Today I had a great chat with Banu Karaca, a PhD student in Cultural Anthropology at CUNY who’s doing research on the intersection of modernity, nationalism and art in both Istanbul and Berlin. Her parents are from Turkey and she was born and raised in Frankfurt. We talked about all kinds of issues related to our respective projects, but several things stood out from our conversation that I wanted to share with you.
Educational Attainment of Turkish Children
Banu experienced difficulty in the German education system almost exactly as I wrote about it in a previous post. She was told by her teacher that she shouldn’t continue on to the Gymnasium (the advanced, college-prep high school). When her parents asked for a reason, the teacher said Banu was having trouble with German. But the fact was, Banu had never gotten below a B+ in German and was performing best in her class throughout elementary school! Thankfully, her parents kept asking for an explanation until the teacher caved: there was simply no good explanation why she shouldn’t continue to an advanced high school.
But there is an explanation. According to Banu (and as was suggested in the article I commented on earlier), there is a systematic conceptual bias against Turks pursuing higher education. The concept at work in some teachers’ minds seems to be that Turks don’t go on to higher education. They just don’t. It might be that there’s some statistical discrimination taking place, but in any case, it’s discrimination and the consequence for Turkish students is a greater likelihood of being directed into lower-level high schools and the associated reduction in life chances.
Banu’s story doesn’t stop there. Even now when she meets with German professors to discuss her research, they can’t believe that she was actually born in Germany. How did a person with Turkish roots born in Germany make it to a PhD program in New York? It’s not possible. Some of them have insisted on speaking with her entirely in English, even when they know that she was born in Germany and went through German schools. You can imagine how irritating and even degrading that must be.
World Cup, Flag-Waving, and Turkish Integration
There’s been a lot of discussion in the media lately about the unprecedented display of German patriotism since the start of the World Cup. This NY Times article sums it up and this photo gallery illustrates the point, so I won’t go into any detail. Suffice it to say that German flags and the national colors are all over.
One place that Banu and I have been somewhat surprised to see the flag is painted on the faces of Turks and flying from their cars. I think Banu has been more taken aback than me because she’s so much more familiar with the charges of racism and discrimination so often brought by Turkish migrants against Germans. In other words, she’s picked up on the very low level of identification with Germany felt by at least some segments of the Turkish population.
I haven’t heard as many complaints yet, so to me the Turks displaying German colors (and they’re mostly young-ish Turks) hasn’t been as shocking. After all, Turkey isn’t in the World Cup this time around and a lot of these kids do feel some attachment to this place where they’ve spent most of their lives. Shoot, the World Cup is a huge party and better than sitting it out, maybe it’s just the next best option to get swept up in the excitement experienced by others living in your adopted country. In any case, I’m going to be keeping my eyes open for flag-waving, face-painted Turks to ask about this because I’m not sure people have a good sense about what’s going on.
Parallel Worlds
One other question I’m going to be asking Turks in my neighborhood is an excellent one suggested by Banu: How many German friends do you have? What a simple, brilliant question. So far I’ve gotten a real sense that Turks and Germans simply don’t mix or get to know one another even though they’re living in the same neighborhoods. Banu told me about meeting Germans who have lived in Kreuzberg for over eight years and still don’t have a single Turkish friend. I’m wiling to bet it goes both ways.
Once again, another eye-opening encounter with a very bright, generous person. Thanks, Banu!
2 comments ↓
Jim– hi from Rio. Love the site.
Flag nationalism is everywhere here too, on account of the Cup.
When you mention Turks and Germans, isn’t there some overlap (in self-labelling, even?) Would this cause you any problems asking people if they have German friends (as opposed to, say, friends of non-Turkish origins, etc?)
Do Turks in Germany always call themselves Turks?
Hi Adriana,
Great questions. You’re absolutely right about overlap, and I think it’s generally a good idea to avoid using “Turks” and “Germans” as shorthand for something that can be pretty complicated. For example, Banu’s parents are from Turkey but their precise ethnic background is a bit tricky to pin down. Therefore it’s hard for her to identify as “Turkish” and it makes it hard for me to say that she’s the child of Turkish immigrants, though it’d be accurate in the sense of country of origin. Indeed, when she refers to herself she prefers the Turkish word Türkiyeli, which literally means ‘from the country of Turkey.’
Fatih, too, doesn’t describe himself as a Turk. He says he is a German with Turkish roots.
So, while “Turks” in Germany don’t always call themselves Turks, I think “Turk” and “German” are used on the streets in a very general sense all the time. Banu didn’t qualify herself at all when she suggested I should “ask Turks whether they have any German friends.” My hunch is that it’s a relatively decent question to ask, as is, in a casual conversation, but if I were using it in survey research I’d want to fine-tune it.
Hope you’re having fun in Rio! Are Brazilians as optimistic about winning the Cup following their first two games?
Jim
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