In-between as resistance: The post-migrant generation between discrimination and transnationalization

Abstract

Abstract Our article is based on a qualitative study conducted in 2015 in large cities in Turkey, encompassing 35 semi-structured interviews. Inquiry focused on the descendants of the so-called “Gastarbeiter [‘guest worker’] generation” – youth who were born and grew up mainly in Germany and Austria, were educated there and who to a great extent are Austrian or German citizens. They left their country of birth and emigrated to the country of origin of their parents or grandparents, Turkey, where they hoped for better professional perspectives. In the public sphere they are perceived, if at all, as returning migrants. In this paper, we term this next generation post-migrant, a generation that moves in different “spaces in-between”, developing strategies for living from their distinctive positioning: between transnationalization and discrimination, here and there, between leaving and remaining. This promotes a confrontation with the respective local conditions. For this generation, a certain double distance to the uninterrogated normalities here and there is part of everyday life, and at the same time should be seen as a resistant praxis. Proceeding from the investigation mentioned, we attempt here to reconstruct that a praxis that can open up new perspectives, not only for social work.