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Literatures of Migration in the Berlin Republic

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Literatures of Migration in the Berlin Republic HOLEY BERLIN: LITERATURES OF MIGRATION IN THE BERLIN REPUBLIC (Spine title: Holey Berlin) (Thesis format: Monograph) by Maria Mayr Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Maria Mayr 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-89497-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-89497-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners Dr. David Darby Dr. Nandi Bhatia Dr. Jan Plug Dr. Tobias Nagl Dr. Petra Fachinger The thesis by Maria Mavr entitled: Holey Berlin: Literatures of Migration in the Berlin Republic is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii ABSTRACT This dissertation analyses the ways in which contemporary German-language literature written by authors of non-German origin or descent shapes perceptions of what it means to be 'German' - and by extension, 'European' - in an increasingly multiethnic and multicultural Germany. Berlin continues to function as the principal site for the official and popular self-conscious negotiation of a 'new' German identity since the Wende. Yet, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the fact that Berlin also figures prominently in contemporary German literatures of migration. I therefore focus on a selection of texts representative of Berliner Migrationsliteratur in order to determine what kinds of theoretical and literary spaces allow for the arrival of Germany's and Europe's designated Others in Berlin. My literary corpus consists of Yoko Tawada's Pulverschrift Berlin, Terezia Mora's Alle Tage, Zafer §enocak Gejahrliche Verwandtschaft, Emine Sevgi Ozdamar's Seltsame Sterne Starren zur Erde, and Feridun Zaimoglu's German Amok. I discuss each work by drawing on a reading of Gilles Deleuze's and Felix Guattari's concept of holey space, which mediates between striated national and smooth global space. For each of these authors, Berlin and its surroundings offer holey spaces in terms of providing a chronotopic place of arrival, as well as by forming a conduit between the past and present, Germany and Europe, and Europe and its Others. The authors' holey Berlins thus escape the narrow confines of the local and national and simultaneously prevent getting lost in an abstract post-national and global European space. iii Keywords: Berlin literature, literatures of migration, post-unification Germany, Yoko Tawada, Terezia Mora, Zafer §enocak, Emine Sevgi Ozdamar, Feridun Zaimoglu iv DEDICATION To my parents and their open minds and hearts. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for all the individual and institutional support I have received while preparing for and writing this dissertation. First of all, I thank my supervisor, David Darby, for his endless encouragement, kindness, patience, and guidance throughout my studies at the University of Western Ontario. I greatly appreciate his unwavering faith in me and I am grateful to him for being a true mentor who dedicated so much time and energy to nurture my intellectual and professional growth. His enthusiasm for and knowledge of all things Berlin permeate this dissertation. My gratitude also goes to my second reader, Janelle Blankenship, who pointed me towards the concept of holy space. Without her, the theoretical framework of this dissertation would have taken a very different shape. During my graduate career, I also benefited greatly from the support of encouragement of Melitta Adamson. She has been a generous and valuable source of guidance and advice in matters of teaching, funding applications, and the job market. Throughout my time at Western, I have also enjoyed the help and patience of a great administrative team, namely Dawn Gingerich, Teresa Aconito, and Sylvia Kontra. They have all contributed to making my time as a graduate student, TA, and instructor at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures both productive and enjoyable. I am also indebted to the generous financial support from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and the University of Western Ontario. In addition, I would like to thank the Center for Metropolitan Studies in Berlin for integrating me in their Graduate Research vi Program during the fall semester of 2008, and the Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute in European Studies for offering me a fellowship in the summer of 2007. My thanks also go to the various friends and colleagues who have accompanied me during my years at Western. Especially the friendships and support of my dear friends Naqaa Abbas as well as Agnieszka Herra, Duru Giingor, and Cristina Ionica, which have literally and metaphorically helped to sustain me throughout the years. Finally, I cannot thank my parents enough. These past few years would have been utterly different had it not been for their never ceasing support, nurture, love, patience, and encouragement. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of Examination ii Abstract iii Dedication v Acknowledgments vi Table of Contents viii INTRODUCTION: Situating Migrationsliteratur 1 CHAPTER I. Holey Berlin Literature in Germany and Europe Placing Berlin in Germany and Europe 9 Berlin as Holey Space 19 CHAPTER II. Tawada's Pulverschrift Berlin: Dislocating Europe 34 Tawada and Migration 35 European Japan and Japanese Berliners 39 Berlin Matters 46 CHAPTER III. §enocak's Gejahrliche Verwandtschaft: Archival Berlin 56 Canonized Berlin 57 Memory Elites 68 Berlin's Armenian Archives 70 Histories of Turkish Berlin 75 CHAPTER IV. Mora's Alle Tage: B. as in Balkan 84 Towards a Yugoslavian Turn 85 Abel's Placeless Silence 90 Abel with an Accent 97 A Balkan Berlin Republic 102 CHAPTER V. Ozdamar's Selfsame Sterne: Ideological and Performative Berlins 111 Ideological Idiom in West Berlin and Istanbul 113 Uniforms and Brechtean Costume 120 A Place Away 125 Distanced Arrival 132 viii CHAPTER VI. Zaimoglu's German Amok: Escaping Decadent Berlin 141 Sex, Filth, and the Wohlstandsgesellscha.fi 142 Unburdened Berlin 150 Byzantine Berlin 154 Religious Exit 159 CHAPTER VII. Conclusion: Holes and Tangents Moving Forward 165 Moving East 170 Staying in Place 175 Works Cited 180 Curriculum Vita 207 ix 1 INTRODUCTION: Situating Migrationsliteratur In recent years, there has been much debate over how to name and conceptualize literature written in German by authors of non-German background. This literature was initially regarded as Gastarbeiterliteratur (guest worker literature) and reductively viewed as presenting authentic retellings of the experience of mainly Turkish guest workers who entered Germany since the 1960s. In the mid and late 1980s, this term was replaced by Ausldnderliteratur (literature of foreigners) in order to acknowledge the variety of themes and issues discussed by writers with migration backgrounds, which reach beyond the concerns and experience of the migrant labourer. In the 1990s the new term Migrantenliteratur (migrants' literature) was seen as being more accurate, considering that many of those still perceived as 'foreigners' were by then actually permanent residents and citizens of Germany. By now, it has become obvious that none of these terms are fully satisfactory since they maintain as well as foster a divide between what is considered Deutsche Literatur (German literature) and what is not. That is, these terms presuppose that there is such a thing as German literature proper and implicitly suggest that this literature
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