Living transnational lives: Languages, education and senses of belonging across three generations of a Greek-German bilingual family

Abstract

In this article, we explore how migrant families interpret their lives, their selves and their senses of belonging against the background of transnational work, education and language trajectories. Drawing on a biographical approach and interviews with three generations of the same Greek-German bilingual family, our results show the process of deinstitutionalisation of Greek language education across the generations, which is replaced by practices of ‘doing heritage’, i.e. forms of linguistic and cultural education in the private sphere of the family. While the orientation of the interview partner of the first generation is towards remigration to Greece, the interview partner of the second generation is closest to having developed a ‘transnational disposition of the mind’ (Casinader, 2018, p. 16). The interview partner of the third generation is oriented towards permanent settlement and career stability in Germany. These findings are discussed against the background of socio-historic relations between Germany and Greece.