Source: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/2941/4325
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:47:23+00:00

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Abstract: This article is based on a Turkish-German cooperation project that focused on the migration of workers from Turkey to Germany during the 1960s and 1970s. The research interest has been to look at the ways of self-presenting and self-positioning of the so called Gastarbeiter [guest workers]. We approached this phenomenon by looking at the Gastarbeiter from a transnational perspective. Our argumentation is based on artifacts of two cases of married couples leaving their children with the grandparents in Turkey. For both cases, we analyzed different kinds of material from an archive, which included: 1. pictures from the 1960s and 1970s made in Germany, 2. an audio cassette from the 1970s recorded by the grandparents presenting the life of the child in Turkey, and 3. a semi-structured interview conducted by the archival personnel with a family member, approximately 20 years after migration. These two cases and the related artifacts allowed us to investigate cross-border as well as local practices with regard to ways of self-presenting and self-positioning. Furthermore, on the basis of this explorative study, methodological questions are discussed which concern both the use of different data formats and the relevance of working in a binational team, more precisely, in a transnational project.
Inasmuch as there are few studies about strategies of self-presenting and self-positioning of Gastarbeiter, we selected information-rich cases for in-depth study. "Information-rich cases are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research, thus the term purposeful sampling" (PATTON, 1990, p.169). In the first stage, we looked for transnational families belonging to the so called Gastarbeiter generation from Turkey who had donated several artifacts and who shared a family arrangement which was widespread among these migrants: During the first phases of immigration they left their young children with their grandparents in Turkey.9) On this basis, we followed a "maximum variation sampling strategy." This strategy for purposeful sampling "would not be attempting to generalize findings to all people or all groups but would be looking for information that elucidates programmatic variation and significant common patterns within that variation" (p.172). To maximize variation in a small sample we identified three criteria for constructing the sample: the social position the family members had held in Turkey, the sequence of migration and their social position in Germany. These aspects seem to be relevant in order to understand the ways of self-presenting and self-positioning of Gastarbeiter. We chose two families with diverse artifacts in the archive varying with regard to these criteria: Firstly, these two families differ in the social position they had held in Turkey. In Case A, the man, having a high school or university degree, and the woman at least having completed primary school if not higher, were better educated than those in Case B (and the average family in Turkey at that time). The man in Case A had been a civil servant in Ankara; the woman worked there as well, but her occupation is not known. In Case B, the man as well as the woman had a low level of education, probably only completing primary school. We know nothing about their occupational status, except that the prospect of working as a miner in Germany was attractive for the man. They came from a city near the Black Sea region where many people work in coal mines or in related occupational fields. Secondly, the sequence of migration differs in these two cases: In Case A, the woman migrated first. At that time, she was unmarried, but she already knew her husband-to-be. After a year, they married and her husband followed her to Germany. One year later, she gave birth to their daughter who spent her childhood with her grandparents in Turkey. A second child was born some years later. In Case B, the husband migrated first. One year later, his wife—the couple had married some years before he left Turkey—followed him with their son, who was born in the same year. But the son lived most of the time in Turkey until the age of 17. A daughter was born some years later and stayed in Turkey until finishing primary school. Thirdly, the cases differ with regard to their social position in Germany. Women A worked in Munich for a big company while Man B found an occupation as a miner in Germany's industrial area.10) Regarding the sequence of migration as well as the social positions, Case B was a typical family from Turkey at this time, while Case A was a rather untypical one.
Concerning the question what is worth being photographed, we identified two central subjects depicted in the photos of our two families:18) On the one hand, there are many pictures of the child. These pictures were either taken by the grandparents (or other family members) in Turkey and sent to the parents in Germany. Or they were made by the parents, documenting the visits of the child to Germany. On the other hand, there are a lot of pictures of the adults with friends in Germany. These two subjects attracted our attention, not only because of their dominance. They also provided valuable insights into two different forms of self-presentation: ways of presenting as a family as well as persons in the public sphere, in interaction with peers. Due to this research interest we selected pictures showing 1. family life in private in Germany, and 2. meetings of the woman with (German) friends in public. Each case is represented by two pictures. By analyzing the artifacts, we wanted to reveal what kind of family life is narrated and what kind of (public) self is presented by them.
Figure 1 shows Family A. Father, mother and child are sitting at a table festively laid with fine china tableware for four to six people, still unused and a big cream cake in the middle.
Figure 2 shows a situation at a table too. Family B, father, mother and child are photographed while eating. Although the child sits between its father and mother, and is nearly in the center of the picture, this arrangement is less child-centered than in Case A. All family members are concentrating on the meal, more precisely: their own bowl in front of them. It is a presentation of a respectable family with a well-behaved child.
In the two pictures provided below, the women are presented with female friends in Germany.
The national and transnational framing of self-presentation: Our first results show that the national framing of self-presentation varies within a period of time (BRECKNER, 2014; FAUSER & REISENAUER, 2013), but also with regard to social networks and social worlds, especially the public and the private spheres. For instance, in one case the national identity became highly relevant in the self-presentation as a good (Turkish) mother in the retrospective interview. But the furniture or clothing documented in the photos indicates a quite westernized lifestyle and the photos depicting leisure time or gatherings with friends show a kind of transnational or cosmopolitan self-presentation. In the other case, although there are only a few references to Turkish culture and nation, cross-border practices were lively and frequent. The presentation as a transmigrant, Turkish migrant or German resident varied—between the cases and within one case.
The relevance of family members left in the country of origin for the continuity of the family and the transnational space: In a number of transnational (or biographical) studies, diverse activities of the parents (especially mothers in the USA) to stabilize their family over a distance have been investigated, "showing emotional ties through letters, phone calls, and money sent home" (HONDAGNEU-SOTELO & AVILA, 1997, p.564).36) What our cases show is how immobile persons contribute to the stability of the family connection. For example, grandparents taking care of a child not only "maximize the utilization of labor and resources in multiple settings and survive within situations of economic uncertainty and subordination" (GLICK SCHILLER et al., 1995, p.54), but also stabilize the child-parent-relationship and confirm (or: call into question) the presentation of "good parenthood." In addition, the children are actors in this transnational space—a contribution which is quite neglected in migration studies (FAUSER & REISENAUER, 2013). Although their position in the generational order is rather inferior, they also play a part in the stabilization of the "good family" and/or build alliances with the grandparents.
The relevance of artifacts for the continuity of the family and the self-presented: We suggest that more attention should be paid to artifacts in transnational studies in general (WOLBERT, 2001), and particularly in the research on (transnational) processes of self-presenting and self-positioning. One dominant approach in the field of transnational research is multi-sited ethnography, which entails following the actors across countries. But some artifacts cross borders too and constitute and stabilize the transnational space and family. Our analysis shows that different selves are presented depending on the type of artifacts. Artifact analysis of transnational families has to take the following into account: firstly, the materiality of the artifact which structures the ways of self-presenting and narrating (for instance the audio cassette which can be recorded by a child); secondly, the rationale for using it (for instance, a picture as a reminder of good parenthood or proof of a successful life); and, thirdly, the addressees (for instance a picture for the family members in Turkey depicting the living conditions in Germany). That means that artifacts narrate different stories and presentations of a family and the self. Triangulating them is not a strategy to validate results but to enhance the "theoretical sensibility" (GLASER, 1978) and to gain insight into the complexity of experience and expectations of different relevant actors. How different methodological approaches can be triangulated is furthermore an open question.
Our project "Artifacts of Migrants. Objects of Self-Forming, Self-Presenting and Self-Positioning" was sponsored by the Humboldt-Foundation within the framework of "Connect. Frontiers on Research." We thank the foundation for facilitating the exchange between scientists from Turkey and Germany. We also thank DOMiD, especially Arnd KOLB, for supporting our project.
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Meltem KARADAG is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Gaziantep. She is interested in ethnographic research and oral history techniques focusing on economic and cultural inequalities within everyday practices and morals.
Alexandra KÖNIG is professor of socialization at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The main emphasis of her work is on transnational families, youth and childhood.
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