University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 6-1-2011 A Country of Immigration? Situating German Multiculturalism in the New Europe Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the European Languages and Societies Commons, and the Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Khrebtan-Hörhager, Julia, "A Country of Immigration? Situating German Multiculturalism in the New Europe" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 337. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/337 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. A COUNTRY OF IMMIGRATION? SITUATING GERMAN MULTICULTURALISM IN THE NEW EUROPE __________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of Social Sciences University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager June 2011 Advisor: Dr. Kate Willink ©Copyright by Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager 2011 All Rights Reserved Author: Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager Title: A COUNTRY OF IMMIGRATION? SITUATING GERMAN MULTICULTURALISM IN THE NEW EUROPE Advisor: Dr. Kate Willink Degree Date: June 2011 Abstract This dissertation addresses a complex cultural and social phenomenon: German multiculturalism in the framework of the European Union in the century of globalization and global migration. I use selected cinematographic works by Fatih Akin, currently the most celebrated German and European filmmaker, as cultural texts. This project illuminates cultural controversies, political complexities, and the discriminatory nature of German multiculturalism. Specifically, I show how and why the German society eagerly accepts and successfully integrates Italian immigrants, yet, culturally marginalizes and socially excludes the Turks. My work illuminates how complex historical and political processes of the past, guided by the principle of Euro-centricity, affect the multicultural dynamics in the German society. I also analyze Akin’s positionality as filmmaker, political figure, and a poster-child of contemporary German and European cinema. This project invites critical re-consideration of the question of cultural diversity in Germany and in Europe and suggests transformative approaches towards multiculturalism. I use de-colonizing, critical cultural and critical feminist theories as well as art narrative with elements of performance ethnography for theoretical and methodological framework of my work. The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the on-going scholarly, political and cultural research in the fields of multiculturalism, identity, and politics of inclusion. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Kate Willink for her dedication to this project and the insights she has provided throughout its various stages. She has been an inspiration in her teaching, writing, and scholarship; and I am very fortunate to have her as my academic adviser. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my committee: Dr. Bernadette Marie Calafell, Dr. Darrin Hicks, and Dr. Frédérique Chevillot. I greatly appreciate their willingness to participate and their guidance. I would also like to thank my family: my parents, who serve as extraordinary role models; my brother Oleg, whose love and care always give me strength; my sons, Leon and Lars, who show me how rewarding it is to combine motherhood and academic work; and finally my husband Philip Hörhager. Philip, you are a friend and a partner in every sense. I can never thank you enough for your support, love, and consistency throughout our lives, lives of our children, and my professional development. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to the memory of a beautiful mind, Pavel Fedorovitch Subbotenko. iii Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction & Research Motivation: Challenging German Multiculturalism, Revisiting Cultural Memory & Introducing Fatih Akin ........................ 1 Salience of Research on Multiculturalism in the Global/ized World ..................... 1 Revisiting Cultural Memory: Gastarbeiter & German Multiculturalism............... 9 Understanding Selective Othering ............................................................ 13 Fatih Akin: Cultural Ambassador, Cultural Chameleon, or Cultural Deviant?.... 17 Akin’s Positionality: Authenticity, Authority, Voice ............................... 19 Cultural Chameleon Thrown Back to his Roots ....................................... 21 Detailed Dissertational Overview......................................................................... 23 Chapter Two: Akin’s Cinematography in Cultural & Historical Context: Theoretical & Methodological Orientation.............................................................................................. 26 Overview of Tools to Understand and “Dismantle the Master’s House”............. 26 Historicizing Rhetoric of German Borderlands ........................................ 27 Gastarbeiter Perspectives & Collective Voices: Reservoir of Promises.. 31 Akin’s Films vs. Gastarbeiter Traditions: Changing Faces of Foreignness......... 34 Art under the Influence: Impact of Master Narrative on Akin’s Films .... 36 Power and Promises of Visuality: Films as Vehicles of New Consciousness...... 40 Chapter Three: Solino: German-Italian Cultural Togetherness: Celebrating Common Past, Romanticizing Patriarchy, Living in the “House that Europe Built”................................ 49 Solino: Normalizing and Blending Italianità........................................................ 49 Pizza. Pasta. Basta?: Experiencing Germany Eat-Alian Way.............................. 51 Quest for Italienreise: Historical and Cultural Context of the Italian- German Synergy ....................................................................................... 53 Negotiating New European Cultural Citizenship on the German Screen............. 60 Challenging Normative Femininity in Realm of European Patriarchy..... 66 Multiculturalism in Solino: Symphony of le Vieux Monde .................................. 74 Chapter Four: Head On: German Turkish Cultural Incompatibility: Conceptualizing German Others, Confronting “Sins of the Fathers,” Unpacking the Matrix of Intersectional Turkish Marginalization............................................................................. 77 Head On: Eurocentric Germany Meets the Ottoman Empire............................... 77 German-Turkish Zweisamkeit: Alien Component to the New German Identity .. 79 Impact of Vergangenheitsbewältigung and Islam on Turkish-German Incompatibility.......................................................................................... 83 Turkish Femininity: Split between Family and Foreignness ................................ 88 Estranged Body… Estranged Beauty… Estranged Performance ............. 94 Turkish Masculinity: Saga of Muslim Müllmenschen.......................................... 98 Multiculturalism in Head On: Turkish Be-Longing ........................................... 103 Chapter Five: On the Other Side: the Ultimate Conceptualization of Turkishness as a Culture of Extremes, Facing the Consequences of Border Crossing, Living in Double Exile ................................................................................................................................ 107 iv On the Other Side of German Normativity......................................................... 107 Extremes of Cultural Incompatibility: Price of Crossing the Line ..................... 109 Yeter’s Story: Struggling with the Patriarchic Violence ........................ 112 Ayten and Lotte’s Story: the Price of Queer Romance: Do and Die...... 119 Nejat’s Story: Be-Longing to the Other Side of the Black Sea: Painful Cultural In-Betweenness......................................................................... 123 Multiculturalism in On the Other Side: Extremes vs. Normativity .................... 130 Chapter Six: Contemporary Germany: a Country of Immigration? Suggesting New Policies, Encouraging On-Screen Cross-Cultural Dialogue and Inspiring New Consciousness as Prerequisites for Inclusive Multiculturalism...................................... 135 Living in the Master’s House: Selectiveness of German Multiculturalism........ 135 Home Europe Needs to Re-Build: Learning from the Past..................... 143 Inclusive Multiculturalism In-Action: State, Art, & Public Consciousness ....... 147 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 155 References....................................................................................................................... 158 Filmography.................................................................................................................... 173 v Chapter One: Introduction & Research Motivation: Challenging German Multiculturalism, Revisiting Cultural Memory & Introducing Fatih Akin Salience of Research on Multiculturalism in the Global/ized World German multiculturalism is dead. (German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 2010) Germany is a country of immigration, and also therefore multicultural. We do not celebrate this, we simply emphasize the fact. Where there is multiculturalism,