Language, Literature, and the Negotiation of Identity From 1949 to 2004, UNC Press and the UNC Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages and Literatures published the UNC Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures series. Monographs, anthologies, and critical editions in the series covered an array of topics including medieval and modern literature, theater, linguistics, philology, onomastics, and the history of ideas. Through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, books in the series have been reissued in new paperback and open access digital editions. For a complete list of books visit www.uncpress.org. Language, Literature, and the Negotiation of Identity Foreign Worker German in the Federal Republic of Germany barbara a. fennell UNC Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures Number 119 Copyright © 1998 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons cc by-nc-nd license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons. org/licenses. Suggested citation: Fennell, Barbara A. Language, Literature, and the Negotiation of Identity: Foreign Worker German in the Federal Republic of Germany. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. doi: https://doi.org/10.5149/9781469656526_Fennell Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Fennell, Barbara A. Title: Language, literature, and the negotiation of identity : Foreign worker German in the Federal Republic of Germany / by Barbara A. Fennell. Other titles: University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures ; no. 119. Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [1998] Series: University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: lccn 97009887 | isbn 978-1-4696-5651-9 (pbk: alk. paper) | isbn 978-1-4696-5652-6 (ebook) Subjects: Foreign workers — Germany (West) — Language. | German language — Study and teaching — Foreign speakers. | Pidgin German. | German language — Social aspects. | Immigrants’ writings, German — Germany (West) — History and criticism. | Germany — Emigration and immigration — History — 20th century. Classification: lcc pf5997 .a4 f46 1997 | dcc 437/ .086/91 For Stefan and Charlotte Contents Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Guests and Immigrants: The Historical and Political Background 12 Introduction 12 Foreign Labor from 1864 to the Present: A Historical Overview 13 Conclusion 34 2. The Social Background 35 Introduction 35 Living Conditions 36 Household Structure and Income 38 Education 39 Employment Opportunities 42 Ausliinderfeindlichkeit 45 Conclusion 50 3. From Pidgindeutsch to Standard German: The Linguistic Situation 51 Introduction 51 Structural Features of Foreign Worker German 52 Varieties of Foreign Worker German 58 Is Pidgindeutsch a Pidgin? 64 Overlapping Systems: Pidgins, Creoles, Interlanguages, and Xenolects 69 Recent Changes in Gastarbeiterlinguistik 84 x Contents Intended Meaning and Prepositional Usage 86 Gastarbeiterdeutsch and the Determination of Ethnic Identity 90 4. Language, Literature, and the Negotiation of Identity 94 Introduction 94 A Brief History of Literary Activity in the Immigrant Community 95 Common Themes of Immigrant Literature 101 Negotiating Labels 105 The Role of Language in the Negotiation of Ethnic and Social Identity 108 The Developmental Nature of Foreign Worker Literature 124 Literature as Capital: National and Intellectual Forces in the Negotiation of Identity 132 Notes 139 Bibliography 153 Index 165 Preface It is very difficult as a British subject to write a book which in any way criticizes other countries' treatment of foreigners. I hope that my Ger­ man colleagues will appreciate that many similar critical works could be (and indeed have been) written about foreigners in Britain and all of the other countries of the European Union. I hope also that they will acknowledge that I have tried to be constructive and positive in my criticism and have attempted to steer clear of polemic and exaggera­ tion in my descriptive accounts. I am indebted to a number of people who have read part or all of the manuscript and given me helpful comments, in particular to Stefan Pugh, Ian Press, Mark Louden, and two anonymous readers. Thanks are also due to Will Moore, my copyeditor at the University of North Carolina Press. All errors and omissions remaining in the text are of course my sole responsibility. Mike Reynolds and Joan Stewart deserve particular thanks for all their support and encouragement during my years in North Carolina. I miss their companionship and their example. Finally, I would like to thank Paul Roberge for having the faith and patience to coax me through to the end of this project. Part of the research for this book was funded by a Fellowship of the American Council of Learned Societies 1992-93, whose grant was matched by the College of Humanities at North Carolina State Univer­ sity. I should like to thank both bodies for their generous support of my work. To my husband Stefan and daughter Charlotte I owe a special debt of gratitude. xi Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge all of the following for their assistance: The University of Alabama Press for permission to reprint an emended version of B. A. Fennell, "Literary Data and Linguistic Analy­ sis: The Example of Modern German Immigrant Worker Literature," in The Text and Beyond: Essays in Literary Linguistics, edited by Cynthia G. Bernstein (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1994), 241-62. Language Quarterly for permission to reprint an emended version of B. A. Fennell, "Markers of Ethnic Identity in Immigrant Worker Ger­ man," Language Quarterly 30 (Winter-Spring 1992): 1-19. Dagyeli Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, for permission to excerpt Levent Aktoprak's Unterm Arm die Odysee. The authors for permission to reprint the following extracts from In zwei Sprachen Leben, edited by Irmgard Ackermann (1984): Chan­ tal Estran-Goecke: "Aphasie"; Ivan Tapia Bravo: "Das bin ich mir schuldig"; Franco Biondi: "Sprachfelder" and "Nicht nur gastarbeiter­ deutsch." Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv), Munich, for permission tore­ print extracts from Rafik Schami's Die Sehnsucht fiihrt schwarz (1988). Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne, for permission to reprint the ex­ tract from page 87 of Gunter Wallraff's Ganz unten (1985). Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft, Pfaffenweiler, for permission to re­ print the poem from Sadi Uci.inci.i, Integrationshemmender Faktor: Aus­ liinderfeindlichkeit in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: ein Uberblick zur Theorie der Ausliinderfeindlichkeit (1984). Franco Biondi, for permission to reprint the extract from Das Un­ sichtbare sagen!: Prosa und Lyrik aus dem Alltag des Gastarbeiters, edited by Habib Bektas (1980). Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv), Munich, for permission to cite from Hi.ilya Ozkan in Eine Fremde wie ich: Berichte, Erziihlungen, Gedichte von Ausliinderinnen, edited by Hi.ilya Ozkan and Andrea Worle (1985). Klartext-Verlag, Essen, for permission to reprint the poem from Pasquale Marino in Dies ist nicht die Welt, die wir suchen: Auslander in Deutschland, edited by Suleman Taufiq (1983). A1 Informationen Gesellschaft, Munich, for permission to print the extracts from Adel Karasholi's Wenn Damaskus nicht wiire: Gedichte (1992). Das Arabische Buch, Berlin, for permission to reprint part of Jose F. A. Oliver's poem "im gerippe eines tages." xiii Language, Literature, and the Negotiation of Identity Introduction Since reconstruction after World War II the German government has repeatedly insisted that Germany is kein Einwanderungsland ("not an immigration country"). Yet today there are approaching 7 million for­ eigners resident in that country, many of whom have lived there for over two decades, and a number of whom represent the third genera­ tion of immigrants in their family. The status of the diverse residents of the Federal Republic is by no means clear-cut, and it has been a controversial topic for a number of years. There are various categories of foreign resident in Germany, as in any European country. Some are students; others are seasonal workers or temporary employees of foreign companies (for example, Ameri­ can and Japanese citizens working in Germany); others are refugees; some are asylum seekers; still others fall into such categories as "for­ eign spouse of German citizen" or "independent immigrant" under the European Community agreement on freedom of movement and occu­ pation. Furthermore, there are also immigrants of German descent who automatically receive German citizenship on arrival in Germany and are not counted amongst the foreign population at all. The following quotation from Grosch encapsulates the confusion about immigrants' status very neatly, while providing insight into the major groupings: Indeed, the word "foreign" has a number of different connotations. There are "indigenous foreigners" as opposed to "alien foreigners," there are Germans with a foreign passport and foreigners with a German passport, there are foreigners from European Community countries and those from outside the EC-a confusing picture for many Germans themselves. As confusing as this picture is the public debate in which the three groups in question are constantly mixed up. Of the three groups, only two-legally speaking-are foreigners, meaning per­ sons with foreign citizenship. They are: 1. Foreigners who were called into the country-the majority of foreign workers and their families,