Arrival Cities and The Figure of the Migrant Discussion Points

Arrival City

• The author claims that “arrival cities” are “places where the next great economic and cultural boom will be born, or where the next great explosion of violence will occur”. (3) These two potential situations are very different from each other, conflict versus cultural and economic advancement, but I want to know this author’s perspective on whether or not this difference between these hypothetical situations is one small event, or if it differs by a series of key events.
• Loïc Wacquant argues that neighborhoods of relegation are “anti-ghettos” because they are so multicultural, which is problematic. Wacquant says the “advanced marginality” of these neighborhoods prevents the people there from forming a community. By extension, it seems to me, they may not be able to form a community identity. My question in this context is the following: how many points of connection between people are needed to form a community? Is it a questions of quantity, or is it something different? Can we artificially induce community formation in these places of “advanced marginality”?
• The discussion of the Turkish community in Kreuzberg being a “grotesque caricature of their home country’s life” is fascinating and unsettling. Is the fact that Turks are essentially forming “urban villages” in Berlin and that “Turks in Germany [are] 20 years behind those in Istanbul” an over-correction for the erasure of community and culture that may happen in a very multicultural area? 

The Future of the Migrant

• Nail points out that not all migrants are affected the same by their movement; he says every migrant lands somewhere on the spectrum between “inconvenienced” and “incapacitation”. I really appreciate this acknowledgement that the migration experience differs greatly from person to person, and that difference arises from various factors like class, race, gender, profession, etc. I’d like to think and investigate more about what combinations of factors lead to which position on the spectrum of migration effects, and what can be done with policy to shift people away from being “incapacitated” by migration. 
• One point that I found interesting is Nail’s claim that, because we define all other individuals’ existences with words of stasis, whereas migrants are characterized by movement, migrants are (in the public sphere and by academics) seen as “failed citizens”. I would agree that this is an accurate assessment of the implication of the word “migrant”, but that is just based on my personal observations and opinion. So, does this implication hold up to other theories of migration? And, if everyone is becoming a migrant in one way or another, as Nail says at the start of the introduction, should we not redefine the word “citizen” to account for increased migration of everyone?
• One part of Dr. Georgi’s lecture last week that I found fascinating was the comparison between recent increased nationalism and a new movement that suggests we can move past nations, to a post-national form of world organization in the wake of globalization. This connects, in my opinion, to the second problem Nail highlights: that migrants have been primarily understood from the perspectives of states, when migrant history is often overshadowed by the state, or the state selects the history it wishes to remember. It seems that the nation state system itself creates challenges for the success of migrants and migrating communities in today’s world. So, hypothetically, what would the consequences of a post-national world be for migration? Would migration as we understand it today even be relevant, or would migrating between what used to be separate countries be as easy as moving to a new neighborhood in the same city?

Community Mapping Interviews and Research

INTERVIEWS:

Todosch and Federica

Todosch is a sculptor and Federica is an architect. They are both working with refugees at the garden on a 7 month program that teaches them German and basic carpentry and building skills. Todosch is also a resident of the neighborhood (he lives in a house right behind the garden). Todosch has lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years, and Federica moved to Germany four years ago. They have been teaching in skill building programs like the one they are currently doing for a few years, but they have only been doing this specific program at the garden for the past year. Before that, they worked with Schlesische 27 at another sight doing similar projects. Todosch said last year he also did work at an elementary school in the community with a diverse population, including migrants, relating to theater and art projects. Both Todosch and Federica agree that their favorite things about the community are 1) the welcoming atmosphere at Die Gärtnerei, 2) Templehof Airfield (which is very near to the Coop Campus), and 3) the diversity and relaxed vibe of the community at large. Todosch, from his experience working in schools, thinks the community does support the idea of education for all, but may struggle to implement it. Todosch and Federica think they are doing good things here in the community. Based on the happiness and pride in the eyes of the folks they were working with to complete the Archive, a carpentry project in the garden, it seems to me that they are doing good. But, as many people have said, they wish more could be done in spite of the roadblocks to gaining German citizenship. Todosch told me a story of a person he knew who came to Germany as a refugee, learned to speak German fluently after 2 years, became a skilled mechanic and jack-of-all-trades, and tried in vain to get a decent job for three more years after officially achieving fluency. After a total of five years in Germany, this man’s legal status had not changed, and he decided to go back to his home country and try to use his new skills to get a job there. So, Todosch says, the programs he participated in and all the hard work he did weren’t all for nothing, but it’s realistically very difficult to help every person who comes to Germany as a refugee find a happy ending.  

Fetewei

Fetewei has lived in Neukölln since 2014, and he works at schools with young children and helps do building work at the garden; currently, he is one of the people leading the building of the new greenhouse. Fetewei loves the neighborhood, but is noticing the gentrification happening over the years he has been here, in the rising rents and the decreasing diversity of the neighborhood. His three favorite places are the kitchen at the Coop Campus, Tempelhof Airfield, and any of the great bars along Hermannstraβe where he can relax and have a cold drink with his friends. Fetewei thinks the local schools are doing a lot of great things to support the community at large despite gentrification, and he thinks what he does working with schools and helping out at the garden also positively impacts the community, but he believes that the real problem is more systemic. We chatted with Fetewei for a long time about how the dominant neoliberal thoughts in policy overall, but specifically in education, housing, and immigration policy are negatively impacting the community and the world at large.

Nina

Nina is a university student from Germany studying social work. She is interning at the garden as part of her final studies at her university regarding social work with refugee communities. She has been working with the coop campus since March, and moved into the neighborhood a few months before that (she also lives just behind the garden). In Nina’s opinion, the three best assets of the community are 1) the community garden and park, 2) the mix of people in the area (not just Germans), 3) the Korean restaurant down the street. From what she knows, Nina thinks that the schools in the area do support everyone, and this is especially evident by the fact that school is completely free for everyone, no matter their legal status. In addition, schools are doing their best to accommodate for the drastic language barriers presented by students entering schools knowing various different languages, including Turkish, Arabic, Italian and Persian. Nina really likes her internship so far because she does feel like she is making a positive impact here at the coop campus, and she helps connect refugees to potential opportunities in the community.

Falafel Shop owner and customer

We stopped to try to chat with the owner of the falafel shop that is right outside of the garden gates. He said his shop has been here for five years, since before the coop campus was on the cemetery grounds. He said he really likes the community, and often spends time at the coop campus. We struggled to get past the language barrier, but happened to strike up a conversation with one of the customers in front of the stand. The customer said she has lived in Neukölln for sixteen years, and she has seen the neighborhood change a lot. We chatted a bit about the schools in the area, and she said she sees a big diversity in the schoolchildren walking around, but doesn’t know a ton about the actual programs going on. The customer works out of the neighborhood, but she thinks her participation in supporting small businesses like the falafel cart we were at is how she positively impacts the community. We chatted a bit about the gentrification occurring in the neighborhood, and how that is changing the night life scene from relaxing bars to high-energy clubs, which this resident does not really like. She said lots of college students are moving in, and that is changing the atmosphere around Neukölln a lot, but overall she still likes the neighborhood.

Research Inquiry: Housing in Neukölln

As of 2015, 328,062 people live in the borough of Neukölln. Regarding demographics, the population is composed of (in descending order of percentages) Germans, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Russians, Africans and Poles. According to the district office of Neukölln, 164,823 people are female and 141,406 are “foreigners”. (Einwohnerregisterstatistik) As for housing, based on my own personal observations, all of the housing in Neukolln are apartment buildings or apartments located above businesses. After walking around for several hours, I did not notice any new development of residential buildings. Most apartment buildings appear to be at least 20 years old, but some could be a century old. (This is because much of Berlin, including Neukölln, was spared from destruction during WWII, so many old pieces of architecture still exist in Neukölln, including churches and cemeteries.)

In the northern areas of Neukölln, housing appears to be nicer, with manicured greenery and fresh paint, and I see more people who are in their 20’s and 30’s walking around the streets. This area seems to be more gentrified. In the south, closer to the coop campus, housing is a bit more run down externally, but walking past windows there are the sounds of lively homes, and there are lots of children. This appears to be the more diverse part of the neighborhood, with a historically more Turkish community.

During my research, I discovered there has been a surge in student housing popping up in Neukölln, because of the affordability of the neighborhood, easy access to other areas of the city, and growing night life. One housing sight called “Easy Living Berlin”, which caters towards buyers looking for single-person apartments (i.e. students and young people) called Neukölln “a cultural melting pot” and “the most exciting part of Berlin” because “the vibe is intercultural and cheerful”.("Temporary Accommodations...") Gentrification is definitely occurring and the community is aware of it: as far back at 2011, residents put up posters blaming “students, artists and travelers” for the rising rents in the neighborhood, and calling for people to “be creative and active against gentrification”. (Mendoza) Despite awareness and activism in the community, and newcomers to the community being aware of the gentrification occurring, it has continued to happen since 2011 and residents are still struggling to pay their rents.


Bibliography

"Einwohnerregisterstatistik." Berlin.de. N.p., 15 July 2016. Web. 03 July 2017.

Mendoza, Moises. "Neukölln Nasties: Foreigners Feel Accused in Berlin Gentrification Row - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International." SPIEGEL ONLINE. SPIEGEL ONLINE, 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 03 July 2017.

"Temporary Accommodations for Students, Berlin-Neukölln." Easy Living. Berlinovo Apartment GmbH, 2017. Web. 04 July 2017.

Journal Reflection 3: Sachsenhausen

On Thursday we traveled for over an hour by local train to get to Sachsenhausen, which was a concentration camp from approximately 1938 to 1945. It was an experience I will never forget (and not just because of the crazy rainstorm we were caught up in). I had learned, I thought, a lot about WWII during my time in school, but actually visiting the former site of one of the camps really opened my eyes a little bit to the realities of concentration camps and the horrors of that war.

What matched my expectations

When we arrived at Sachsenhausen there was a lot about it that surprised me. First of all, this camp was very close to a residential area; the neighborhood has existed since before the war, and stayed after it. Most of my mental images of concentration camps have been those of a compound surrounded by barbed wire in the middle of nowhere, but that was not the case at all. The ground of the former camp ended just a few hundred feet from where the neighborhood streets began. I was really surprised by this, but when our tour guide explained the context of the camp, it made sense. We learned that the predecessor to Sachsenhausen – the Oranienburg camp - was used to house political prisoners as a scare tactic to others, to crush the political opposition. In addition, Sachsenhausen was a place where political allies and guests were invited to view the camp that was billed as a center for “political reeducation”, so the Nazis wouldn’t want it to look like a prison. There are other elements of the camp that connect to this; the triangle design of the camp that is less functionality and more aesthetic, the former fountain and swan pond, the places where flowers would have been planted near the offices of SS officers.

This was one of the most horrifying parts of the camp, to me, because these beautiful things were so close to the horrifying mistreatment and torture occurring just on the other side of a gate that reads “Work Brings Freedom”, which we all know is the opposite of the truth. For some reason, the thought and care that was taken to create propaganda for the Nazi party at every turn was something I didn’t really consider when I was initially learning about WWII. My focus was always on how the war was industrialized, how the Nazi regime took the elements of human efficiency and advancement and used those techniques to exploit, torture and murder other humans. Due to hindsight, I think, we never think about accepted the Nazi why people accepted the Nai regime, or went along with it, or why people were content to sit back, or just assumed the persecution of political prisoners, Jews, Roma and all those considered “less than human” was not as bad as it actually was. I always heard this very simple narrative of “the Nazis were evil, and everyone who let WWII happen was stupid”. But now, with this added layer of propaganda and trickery, even at concentration camps where people were being worked to death, tortured and murdered, I think the story is much more complex. It’s likely that people who would have otherwise gotten involved didn’t think that their intervention was necessary. Or, some people may have used this as a cop-out, going along with the flimsy narrative of reeducation to avoid persecution themselves.

The visit to Sachsenhausen also gets me thinking about the German identity, and of the collective guilt that is connected to the war (if you assume that there is a collective guilt, instead of responsibility). Both of the lecturers at Humboldt and the information at the places we visited emphasized that every German was connected to the war in some way; they themselves fought in the war or they had family in the war, or they opposed the war and were persecuted. In addition, there is the feeling of the collective guilt that the people of Germany allowed the Nazi regime to take over, to create the Holocaust, and the guilt that many participated in the Holocaust. I wonder if this layer of propaganda and advertisement to mask the true horrors of concentration camps adds to that guilt or lessens it. Should the German guilt then be lessened, because there was a distortion of what was occurring in these camps? Or should this add more weight to the guilt, because the people were too complicit with a flimsy story of reeducation? How do the German people wrestle with this layer of the Holocaust? I think this is a topic worth investigating, and I want to learn more about the nuances and complexities of the people involved in the Second World War from Germany. For this reason, this week I will definitely be visiting the Topography of Terror.