influence transborder movement for undocumented immigrants thereby affecting the extent and character of immigrants’ transnational activities, including their religious practices (Menjívar in J Ethn Migr Stud 28:531–552, 2002). In cases when immigrants may be unable to return their country of origin, rituals figuratively transport immigrants between the sending and receiving community (Tweed in J Am Acad Religion 70:253–277, 2002). Thus, religious identities and practices also enable immigrants to sustain membership in multiple locations, allowing them to affirm continued attachments to a particular sending community or nation even if they are unable to return to their home country (Levitt in Int Migr Rev 37:847–873, 2003). Playing in village-based bands, performing traditional dances, or attending patron saint festivities facilitate indigenous youths’ social integration into the U.S. by fostering a strong sense of ethnic pride in the face of anti-indigenous discrimination from within the Latino population or anti-immigrant hostility from mainstream society. This article explores the racism at structural and individuals levels the children of indigenous immigrants contend with, as well as the effects of these on patterns of identity formation for the children of undocumented indigenous immigrants and on their children’s transnational practices.     

Identity and gender in cultural transitions: returning home from higher education as ‘internal immigration’ among Bedouin and Druze women in Israel

This paper examines the phenomenon of the return of Bedouin and Druze women from studies in Israeli universities to their homes and culture, focusing on the perspective of the psychological changes they experienced in their identity. Entering the university, located in the Jewish-Israeli space (in central cities in Israel), constitutes entry into a new and different cultural world that exposes these women to values and norms different from those of their culture of origin. The identity formed as a result of their encounter with and exposure to a world that was unfamiliar to them and the return thereafter to their villages entail changes in gender identity. Not only are they ‘different’ from the way they were before they left; they often feel like ‘internal immigrants’ within their own culture. A deeper understanding of these effects would enhance comprehension of the emotional processes and identity changes undergone by women from non-Western cultures who obtain higher education.     

Biographies and the doubleness of inclusion and exclusion

Integration is often considered to be comprised of different dimensions which can influence each other in a linear fashion. For instance, if one becomes more proficient in the host country’s language, one’s labor market participation should also increase. In the Netherlands, this assumption has led to a plethora of policies (like mandatory integration courses) having targeted especially ‘Muslim’ women of Moroccan and Turkish descent, who are perceived as most isolated in society. Obliging them to learn Dutch was believed to increase their economic integration and their sense of home, the latter being considered pivotal for overall successful integration. However, the question is whether dimensions of integration really influence each other in this linear fashion – under all circumstances. With the help of biographical research conducted with first- and second-generation women of Moroccan and Turkish descent in the Netherlands and focusing on both linguistic and economic integration and their effects on sense of belonging, this study shows that mastering the new language and increasing labor market participation can actually have paradoxical non-linear, even curvilinear effects, leading to a decrease in sense of belonging. We try to capture this paradoxical phenomenon with the term doubleness of inclusion and exclusion.     

Identity,Othering and belonging: toward an understanding of difference and the experiences of African immigrants to Australia

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to contribute to understanding of difference and knowledge on the analysis of the concepts of identity, Othering and belonging not only from a theoretical perspective, but more importantly by relating them empirically to the Australian context in a way that sheds a better light on the experiences of African immigrants to Australia. It draws on data from interviews conducted with 30 black Africans living in South East Queensland. Their racialized identities impacted on how they felt, were defined, related to and constructed, in Australia. Their accounts suggest that Othering practices can marginalize, exclude and affect migrants and refugees’ ideas and sense of belonging. The findings indicate the need for a more inclusive Australia, the accommodation of difference, the fostering of new identities, the rejection of negative representations and stereotypes of the Other, and the recognition that Othering is one of the important factors to understanding the marginalization, exclusion and challenges of ethnically and racially marked people in Australia.     

Identity construction of second-generation Iranians in Australia: influences and perspectives

Understanding the complexity of identity in the children of immigrants has become important with the growing rates of global migration. A new theoretical construct refers to an individual’s subjective representation of the interrelationships among his or her multiple group identities and how their subjective identity could be explained.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of their Iranian background and the social characteristics of their host society, Australia, on the second generation’s understanding of their national and ethnic identity.

This cross-sectional study is based on a quantitative method. Participants in the study were second-generation Iranians aged 18–40, living in Australia. Data were collected on how these second-generation Iranians identified themselves with Iranian society and/or with the wider society, and how their chosen identity was influenced by their background, their national beliefs, their perspectives towards the host country and the host country’s perspective towards specific ethnic groups.

Overall, 137 people participated in this study, and the results show patterns of biculturalism; the majority claimed hyphenated identity wherein the second identity was shown to be the weaker identity. The main contextual factors influencing their identity formation were birth place, acculturation and attitudes towards the host.     

In the Name of God and Nation: The Overlapping Influence of Separatism and Religion on Ethnic Conflict

Processes of migration, diaspora and exile offer diverse and complex environments for the renegotiation of social identities. Immigrants and refugees must not only adapt to the material circumstances of uprooting but must also confront, maintain or recreate a sense of self, often in contexts which are vastly different and fraught with constraints, in which they are removed from their familiar social networks and in which their previous identities may be of little meaning or relevance to the new society. In confronting an altered social status and radically different circumstances, individuals may be required to come to terms with a new or reconstructed sense of ethnic or national identity. This process is not only a personal one but involves affiliations with others who engage in similar interpretations and adaptive strategies and enmity toward those who do not' Field, 1994: 432 . Such a process can be seen as part of the phenomenon of transnationalism, the process by which immigrants forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement' Basch et al., 1994: 7 . One important aspect of transnationalism is the role that immigrants and refugees play in political activities in both their countries of origin and residence, and their political commitment often has important implications for their sense of self, particularly when those political activities are directed towards the creation of a new homeland for oppressed minorities. This paper examines the role played by diaspora intellectuals in promoting a nationalist discourse which calls for the creation of an independent state for the Oromo, who constitute one of the largest ethnic populations in Africa and the manner in which their participation in such discursive activities allow them to engage in a reconstruction of their own identities and in the shaping of national and personal senses of the self.     

远距离民族主义:离散族群的跨国政治认同与实践

随着全球化的深入发展,离散族群与祖籍国的联系日益紧密,他们对祖籍国怀有强烈的政治认同并发起或参与指向祖籍国的远距离跨国政治活动,成为当今全球政治的一个重要现象,被学术界称为“远距离民族主义”。作者认为促使远距离民族主义产生和发展的因素主要有几个:一是离散族群对祖籍国或传统居住地的归属感,二是政治流亡者的动员,三是双重公民身份或双重国籍的存在,四是现代交通、通讯为远距离跨国交流带来的便利。第一个因素至关重要也必不可少,但并非完全具备这四个因素才能产生远距离民族主义。许多国家在舆论、组织机构和法律政策上对离散族群参与祖籍国的外交和政治事务给予了程度不同的支持,甚至成为远距离民族主义的主导者。作者认为,远距离民族主义曾在历史上推动了反殖民斗争最终使许多国家获得了独立,有时也为改善居住国与祖籍国之间的双边关系发挥了一定的作用,这些是应该肯定的。然而,它给离散族群的居住国和祖籍国的民族国家建设所带来的消极影响也不容小觑。     

Searching for belonging and confronting exclusion: a person-centred approach to immigrant settlement experiences in Canada

ABSTRACT

Drawing on an analysis of three immigrant narratives, this paper employs a person-centred approach to immigrant integration in Canada. It examines how immigrants interpret the inclusions/exclusions that mark their integration experience and the consequences these experiences have on their social identities and sense of belonging. Analysis demonstrates that for immigrants a sense of belonging does not grow in a linear fashion; rather, it grows, stalls, dissipates and/or flourishes in relation to the ties and identifications that immigrants are enabled to forge. Broader structural and historical forces prefigure immigrant inclusion and exclusion in Canada in ways that reflect a hierarchy of migration and belonging. We argue that a recognition of Canada’s ‘hierarchies of belonging’ and the multidimensional nature of social inclusion/exclusion complicate integration metaphors that flatten the uneven social terrain of immigrant belonging.     

National identity and attitudes towards immigration in Australia*

Creating and sustaining a shared sense of national identity is important in all societies, but it is especially crucial in societies with large immigrant populations. This paper uses a national public opinion survey collected in Australia to examine how Australians see their identity, and in turn to examine the consequences of these identities for views of immigrants and for party political support. The results confirm international research which shows the predominance of an ethno-national identity based on inherited characteristics, and a civic identity based on achieved characteristics. Both identities have consequences for the Australian public’s views of immigrants – an ethno-national identity leading to negative views of immigrants and a civic identity leading to positive views. In turn, identities and views of immigrants significantly shape support for the major political parties, with parties of the left being more supportive of immigrants and parties of the right less so. From a public policy perspective, the results suggest that successive Australian governments have made only partial progress in generating a strong sense of civic identity within the Australian population.     

美国华人新移民第二代及其身份认同

美国华人新移民的子女,即美国华人新移民第二代的身份认同复杂而多样,不同群体之间有所差异。家庭环境、学校教育、生活环境以及社会中的偏见均是导致其身份认同不同的因素。外界不可强求他们认同某种身份,美国社会应尊重和理解差异认同,而作为祖籍国的中国应提高综合国力以吸引他们培养情感倾向性的认同。     

中华民族共同体视域下当代少数民族题材记录片的创作演变

“铸牢中华民族共同体意识”是党和国家基于民族工作新形势部署的新战略。作为民族话语重要文化载体的中国少数民族题材纪录片见证并勾勒了其话语表达逻辑及实践机理。从主流意识的“政治宣传”到民族文化“共生交融”,从话语主体的“他者言说”到“开放自述”,从镜头对准“集体形象”转向聚焦“个体形象”,折射出我国民族共同体话语建构传播的递嬗性超越。作为民族话语重要文化载体的中国少数民族纪录片一方面应以植耕历史,加强对各民族优秀文化的挖掘和阐发,表达文化诉求,促成各民族间的认识、认知、认可、认同,进而在精神层面生发持久、恒定的态度与力量。另一方面从人本角度出发,思考“人的自我发展”、“人与他者”、“人与世界”的多元伦理关系,互相接纳,互相启迪、互惠利他,在休戚与共的命运共同体中解决现实生活中的生存生活困境,在共同体谱系中实现个人、民族的价值追求。     

The Success Frame and Achievement Paradox: The Costs and Consequences for Asian Americans

The status attainment model highlights the role of family socioeconomic status (SES) in the intergenerational reproduction of educational attainment; however, the model falls short in predicting the educational outcomes of the children of Asian immigrants, whose attainment exceeds that which would have been predicted based on family SES alone. On the other hand, the cultural capital model gives primacy to the role of middle-class cultural capital in reproducing advantage, but neglects contextual factors outside the family. We fill a theoretical and empirical niche by introducing a model of cultural frames to explain how the children of immigrants whose families exhibit low SES and lack middle-class cultural capital attain exceptional educational outcomes. Based on in-depth interviews with adult children of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants randomly drawn from the survey of Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles, we show that Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant parents and their children use ethnicity as a resource to construct and support a strict “success frame” that helps the poor and working class override their disadvantages. However, there are unintended consequences to adopting such a strict success frame: those who do not meet its exacting tenets feel like ethnic outliers, and as a result, they distance themselves from coethnics and from their ethnic identities because they link achievement with ethnicity. We conclude by underscoring the benefits of decoupling race/ethnicity and achievement for all groups.     

Somali Transnational Activism and Integration in the UK: Mutually Supporting Strategies

This paper considers the simultaneous processes of transnational?activism and integration amongst Somalis living in the UK. It argues that, rather than challenging integration, diasporic Somalis' involvement in transnational activism may actually support integration, and vice versa. Transnational engagement?fulfils?a range of?functions that relate not only to the country of origin, but also to community formation in the UK. Such practices may, in some cases, promote integration while, in others, they create a space in which those who experience difficulty integrating can still forge meaningful relations both in the country of settlement and with the dispersed transnational Somali community. In the context of the 2011 famine in Somalia, Somali community activism in the UK rose to new heights, helping to reinforce the integration–transnational activism relationship.     

The Benefits of in-betweenness: return migration of second-generation Chinese American professionals to China

In an era of growing transnational practices, this paper considers the trend of second-generation Chinese Americans who have ‘returned’ to the People's Republic of China (PRC) to work. Previous studies of return migration to China have focused on issues of ethnic and racial identity that arise during temporary homeland trips undertaken by those seeking to connect with ancestral and cultural origins. Accordingly, most research has highlighted the sense of cultural ‘in-betweenness’ experienced by Chinese Americans whose travels in the ancestral homeland bring an uncomfortable realisation that they are considered neither fully Chinese nor fully American. By contrast, my in-depth interviews with 52 second-generation Chinese American professionals in Beijing and Shanghai suggest that this liminality can be particularly useful in the workplace. I argue that first-world Chinese co-ethnics who work on a long-term basis in the PRC can uniquely leverage Western training with their assumed knowledge of Chinese culture to create personal economic advantage: a practice that I refer to as ‘strategic in-betweenness'. Nonetheless, while participants described distinct career-related benefits to being Chinese American in the PRC, they also feared they would soon be replaced by high-skilled, Western-educated Chinese natives who are moving back to their home country in large numbers.     

The Two Faces of Democratization in Myanmar: A Case Study of the Rohingya and Burmese Nationalism

The Rohingya have faced discriminatory policies and actions by the Myanmar government since independence in 1948, with many within the state seeing them as foreigners. This paper uses historical process tracing from pre-British colonialism to present day to argue that the persistent persecution of the Rohingya stems from the divergent experiences under British colonialism for the Rohingya and majority Burman population and, as a result of this, Burmese national identity forming around the dominant Burman ethnic group and the Buddhist faith. The government following independence, then, institutionalized this national identity, excluding the Rohingya as a part of the nation and denying their identity, arguing instead that they are “illegal Bengali immigrants”. As shown through this case study, the resiliency of these anti-Rohingya policies and attitudes within the Myanmar government through successive regime changes is a result of national identity being defined as both Burman and Buddhist, which remained constant. It also helps to explain how the political opening provided by the democratization process resulted in a number of anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya operations by Buddhist monks and other Buddhist nationalists, government policies, and even military operations.