Volume 5, No. 3, Art. 13 – September 2004

Review Note

Sylvia Keim (2003). "So richtig deutsch wird man nie sein ..." – Junge Migrantinnen und Migranten in Deutschland. Zwischen Integration und Ausgrenzung ["You Will Never Be Truly German ... "—Young Migrants in Germany. Between Integration and Exclusion]

Andreas Klärner (Germany)

Abstract: Young Migrants in Germany have to face multiple forms of xenophobia and exclusion. Sylvia KEIM deals with the effects that these have on young migrants' lifeworld and identity formation. She conducted qualitative interviews with five members of the second generation of migrants. Despite their formal "integration", they are often marginalized by their foreign background and, therefore, treated as second class citizens, strongly affecting their self-esteem. KEIM analyses these experiences using the concept of stigmatization which was introduced by Erving GOFFMAN. The interviewees have found several ways of stigma-management: first of all, to ignore the stigma, which is—superficially at least—quite effective, second to correct or hide the stigma by trying to behave and look like "normal" Germans, and third, to distance themselves from German society, resulting in a vicious circle of exclusion and self-exclusion. KEIM's study represents a pioneer work in a widely ignored field of research.

Key words: xenophobia, migration, integration, narrative and problem-centered interview

This contribution is only available as a full text in the German language. German text

Last update: 09/25/2004

Volume 5, No. 3 Table of Contents

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