Jens Schneider

Talking German Othering Strategies in Public and Everyday Discourses

The German debate on migration and citizenship reveals a close connection between the discourse on immigration (and the imagination of Germany as a multicultural society) and general perceptions of German national identity. The article analyses how `Germanness is constructed and communicated through public and everyday discourses - on the basis of some recent empirical research that has been carried out in the field of discursive representations of German identity. This research confirmed the prominent role of the `internal Other for dominant German self-definitions. The article then analyses the resultant strategic possibilities of these `Others. The most central category of the `Other in German self-definitions are the Ausländer (foreigners) and the role of the prototypical Ausländer is most prominently played by the German Turks. The article thus also focuses on self-definitions of German Turks and their responses to dominant role ascriptions.

Discursos simbólicos e símbolos discursivos: considerações sobre a etnografia da identidade nacional

Starting from the recent emphasis that nation theory has been giving to the imagined and/or constructed character of the national community, the paper looks for connections with anthropological theory and analyses the implications for anthropologys perspective on national and ethnic identities. In particular, following the traditionally strong empirical orientation of the discipline, it also interprets these theoretical assumptions bearing in mind possible developments in ethnographic research regarding the formation and politics of identity in national settings. In this context, the paper sketches the concept of a discourse anthropology with examples from research on national identity in Germany and Brazil. The analysis of these two cases leads to a theoretical distinction between discourse-centred (Germany) and symbol-centred (Brazil) constructions of national identity.

Theorising Integration and Assimilation

Selected Contents: 1. New insights into assimilation and integration theory Jens Schneider and Maurice Crul (Universiteit van Amsterdam) 2. The Complexities and Confusions of Segmented Assimilation Alex Stepick and Carol Dutton Stepick (Florida International University) 3. Segmented Assimilation Revisited: Types of Acculturation and Socioeconomic Mobility in Young Adulthood Mary C. Waters and Van Tran (Harvard University), Philip Kasinitz and John Mollenkopf (City University of New York) 4. What Happens After Segmented Assimilation? An Exploration of Intermarriage and Mixed Race Young People in Britain Miri Song (University of Kent) 5. Segmented assimilation and cross-national comparative research on the integration of immigrants and their children Hans Vermeulen (Universiteit van Amsterdam) 6. Integrating via networks: foreigners and others Michael Eve (University of Eastern Piedmont) 7. Comparative Integration Context Theory: Participation and Belonging in New Diverse European Cities Maurice Crul and Jens Schneider (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

Barriers and Opportunities

Urban areas in Germany, particularly in those (former) industrial zones which have attracted considerable foreign labour since the early 1960s, are developing a “majority minority”-situation in demographic terms: a rapidly increasing share of the population belongs to an ethnic, religious and/or linguistic minority. In many former working class neighbourhoods the so-called (native) “German majority society” no longer represents a demographic majority (cf. Crul, Schneider, & Lelie, 2013).

Von Kreuzberg nach Tempelhof: Räumliche und soziale Mobilität bei Nachkommen von Eingewanderten aus der Türkei in Berlin

Tempelhof und Mariendorf, zwei eher ruhige, hauptsachlich von der Mittelschicht bewohnte Berliner Stadtviertel, stehen in der Regel nicht im Blick der Forschung uber Eingewanderte im stadtischen Raum. Die Stadt- und Migrationsforschung beschaftigt sich meist mit ‚klassischen‘ Einwanderungsquartieren bzw. den ‚Chiffren‘ dafur, wie beispielsweise ‚Kreuzberg‘ und ‚Neukolln‘ im Falle Berlins.