Laurette Hanna

Negotiating Identities - Berlin

31 July 2017
Change the Narrative
There is a sect of academia that focuses on Socionarratoly: a combination of
anthropology, sociology, and narrative study that explores how the stories we tell, and the stories
we are told, affect the way we perceive ourselves and others perceive us. This theory lays out
how stories make up the basis of our lives, and how the stories we tell can affect the lives of
others. This theory is especially prevalent in the political sphere, as the stories that are told about
certain issues and groups of people can inform policy and how policy is received. The story of
particular importance in this day and age is the stories surrounding refugees and migration. With
the current Syrian refugee crisis, there has been a surge in discussion of migration, immigration,
and refugees, specifically how and if migrants should be accepted. Germany provides a very
interesting case study of how narrative and policy affect migration, immigration, and peoples
ability to adapt and integrate into a new country. This is why our program, which is focused on
negotiating identities and communities, was based in Berlin - the center of the German migration
epidemic. While living in one of the most multicultural parts of Berlin, and working with our
community partners and refugee organizations, we were able to witness how mass migration has
affected the country and how German policies and stories affect the success of integration.
In the month we spent working and living in Berlin, one central question seemed to
emerge for all of us: What makes a German? This question in central to the question of migration
as what makes a German also informs how someone can become a German. This question is then
separated into two different components - social and legal - which intertwine in the way they
create the story of German people, and affect the stories of migrants and refugees. In terms of
legally obtaining citizenship, as of 2000, a person born in Germany to non-German parents may
be considered a German citizen if (1) at least one parent had lived legally in Germany for at
least eight years prior to the birth; (2) at the time of the birth, that parent had a permanent
residence permit (Dual Citizenship). This differs from US jus soli citizenship as if you are born
in the US, regardless of the citizenship status or residence situation of your parents, you will be a
US citizenship. In order to become a naturalized citizen one must live in Germany for 8 years
with the appropriate residence permit, know enough German to be able to functionally navigate
daily life, renounce any previous citizenship and allegiance, and must be self sufficient without
the help of social assistance (Dual Citizenship). If a person is married to someone who is a
German citizenship, they have three years until they can become naturalized. If ones parents are
of German descent, he or she will automatically be a citizen upon birth. When taken at face
value, these citizenship laws do not seem too bad, but once mixed with Germanys cultural
narrative, things become more complicated, as the type of citizenship you hold can affect the
way you are seen, especially when race and country of origin is taken into the equation.
Germany is, and always has been a largely homogenous country. As of March 2017,
ethnic Germans make up about 80% of the population, with 60% of those identifying as
Christian according to World Atlas. Unlike the United States, which has a history of immigration
and migration and is considered a country of immigrants, Germany national identity is based on
ancestral roots in the societal eye. For many migrants, even when they do obtain German
citizenship, they are not seen as fully German and are labeled as coming from a migratory
background. Clarissa Calcada, the managing director of Neopanterra Association ( The
community partner I worked with during my time in Berlin) described the difficulties she faced
and still faces as a migrant from Brazil. She felt as though she would never fully be considered
German, even though she does have sufficient understanding of the German language, has
obtained her citizenship, married a German, and has lived in Germany for a little over five years.
In her discussion with us she kept emphasizing the harmful effect of labeling someone has
having a migratory background. She said even her children, who would be born in Germany,
may not truly be considered German because of her status as a migrant. It may take a few
generations before her family is considered truly German. She also mentioned how looking
ethnically different to ethnic Germans does not help her situation. More in Germany than in the
US, a certain image comes to mind when someone pictures a German, and she along with many
other migrants, does not fit that image. It seemed quite clear there was a different expectation of
what it meant to be truly German, and although you could be naturalized and you could be a
German citizen, that does not necessarily mean you are German.
This phenomenon was introduced to us on our first day at Humbolt university, in a
lecture given by Christina Graff titled Specialized Hierarchies - Historic (Dis)Continuities,
which focused on Memorial culture in Germany. Within this lecture, Professor Graff explained
the German conception of race and racialization. She described how, for many years following
the holocaust, Germany could not and would not talk about race, as discussion of race was often
synonymous with the Nazi era. There is a belief among the German people that they were a
country that was corrupted for a time, but because the Nazis were defeated, their problems of
race were also defeated and no longer need to be discussed. In addition, even though it is not
discussed, there is a common understanding among Germans that race and national identity is
more of a biological thing than a social thing. For example, in the US, national identity is very
much a social thing, allowing for a flexibility in identity. People will often hyphenate their
identity (For example: Chinese-American, Mexican-American) in order to signify that they
belong within the umbrella of American national identity while also identifying with their race.
In Germany, hyphenated identities dont really carry the same significance and are not used. One
is either German or not. In the US, the social connotation of race allows for those who are of
biologically different ethnicities to be considered American as race does not dictate national
identity, especially if they have citizenship. In Germany, because identity is considered mostly
biological, citizenship does not change your ability to identify as German, as a change in location
and allegiance cannot change your biology. This mean that although someone of a different
ethnicity will be acknowledged as a German citizen they will not be acknowledged as a German.
In addition, because Germany does not have the language to discuss race and has an aversion to
the topic it can be hard to face this issue, which causes the separation of those who are ethnically
German from those that are legally German.
In Socionarratology, this halting of a discussion, of a narrative, can be especially
damaging as silences can be equally injurious, implying that there is no story to tell about lives
such as these (Frank, 75). It portrays an issue as unimportant, and portrays the people who
struggle because of this construction of national identity as unimportant. The book Arrival City
by Doug Saunders, discusses the harms of this inability to discuss citizenship and national
identity and the exchange between the two. In the section about Turkish migration to Germany,
Saunders describes how Turkish people in Germany are found to be more traditional and strict
than those who are in Turkey, or Turkish people in other countries. They are also highly
unemployed and many dont speak German fluently (Saunders). This is because Turks, even
into the third generation, are perpetually treated as temporary visitors or foreigners in German
society and see themselves in that way, so neither tries to improve the arrival city (Saunders,
247). In other words they are interpellated into this identity. According to socionaratology
Interpellation most simply means calling on a person to acknowledge and act on a particular
identity. (Frank, 49). Due to they way those of a different ethnic descent are seen as not
German, it becomes easy to project stereotypes and interpellate certain behaviors onto a society.
Without the narrative to discuss this phenomenon of racialization, it can be hard to break the
narrative as there is no reason to see this as abnormal.
For Turkish people, the temporary narrative began with guest worker citizenship in
1961. The migration of Turkish people into Germany for jobs was Germanys first mass
migration. They were guest workers, meant to temporarily live in Germany and then move back.
That notion of temporary stuck on both sides as German people never fully accepted Turkish
people and Turkish people were interpellated into this temporary identity and felt they did not
need to integrate as they were only meant to stay for a short time (Saunders). This created a
narrative of cultural separation between the two ethnicities that continued to become deeper as
the years went on. Even with the introduction of a naturalization process, this cultural separation
persists. Arthur Frank, a socionarratologist, discusses how stories and narrative breath in his
book Letting Stories Breath, and how once a narrative is created it begins to have a mind of its
own. As stated in the quote above people are responsible for the stories they tell because they do
have an effect. The temporary narrative of Turkish citizenship continues to have an affect on
Turkish migration and migration in general, despite the fact that they are no longer temporary,
and many have been citizens for generations. Still, that does not mean that there is no way of
stopping this cultural sepparation, as Frank also states that because stories breath Vital,
breathing stories can break though the filters and grids. Stories can make themselves heard
(Frank, 59). Creating a different narrative of cultural acceptance and racial awareness can break
through this old narrative, but without language to talk about race and German history of
racialization, it will be difficult to create the necessary narrative that will break through the filter.
This temporary narrative and inability to discuss race not only continues to affect the
Turkish community in Berlin, but affects the new migrant and refugee community as well. In
2015, Angel Merkel openly accepted Syrian refugees as the crisis reached its peak. As Viola B.
Georgi discussed in her lecture History Learning, Memory and Migration, Germany was very
open for the first year or two as Germans feel a lot of guilt, and saw this situation as their historic
chance to turn things around. Civil society was activated by the narrative of redemption and
acceptance Merkel portrayed in her speeches, but now people are realizing just what it takes to
house so many refugees, and the borders are closed. Again, these people were supposed to be
taken in temporarily, but as the war in Syria rages on, and people continue to need asylum,
Germany is again caught in a situation that it is not well equipped for. In fact, Merkel had not
changed immigration and citizenship law to accommodate for the difficulties of accepting so
many people. For example, in order to receive the benefits of citizenship, one must have
residence in Germany, but in order to have the correct residential papers you must own property
and in order to do that you must work, and in order to work you must speak German. This poses
a problem as the title of refugee carries the same short term, temporary connotation that the
Turkish faced when they migrated, and just as the Turkish people has a hard time integrating and
learning the language, there is a similar resistance among the refugees. In addition, as discussed
earlier, even if someone has German citizenship, they are not considered German and will
always carry the label of migratory background. This can be discouraging, especially when it
seems those around you will not full accept you. While working at our community partner
Neopanterra, a refugee housing association, we witnessed that resistance. In our second day, and
argument broke out between the administration and the refugees over the accessibility of
translators. Many of the adults had not learned German, or were struggling to do so. They were
frustrated with their inability to communicate, but the administration felt like supplying them
with more translators would hinder their ability to learn German. Throughout our four weeks
there, the children were often translating for their parents (learning German for the children was
easier and faster since they attended a German speaking school every day). Even with the
provision of German classes, there was still a language struggle. Without the ability to speak the
language, they will not be able to work, earn their own money, and move out of the camp, or
work their way to citizenship if that is what they want.
In addition to the effects of the temporary narrative, the inability to discuss race and the
prejudice that comes from this narrative affects a migrants ability to integrate. When working
with Neopanterra we learned a lot about the cultural separation between migrants and Germans
due to the location of the housing complex. We were located in a rural area an hour and a half
outside of Berlin. Our building was located right across the street from a housing complex meant
for more upperclass buyers, and the town we were located in was a homogenous community
made largely up of ethnic Germans. When we asked the administration what the emotions of the
locals were regarding the housing complex they said that they were mostly accepting, but
begrudgingly. One described it as an accepting attitude, but not a particularly understanding one.
There had ben a few complaints against the refugee in the camp for being rowdy. One kid - aged
three - even took a bike from one of the houses out of boredom. The complaints were reasonable,
but there was very little room for understanding about why the refugees were acting the way they
did. The biggest example of this was our trip to a summer festival. On our third day at
Neopanterra, we gathered the residents of the housing complex, headed to the nearest bus station,
and went to an annual summer festival hosted by the town. We had come to have the guys
participate in a tug of war competition. Some of the administration was hoping that their
participation in the annual tradition would show that the refugees could be a constructive part of
the community. It was going very well as our teams kept winning and it seemed like everyone
was having fun. People were getting along well, some Germans were even cheering for our team
of refugees, but then our team lost to a group of soldiers and things started to get a little heated.
Our group started arguing with the referee saying that they were being unfair and biased, as the
referee was a soldier too. The fight escalated and our team began yelling. Some German kids
began to provoke our team by mocking them. Others were making comments about how You
dont do this in Germany! and Youre in Germany you should act like it. Our group left
whooping and hollering as they made their way to the bus station. Jule, the administrator who
was with us, shook her head.
When we spoke to her later on the bus ride home, she explained to us that she was
disappointed because this display would reaffirm some of the prejudices that the residents had
about migrants being violent and easily angered. She feared that this would hinder the
acceptance of the refugees into the community. This prejudice is a pretty prevalent narrative
within the German community. Many migrants, specifically arabs and Turks, are seen as
aggressive and easily angered, which for some is true, but there is a nuance to this situation that
the German people were not acknowledging: for these people, there is a lot of trauma associated
with soldiers. These people were angry because they had lost to soldiers. For them winning
against the soldiers was more than just winning the game it was a proof of strength and a point of
pride and defiance. The nuance of trauma is often one that is not acknowledged within the
refugee community and is often not discussed enough, and therefor not well addressed. Instead,
people are quick to attach behavior to a culture and further separate these people from
Germans, but as Jule pointed out, there are men in every culture who cant lose and throw
tantrums when they do. Even German people exhibit this behavior, but this discussion of race is
stunted and while it may happen among individuals, on the large scale these nuances cannot be
discussed if the basics of race dont have an avenue to be brought up. And without an avenue for
understanding and acceptance, integration is further stunted.
It seems that, with the current issue of refugee integration and the unaddressed outcomes
of Turkish migration, Germany is at a tipping point. They have to decide if they want the
narrative to change so that this cultural divide can be bridged. Berlin seems to be leading
Germany towards bridging the gap. Even though the discussion of race is stunted, people are still
pushing it through. The migrant population is getting too large to ignore. Their effects on the
community are becoming more prominent, and the effects of their inability to integrate are also
becoming more obvious. This is catalyzing the discussion of race. Germany also has a strong
culture of activism through art, so it is only natural that the conversation is getting its start in the
arts. In our discussion with Sharon Otoo, she talked about her award winning story that tries to
introduce the discussion of white privilege and race in a humorous way. She believed that there
was a subtly to language that offers a new perspective without inspiring defensive behavior, and
provides the basis for discussion. Another way we saw art attempt to change narrative was
through showing the nuances of the immigrant experience A show that being produced at the
Maxim Gorky Theater went into the lives of a theater troupe made up of migrants, and their
stories of how they got to Germany and the pain and trials they experienced and continue to
experience in a raw and truthful way. As Frank says, Stories have the capacity to make one
particular perspective not only plausible but compelling (Frank, 31). Showing the stories of
these migrants, and why they struggled in arrive to Germany, and why they continue to struggle,
opens the discussion about race and migrational status in Germany, and how German migration
narrative can affect and harm the lives of others. It felt as if we were in the middle of an
important shift in the German narrative of national identity. The uneasiness and strain of the shift
can be felt in these communities and throughout Berlin. Racism and prejudice is becoming
harder to ignore, migrational issues are not so black and white, and the discussion of the issues
could lead to a cultural change that affects policy. Creating a narrative, making it heard,
activating society, and making it unavoidable is how one gets the attention of politics and creates
change, and this is the direction Berlin is headed towards.
 Works Cited

Becoming a German Citizen by Naturalization. Bundesministerium Des Innern,

www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/FAQs/EN/Themen/Migration/Staatsang/

Erwerb_der_deutschen_Staatsbuergerschaft_durch_Eingbuergerung_en.html.

Dual Nationality. U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Germany, de.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-

services/dual-nationality/.

Frank, Arthur W. Letting Stories Breathe: a Socio-Narratology. University of Chicago Press,

2012.

Georgi, Viola B. History Learning, Memory and Migration - The Case of Germany. Berlin,

Humbolt Universityt.

Graff, Christina. Berlin: Spatialized Hierarchies - Historic (Dis)Continuities. Berlin, Humbolt

University.

Otoo, Sharon. Sharon Otoo Lecture. Berlin, Humbolt University.

Saunders, Doug. Chapter 8: The New City Confronts the Old World. Arrival City, Windmill,

2011.

Sawe, Benjamin Elisha. Largest Ethnic Groups In Germany. WorldAtlas, 5 Oct. 2016,

www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-ethnic-groups-in-germany.html.