Acts of Belonging in Modern Societies by Ilgın Yörükoğlu

Author:Ilgın Yörükoğlu
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030451721
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Belonging and Identification

Most of my respondents do not identify with Germanness. Those who were born or raised in Berlin tell me this is because white Germans would never actually accept a non-white person as a German. Instead, all of my respondents see Berlin as their home. Berrin, who immigrated when she was already a college-educated adult, says she wants to “stay in Berlin. To live in Berlin. To be a citizen of Berlin [she laughs and continues in English]. I mean it conceptually of course”. Then she pauses and goes back to Turkish, her native language, to explain what she means by being a Berlin citizen: “I mean, it is not something like ‘I want to become a German citizen’. It is like ‘I am a Berliner’…This is how I feel, yes. Until I came here to Berlin the first time ever in the year of 2000, [again in English] I never thought I belonged anywhere”. She loves Berlin so much that this city is not only where she wants to live in, but also where she wants “to be buried”. “‘The sun or whatever else in Barcelona, oh let me go there to the beaches’. Nope, there is no such thing. I am not interested at all”.

Ilkay, an artist, writer, and a film maker, lived in her beloved Berlin her whole life. I ask her to draw a map of her Berlin—whatever makes her identify with the city. She explains to me the spots she is marking on the “map”. “Here is the film…the script” she says, “I want to make my film within a year”. I want to make sure that I do not misunderstand her:Do you mean this is where you work at?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.