Roots & Routes, April, 2021
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Roots & Routes Vol 10, No. 4, April, 2021 Photo credits : https://www. Photo credit: FandimeFilmu imdb.com/title/tt1630027/ www.grfdt.com Roots and Routes, Vol 8, No. 13-14, July- December, 2019 1 Editor’s Note Dear Readers, Greetings! The adverse impact of the pandemic is on the rise, and migrants all over the world are largely getting affected. Although good initiatives are being taken by some governments and civil society organisations, many states are still Contents not prioritising welfare policies for the migrants who have been hard-hit be- Movie Reviews cause of the mobility restrictions. There is a need for global solidarity as it is Book Review the only hope for the entire humanity to come out of the narrow nationalistic Blog vision that has constantly neglected the importance of migrants. Therefore, bringing the voice of the migrants to the world community through all pos- Editorial Information ©GRFDT. Roots and Routes is printed, itive means is essential. On this note, Global Research Forum on Diaspora designed & circulated by and Transnationalism (GRFDT) is constantly striving to bridge the gap be- GRFDT tween the policy and implementation through its various activities. Depicting its monthly works, GRFDT brings to you its organisational newsletter “Roots Editor and Routes” for April 2021. Abhishek Yadav The newsletter contains movie reviews, book review and one interview. Lina Editorial Committee Mansour has reviewed the movie titled “Almanya: Willkommen in Deutsch- Abhishek Yadav land”, providing the telling account of Turkish immigrants living in Germany. Ani Yeremyan Fabrizio Parrilli has reviewed the movie titled “Bienvenue a Marly-Gomont” Arsala Nizami Feroz Khan (The African Doctor), describing the integration challenges of an African Gurram Srinivas family in France. Moreover, Richa Kundu has reviewed the book “Modern Kishlay Kirti Greek in Diaspora: An Australian Perspective”, explaining the crucial role of Mahalingam M language in carrying over the cultural legacy and how different generations Monika Bisht Ranjan of immigrants deal with their linguistic identity. At last, my interview pub- Naziya Naweed Nitesh Narnolia lished by the Global Policy Institute, Queen Mary University of London, has Olatunbosun Emmanuel been given a place in this issue. It describes the challenges being faced by OGUNSEEMI researchers in conducting migration research during the pandemic. Parul Srivastava Pratik Satyal Paige Fabry Hoping for your feedback on the issue and any suggestion for the betterment Rahul Kumar of the newsletter will be highly appreciated. Rajiv Mishra Feel free to email at [email protected]. Rakesh Ranjan Razia Sultana Sabah Khan Happy Reading! Sadananda Sahoo Sharlene Chen Smita Tiwary Srinita Bhattacharjee Zohra Hassani Design and Production: Rakesh Ranjan & Feroz Khan Email: [email protected] Website: www.grfdt.org Abhishek Yadav Roots and Routes, Vol 10, No. 4, April, 2021 2 Movie Reviews Almanya: Willkommen in Deutschland – A Cross-cultural Examination Seventy years after Germany’s infamous come “home” with him to help build the house. Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) and the Throughout this road trip, the audience gets to bilateral deals with various countries to bring in understand the story of how they all came to Ger- foreign labor for the restructuring of the coun- many in the first place and how this has affected try, Germany’s ethnic diversity has not been the their struggle with their heritage now. same since. In the 2011 trag- ic comedy Almanya: Wil- Almanya is a movie intended kommen in Deutschland ( not only to bring Turkey to a Welcome to Germany), di- wider audience, but to cultural- rector and writer Yasemin ly examine what we know about Şamdereli presents us the the integration of guest workers story of three generations of in Germany in a balanced dra- a Turkish immigrant family matic, and comic way. in Germany that adapts and portrays identity politics and Şamdereli pays attention to questions of belonging faced blob:https://web.whatsapp. by the Turkish guest workers com/86d22be1-cba5-49ce- and their descendants. 9a38-0a942f9a173a small de- tails that eloquently bring to Almanya spans two parallel life realistic challenges of iden- storylines taking place in dif- tity. In a lighthearted manner, ferent time periods, one of a the family attempts to celebrate family moving from Turkey Christmas just to feel like they to Germany as foreign work- belong with their surround- ers, the other is of the same Photo credits : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1630027/ ing society, but are soon faced family years later returning to Turkey for a visit as with the horror of their first time seeing Christ German citizens. When six-year-old Cenk Yilmaz, on a cross. Their grapple with the language is an born to a German mother and a Turkish father, re- experience that almost every immigrant faces alizes that he was neither chosen for the German upon arriving in a foreign country. Canan’s sto- nor the Turkish football teams in his school as ryline is of a Turkish girl who gets pregnant from neither sides viewed him to be enough to belong her non-Turkish, non-Muslim boyfriend and this to their group, he begins to question his identity as well gives us an insight into how cultures and and asks his family “am I German or Turkish?” In traditions are not easily preserved by generations order to understand his heritage, his 22-year-old born outside of them. The movie does a great job cousin Canan tells him the story of their Grandfa- balancing comedy and drama and at times tugs ther Huseyin who was among the 1,000,001 guest at the audience’s heartstrings. Although Turkish, workers to arrive in Germany in the 1960s to fill Huseyin was refused burial on Turkish land due in the labor shortage at the time. Huseyin who to his recently acquired German citizenship. We has just acquired his German citizenship tells his are presented with the harsh reality of the in-be- family that he purchased land in his home village tweenness that immigrants live through, always in Anatalya in Turkey and he needs his family to a fine line away from being neither this nor that. Roots and Routes, Vol 10, No. 4, April, 2021 3 The question of ‘home’ becomes very prominent in eskamen Menschen” (We called for work- this movie. What we know about the term ‘home’ ers, and people came) by the Swiss author Max ceases to exist and its place comes to a concept Frisch in 1965. It felt like a strong reminder that in only an individual can identify for themselves. Ad- the midst of statistics and numbers, in the midst of ditionally, the quotes used to accentuate the par- headlines and news on immigrants, we forget the allel between the family before and after coming stories of individuals who are not just a collective to Germany resonate with the viewer and become identity meant to be solely discussed and talked impossible to resist. about as policy issues. The quote serves as a beau- tiful conclusion to a movie that starts by painting “We are the sum of everything that hap- itself as a historical retelling of a significant time pened before us, everything that was done period in Germany’s transformation, yet contin- under our eyes, everything that was done ues as a coming-of-age story of a family that finds to us. We are every human being and ev- itself in two completely different countries that erything whose existence influenced ours come to create who they are as a whole. or was influenced by us. We are every- thing that happens after we are no more Lina Mansour is currently pursuing a Masters and what would not happen if we had not in European Politics and International Relations. come.” She previously worked for the International Orga- nization for Migration (IOM Egypt) and has a par- Perhaps one of the strongest ways to end a mov- ticular interest in Euro-Mediterranean relations. ie was the quote left on the black screen replacing She is an avid reader who enjoys books about cul- the most commonly seen The End. The audience tural and identity politics. sees the words “Wirrieften Arbeitskräfte, Linkedin: @linamansour Twitter: @mindoflina Roots and Routes, Vol 10, No. 4, April, 2021 4 Bienvenue A’ Marly-Gomont: A Tale of Integration beyond Stereotypes and Prejudices ‘Welcome to Marly-Gomont’ is a comedy movie based on a true story about the difficult process of The beauty of this film lies precisely in identify- integration of an African family in a small French ing the cold reception of citizens with an innocent community. ignorance due more to geographical than mental closure. As much as Seyolo tries to get into the The story takes place in the good graces of the communi- 70s. At the Lille Faculty of ty, the inhabitants continue to Medicine, students are cel- go to the doctor of the nearby ebrating their graduation village, and the few who go, ready to practice the profes- claim not to pay since they do sion of a doctor. Among these not consider him a real doctor. students, SeyoloZantoko, a The distrust of fellow citizens native of the Democratic Re- is then pushed and increased public of Congo (former Zaire by Jean-Marc Lavigne, the op- governed by the eternal dic- posing candidate for the mu- tator President Mobuto), has nicipality elections against the the intention of blob:https:// more welcoming and tolerant web.whatsapp.com/3fc9d- Ramollu. 4cb-2b4e-4d9a-8f93-bd- 3ba4c04fe4 refusing the The climate of indifference opportunity of becoming and distrust changes after the Mobuto’s personal doctor. His Doctor helps a woman, who dream is to continue to live in had always considered him a his adopted country, but this dirty monster, to give birth to time together with his family: his wife Anne and her child.