Turkish German Claims to Recognition In
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HOW SHOULD A BODY MOVE: TURKISH GERMAN CLAIMS TO RECOGNITION IN ARCHITECTURE, FILM AND LITERATURE by PETRA LANDFESTER B.A., University of Northern Colorado, 2001 M.A., Colorado State University, 2003 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Comparative Literature Graduate Program 2012 This thesis entitled: How Should a Body Move: Turkish German Claims to Recognition in Architecture, Film and Literature written by Petra Landfester has been approved by the Comparative Literature Graduate Program Beverly M. Weber Jill Heydt-Stevenson Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we Find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards Of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. P. Landfester | iii Landfester, Petra (Ph.D., Comparative Literature) How Should a Body Move: Turkish German Claims to Recognition in Architecture, Film and Literature Thesis directed by Assistant Professor Beverly M. Weber The decades-long struggle to define German multicultural society takes place in relationship to state and popular assumptions about the nature of German and Western secularism. Expressions of this struggle include the “mosque debate,” in which opponents sought to prevent new mosques in Germany, and discussions about offering Islam instruction in German schools along with Catholic and Protestant lessons. This dissertation addresses the role of the physical body in the recognition, or misrecognition, of “Others” as members of society. By utilizing theories of recognition as a starting point, it analyzes the embodied way in which people claim or grant recognition in a changing, multicultural Germany. Architecture presents a playing field that reveals the complexity of the problems a multicultural society faces in its “mosque debate,” especially when the embodied recognition of Muslims that is needed for positive identity formation is denied. The realms of film and literature offer niches for success for Turkish German artists like Fatih Akin and Emine Sevgi Özdamar, allowing them to develop feelings of belonging through claims to recognition in local, national, and transnational communities. At the same time, funding structures and market pressures lead to a potential trap for artists of Turkish heritage, rewarding a limited focus on immigrant themes, as addressed by writers Hatice Akyün and Lale Akgün. This project, by drawing on theories of recognition to analyze the parameters within which a multicultural society develops P. Landfester | iv niches for embodied recognition, offers new vocabulary for addressing the conditions immigrants face in Germany today. Literature, film, and architecture offer niches in which parity of participation is fought for and partially achieved, and offer opportunities for the development of self-esteem that will ultimately lead to an improved feeling of belonging. DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my loving and supportive husband, David and to our strong and beautiful children, Liam and Lena P. Landfester | vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to the people without whom this project never would have been finished: especially Beverly M. Weber who supported and encouraged me every step of the way, her guidance to help me focus on the main themes and her flexibility and time allotted to my dissertation despite my many challenges along the way. Also, many thanks goes to Jill Heydt-Stevenson for her aid in organizing my project and getting me on the right track. Equally important, I want to thank my beloved husband, David, who encouraged me to keep going during many hours of despair. Finally, to Emily for her sharp eye and comments and to Elka’s cooking. P. Landfester | vii TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction. How Should a Body Move: Turkish German Claims to Recognition in Architecture, Film and Literature............................................................................................1 II. Theories of “Multiculturalism” and Recognition...........................................................13 III. Changes in the Physical Landscape: Mosques, Architecture, and Threatening Bodies.........................................................................................................................................40 IV. The Films of Fatih Akin: The Fast Track to Recognition after the Wende..................86 V. From Fairytale to Hot Sauce: How Turkish German Writers Have Carved Out a Niche for Recognition............................................................................................................137 VI. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................198 Bibliography ...........................................................................................................................204 P. Landfester | viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED Ali Akyün, Hatice. Ali zum Dessert (2008). BGD Özdamar, Emine Sevgi. Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn (1998). Bridge Özdamar, Emine Sevgi. The Bridge of the Golden Horn. Trans. Martin Chalmers (2007). Courtyard Özdamar, Emine Sevgi. Courtyard in the Mirror. Trans. Leslie A. Adelson (2005). Hans Akyün, Hatice. Einmal Hans mit Scharfer Soße (2007). Hof Özdamar, Emine Sevgi. Der Hof im Spiegel (2001). MZ Özdamar, Emine Sevgi. Mutterzunge (1998). MT Özdamar, Emine Sevgi. Mother Tongue. Trans. Thomas Craig (1994). Semra Akgün, Lale. Tante Semra im Leberkäseland (2008). P. Landfester | 1 I. INTRODUCTION. HOW SHOULD A BODY MOVE: TURKISH GERMAN CLAIMS TO RECOGNITION IN ARCHITECTURE, FILM AND LITERATURE In 2001, the Independent Commission on Migration to Germany published “Structuring Immigration – Fostering Integration,” a report that demonstrates a clear change in the German government’s view on immigration. In the preface, Germany is described as “a de facto country of immigrants.” For many decades prior, the government had insisted that Germany was not a country of immigration, a premise reflected in legislation that prevented many immigrants, as well as their children and grandchildren, from obtaining recognition from the federal government as German citizens (“Structuring Immigration” 13; Martin 189). Restrictive citizenship laws in Germany, based on the notion of jus sanguinis (“the law of blood”), limited citizenship to children born to people with a blood connection to Germans and excluded children born on German territory without such a connection (“law of territory,” or jus soli) (Ingram and Triadafilopoulos, “Rights, Norms, and Politics” 370; Kaya and Kayaoğlu “Is National Citizenship?”). However, with a new citizenship law that went into effect in 2000, children of immigrants who legally permanently reside im Germany finally received an option for this level of recognition. This change in the citizenship law, combined with the initiative by the German Federal Minister of the Interior, Otto Schily, to establish the Independent Commission on Migration in 2000, represent attempts to recognize Germany’s multicultural reality. Nevertheless, debates continue about the meaning of a multicultural society, whether at the levels of governmental institutions, artistic culture, or public media. P. Landfester | 2 Since the turn of the 21st century these debates have particularly emphasized a German identity as a secular nation. Expressions of this struggle include the “mosque debate,” in which opponents have tried to interfere with permissions to erect new mosques, and the discussion about offering Islam instruction in German schools along with already existing Catholic and Protestant lessons. Many challenges face the integration of Muslim immigrant populations in particular into Western multicultural societies. However, scholarship has rarely addressed the role of the physical body in the recognition, or misrecognition, of “Others” as members of society. Yet, theories of recognition provide a valuable starting point in analyzing the embodied way in which people claim or grant recognition in a changing, multicultural Germany. This dissertation addresses the following questions: how do theories of recognition inform an understanding of just participation in society? How might they inform our understanding of embodied participation in a multicultural Germany? In what ways do members of the Turkish German minority claim and achieve recognition? In order to investigate these questions, I focus on the twenty-first century changes in the conditions and attempts to integrate into mainstream society. In particular I evaluate the way forms of culture such as architecture, film, and literature serve as terrains on which immigrants make embodied claims to recognition. I base this investigation on the notion that social justice movements, such as the women’s movement, the human rights movement, and the queer rights movement, have challenged previously established understandings about class, gender, race, nation, economy, and equality. The recognition of immigrants as political and cultural citizens poses another test to P. Landfester | 3 established understandings about nation, gender, and race. Germany represents itself as a country in which foreign visitors, immigrants and their families are welcome. The government, as well as businesses, particularly smaller ones, try to entice highly-skilled foreign workers in engineering fields to seek employment in Germany (“Zuwanderungsmisere;” “Structuring Immigration”),