Paradoxes of Providing Aid: Ngos, Medicine, and Undocumented Migration in Berlin, Germany
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Paradoxes of Providing Aid: NGOs, Medicine, and Undocumented Migration in Berlin, Germany Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Castaneda, Heide Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 05/10/2021 08:55:53 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195410 PARADOXES OF PROVIDING AID: NGOS, MEDICINE, AND UNDOCUMENTED MIGRATIONINBERLIN, GERMANY by Heide Castañeda _____________________ Copyright © Heide Castañeda 2007 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR INANTHROPOLOGY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2007 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Heide Castañeda entitled Paradoxes of Providing Aid: NGOs, Medicine, and Undocumented Migration in Berlin, Germany and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 1/12/07 Mark Nichter _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 1/12/07 Linda B. Green _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 1/12/07 Susan J. Shaw _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 1/12/07 Paulette Kurzer _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 1/12/07 Mimi Nichter Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 1/12/07 Dissertation Director: Mark Nichter 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Heide Castañeda 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This doctoral study was made possible through generous funding provided by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Council of European Studies, the University of Arizona Marshall Foundation, the University of Arizona Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. I would like to acknowledge the faculty members and colleagues who have supported me throughout this dissertation project. Mark Nichter provided exceptional guidance during this process, always made time for me, and continues to foster an environment of solidarity and mutual support among his students. I am particularly grateful to those graduate student colleagues who have taken the time to review and provide comments on this dissertation: Kate Goldade, Fedra Papavasiliou, and Namino Glantz. In addition, Karin Friedric and Karen Pennesi provided helpful feedback on individual chapters. Conversations with Marie Sardier helped me maintain my enthusiasm and sense of purpose throughout this project. I am very grateful to my committee members Mimi Nichter, Linda Green, Paulette Kurzer, and Susan Shaw for continued feedback and encouragement. I am indebted to many individuals in Berlin, without whom field research would not have been possible. In particular, Adelheid Franz, Norbert Cyrus, and Jörg Alt provided invaluable guidance in the early phases of this study, and were always available for my questions. Mange tak to my flatmates Ida Vase and Ane Vase for your good company and late night talks. I thank artist Nina Ruecker for allowing me to utilize some of her extraordinary photographs. Most of all, I would like to thank the participants who offered their time and experiences to me in the course of this study, although I cannot name them here. Thank you for your willingness to speak with me and help me learn. Along the way, conversations with Sarah Willen, Seth Holmes, Andrew Gardner, Pierre Minn, Sarah Horton, and Anwen Tormey provided insight and helped me better understand how I wanted to situate this project. You are all extraordinary scholars. I am grateful to Myra Muramoto for her support of this dissertation on so many levels, and for reviewing the medical information contained herein. Nina Glick-Schiller provided me with advice and assistance during my stay at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, for which I want to express my gratitude as well. I want to thank my entire family, especially those who have been impacted most by my travel and writing schedule: my husband Valentín, my son Drake, my mother Kriemhilde, my sister Julie, my brother Jörg, and my grandparents Rena and Claude. None of this would have been possible without your patience and loving support. Finally, although writing a dissertation is a demanding process, I nonetheless find myself feeling guilt for the privilege implicit in this type of work. Most of the migrants I know – through this study, in my own family, and those I have met over the course of my life – labor hard and suffer well. I admire your strength, and hope you will view this dissertation as a worthwhile endeavor. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................................9 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................10 ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................11 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 13 Why Germany? .............................................................................................................15 Medical Humanitarianism, Activism, and the NGO Sector..........................................18 Misha and Yuriy............................................................................................................20 What’s in a Name? “Illegal” and “Undocumented” Migrants ......................................23 Refugee: A Category Imbued with Profound Meaning ................................................27 Outline of Chapters .......................................................................................................29 The Shifting Field..........................................................................................................41 CHAPTER 2 – RESEARCH SETTING AND STUDY METHODS...............................43 Studying Berlin .............................................................................................................43 Migration and Berlin’s Foreigner Residents ............................................................. 45 My Position as Researcher and a Summary of Methods...............................................50 Methodological Considerations: Clandestine Practices and “Hidden” Populations .....52 Participant Observation in Migrant Clinic .................................................................... 55 Interviews......................................................................................................................59 Interviews with NGO Staff .......................................................................................61 Interviews with Physicians........................................................................................62 Interviews with Undocumented Migrants................................................................. 64 Interviews with Local Experts...................................................................................66 Physicians’ Conference.................................................................................................67 Media Coverage and Public Discourse ......................................................................... 68 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................69 CHAPTER 3 – LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.....72 I. Anthropological Approaches to “Illegality” .............................................................. 74 “Illegality” as Juridical Status and Social Relation to the State................................75 “Deportee” as Contrast Category to Transnational Mobility....................................77 Biopolitics, Biosociality, and “Bare Life” ................................................................ 79 Critical Medical Anthropology: “Illegal” Status as an Axis of Health Inequality....83 Ethnoracial Stratification and Health .......................................................................