Inaug.-diss.--Halle. / Lebenslauf.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in History." Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-215).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 1999. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-298).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-298).

This study examines the dynamics of German Turks' practices and life-styles and their relationship with Turkey in the context of the possibilities brought into their lives by their particular type of dislocation. Turkish migrants' "culture" and life-styles are explored in the context of their complex social space, rather than within a framework encapsulated in a reified ethnicity and/or immutable "Turkish culture". / Chapter I discusses concepts of ethnicity, culture and identity and presents a critical account of the literature on German Turks in this respect. Chapter II focuses on the ambiguities and insecurities of German Turks' legal, political and social status in both Turkey and Germany, and traces the consequences of these conditions on Turkish migrants' complex sense of place. The discussion of German Turks' "myths of return" in the context of their liminality and the impact these have on their self-image and their visions about their lives constitute the focus of chapters III and IV respectively. Chapter V explores the changing nature of Turkish migrants' interpersonal relationships. Chapter VI concentrates on the anomalies of the social space occupied by German Turks in German society and discusses their life-styles, practices and emergent cultural forms in the context of social mobility.

No description available.

In an ever-globalizing world, societies comprised of myriad people and cultures are quickly becoming the norm rather than the exception. In societies made up of culturally diverse, religiously pluralistic and disparate people, an added layer of complexity becomes apparent when attempting to integrate multiple cultures into a single society. Germany, in its reconstruction effort following World War II, faced such an integration challenge when a massive influx of Turkish migrants arrived as part of a "foreign worker" agreement. The introduction of a large and culturally diverse immigrant population made cultural understanding of paramount importance. Culture is an intangible element that can be difficult to quantify in political, social, or economic terms. As such, understanding culture and the peaceful coexistence of multiple cultures requires an examination beyond traditional perspectives. The implementation of conflict resolution theories and viewing situations from a conflict resolution perspective enables the extra layer of complexity that can occur within culturally diverse societies to be unpacked and better understood. Specifically, the goal of this thesis was to examine the integration challenges for Turkish immigrants in Germany while at the same time looking for opportunities to learn from the challenges facing societies attempting to implement immigration and integration policies in order to promote the coexistence of multiple cultures. The thesis concludes by offering directives or recommendations, formulated from the findings in this study, for multicultural societies facing integration challenges.

In the years following the end of the Second World War, the Federal Republic of Germany experienced a "golden age" of economic upturn. Due to the labor shortage in the aftermath of war and the division of Germany, West Germany initially looked to its eastern counterpart, the German Democratic Republic, to meet its labor needs in the immediate postwar years. Once East Germany tightened its border control, the Federal Republic of Germany extended bilateral agreements to Southern Mediterranean countries to meet the nation's labor needs. Italy was the first official nation to have a bilateral work agreement with West Germany in 1955, yet by the end of the labor program, the greatest population of "guest workers" in West Germany were Turkish nationals. The West German public initially heralded the arrival of guest workers as a boon, but by the program's end in November of 1973, the West German press reviled the Turkish migrant worker as they gradually moved out of isolated company employee barracks into single apartments, often with families or spouses joining them from Turkey. In spite of a lack of rights on West German soil, the year of 1973 was witness to a swell in migrant political activity, in the form of unsanctioned labor strikes. Utilizing two of these strikes, this thesis will compare the strategies, support, opposition, and success of the Ford Cologne (Ford Köln-Niehl) Factory strike and the Pierburg factory strike in Neuss. In both instances, the degree of support by ethnic German coworkers and factory management influenced the success of the strike. Additionally, this analysis will demonstrate that gender, in concert with nationality, negatively affected the results of the Ford Cologne Strike by way of public reception, while the negotiation of the Pierburg strike through a gendered lens aided woman migrant workers in the cooperation of factory management, the worker's council, union, and the West German public. Regardless of the strikes' outcomes, the significance of the labor strikes of 1973 is emblematic of both the lack of human rights afforded migrant workers in West Germany at the time and the persistent determination of blue-collar migrant workers to claim space for themselves and their families.