Ok, this is a question that has intrigued me since I arrived in Berlin. So much so, I feel I have to create a new term to properly discuss the issue. Nationalitism, of course, describes a bias against persons of different nationalities as opposed to classifying (and/or discriminating against) persons along racial lines. Over the past 8 months, I've thought a lot about what it means to be a minority in Germany. I've written on this blog about the issue. The longer I've been here, the more my thinking has evolved on this issue. Germany has a very complicated relationship with those of its residents that are either of "migratory" (their word, not mine) background or persons of color. This includes all persons who are not of "pure" German stock. That's the only way I can capture this concept.
The fact that everyone who's parents, or grandparents, or almost any linear relatives who are not "pure" german are considered to be of migratory background, makes it difficult to think of Germany from a racialist perspective. Being of migratory background would, naturally, be true of Caucasian persons who's ancestors hail from other countries as well. I continue to be curious about the distinction, if any, however between the experiences of white persons of "migratory" background and those of persons of color. I imagine, it's highly different. In the first instance, unlike persons of color, I doubt that, to the extent they are fluent in the language, the first question asked to them is "where are you from". Similarly, I speak about persons of Turkish origin as if they are not white. In America's reductionist racialist construct they would be so considered and, on that basis, more easily absorbed into the white majority (even more so if they were either not muslim, or not very devout in their faith). Because of Germany's emphasis upon nationality, however, they are generally not considered German.
I've had countless conversations with Germans regarding race and nationality. More specifically, I've spoken with many about the issue of Turkish persons living in Germany. I am particularly interested in the Turkish experience in Germany. The arrival of the Turkish persons in the early 60's resulted from economic exigency. They did not intend to remain. Although they chose to locate to Germany, in contrast to the arrival of the first African persons in America, their position as the largest immigrant group in Germany, and the group that has had the most significant difficulties integrating into German society, makes their experience feel acutely similar to that of African Americans at home, notwithstanding the various distinctions in their route to Germany or, as well, their legal standing in the country presently.
In discussing the difficulties of integration for Turkish persons in Germany, I often sense a significant degree of defensiveness from Germans with respect to this theme. Although they understand that the integration of the Turks has, in many ways, been a failure, their history with National Socialism and its racism make them reflexively deflective of the suggestion that they are, somehow, to blame for this. But the question of blame seems distracting. It's not necessary to apportion blame in order to discuss the integration of persons of Turkish origin and other minorities in Germany. But that seems to be another Germany proclivity, perhaps more their burden, viz., obsession with blame.
Personally, I see only very little real integration. The Germans seem satisfied with the evolution of Turkish schools, colleges, economies, etc. They are quick to note the "problems" caused by Turkish youth, the crime or drug problems. And, like African Americans, persons of Turkish heritage are responsible for a disproportionate amount of such activities. To speak to persons of Turkish heritage about their experience here seems like speaking to persons who live in completely different countries, different realities from their "German" compatriots (itself an odd term for persons who do not necessarily feel a sense of shared identity).
Notably, it's true that there is a strong sense of their belonging to a different culture. Germans mention this as well, that the Turkish Germans are not "culturally" German. I'm not sure that's true, since both groups mention that the German Turkish population is not received in Turkey as "real" Turks. That seems to suggest that there has been a significant hybridization of the cultures within the German Turkish population. The Turkish Germans have evolved from their original state. In this sense, they would be prototypical Americans. For what is an American other than a person, from a foreign culture, who's been melted into our grand melting pot, who's lost much of her former culture and adopted much of the prevailing American one?
More interestingly, however, it raises the question of the reasonableness, perhaps the viability, of being simultaneously of multiple cultures. We see the tension of multiculturarity in the U.S. with various of our immigrant populations. For the most part, as a nation founded upon immigration, this is a non-issue. Americans have been calling themselves xAmerican for what seems like 20 years now, so, highlighting our sense of dual, or multiple, ethnicity. To an American, it seems almost axiomatic, that a free society is tolerant of "legal" immigrants and their retention (within limitations) of their native culture. There are limitations. Though Americans (and what does that mean) are generally tolerant of multiple cultures, we do expect newly minted Americans to, at least, make an effort to learn the language.
This use of the term American leads to exactly the central point. In the U.S., everyone who is legally a citizen is an American. Because we are a land principally based upon the ideal of personal/individual freedom, everyone who "works hard", pays taxes, and, perhaps, stands for the national anthem is an American. If everyone hails from someplace else, then, essentially, no one is "more" American than anyone else. Of course there are racists in both Germany and America that I am really not considering here. For such persons, in both countries, no one outside of quite narrow (and somewhat capricious) definitional parameters, is a member of the allegedly dominant culture. I mean more the main-stream, people on the streets, ordinary Americans. For them, the concept of American has little to do with a sense of who is American by blood and has more to do with who is American by legal right, and as evidenced by limited shared values.
In Germany, only persons who are of German blood are "real Germans". It's of course somewhat odd this sense of germanness, given that, as a unified land, Germany's history is relatively young (only since the second half of the 19th C.). Nevertheless, it seems to be a concept laden with a sense of both place, time, and race. I say the last, because there are numerous persons of other nationalities (e.g., Russian or Polish) who automatically receive German citizenship regardless of the fact that they were born abroad to parents who, themselves, were born abroad. They receive their German citizenship because they have identifiable German heritage (similar, in this sense, to Israel).
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