Country of Kultur:
Deniz Göktürk offers an inside perspective on migration and Germany

In the early 1980's, when Deniz Göktürk first came to Berlin, the German government was fond of announcing, "Germany is not a country of immigration." As German journalist Josef Joffe would later summarize in the newspaper Die Zeit, "It used to be that it was easier to become a German citizen if you had a German shepherd somewhere in your ancestry than a Ph.D. in German literature."

"I am proud to be a German" (Poster for the organization Germans Against Right-Wing Violence)

When Göktürk left Berlin with her Ph.D. in 1995 to teach at the University of Southampton in Britain, the cultural landscape had changed significantly. The Haus der Kulturen der Welt, or House of World Cultures, had been formed in 1989 as a center for intercultural dialogue and events. Radio Multikulti had begun filling the airwaves with 24 hours of flamenco, klezmer and other brands of world music. The Karneval der Kulturen was about to enjoy its first season and would soon be a major tourist attraction in newly unified Berlin.

"On the one hand, you find diversity and the presence of foreigners celebrated as an enrichment to German culture," says Göktürk, who joined the Berkeley's German department in August. "On the other hand, there are still debates: should the immigrants have to assimilate and adapt, learn the language and make an effort to blend in?"

Much of Göktürk's research has focused on the changing face of German identity. In her book "Künstler, Cowboys, Ingenieure" (Artists, Cowboys, Engineers) she explored how German visions of modernity have been projected onto an imaginary America. More recently, she has participated in a project on "Axial Writing: Transnational Imagination and Cultural Policy," part of a program funded by the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council of Britain.

"There seems to be almost a kind of competition going about who can best showcase multiculturalism," Göktürk laughs. "The form of culture has become a way in which issues are resolved in a utopian fashion. But on the level of citizenship, the government has been slow to accept foreigners as Germans."

The immigration issue is especially key to Germany's 2 million Turkish migrants. Since 1961, when the first Turkish workers were recruited to help rebuild postwar Germany, Turks have become the country's largest minority. Despite the group's strong presence, Turkish residents have stayed mainly at the fringes of German society. Generally, interest in Turkish culture beyond döner kebab has remained rather limited.

Göktürk, a Turkish native herself, views these immigrant issues from a unique vantage point. Her mother, Pia Angela Lorenzi, was born in Southern Germany to a Viennese mother and a father from South Tyrol, a region now part of Italy. After receiving a Ph.D. in Heidelberg, Lorenzi traveled to the Middle East and met Göktürk's father, a professor of English literature. The couple settled in Istanbul where Göktürk was born and attended a German high school.

Göktürk's fluency in both Turkish and German enabled her to work as a translator in Berlin. She translated stories and novels into German and co-edited an anthology of modern Turkish literature, aiming to show urban, cosmopolitan aspects of Turkish culture. "I wouldn't say there was a burning interest," Göktürk says. "But that was in the early 1990's. Things have moved on from then."

At Berkeley, Göktürk is working with fellow professor Anton Kaes and students in the German department to create an archive and sourcebook on German multiculturalism. Race, citizenship, asylum, nationalism, economy, religion, language and youth culture will be among the topics covered. While the bulk of the texts will deal with postwar issues, the book will include some earlier definitions of "Germanness" dating back to Tacitus and Wagner.

"One reason for including a more historical section is to show that German identity has been by no means pure and uniform," Göktürk says. "An interesting case in point are the debates surrounding German-Jewish symbiosis. They were already in vogue in the 1920's and before. It's interesting to draw on this pool of material and make comparisons with minorities today."

A Turkish worker interacts with his German bosses in the film, "Me Boss, You Sneaker"

In 1999, Germany adopted new immigration laws, reducing the citizenship waiting period for adult immigrants from 15 years to 8. The same law allowed German-born children of immigrants to maintain dual citizenship until the age of 23 and decide at that point whether or not to become permanent German citizens. Previous laws had been based primarily on bloodlines and ancestry.

Meanwhile, as migrant groups struggle to find their place in German society, as in other countries, Göktürk enjoys the lighter side of this process. Her current research centers on immigrant film comedies, including the 1998 film "Me Boss, You Sneaker." The film shows illegal immigrants on the job at a building project near the Reichstag, the seat of German government. Their anarchic interactions with German authority figures are the focus of the story.

"The irreverent humor in films like this can be compared to Charlie Chaplin's 'The Immigrant', the Marx Brothers' 'Monkey Business' or, in recent years, Cheech Marin's 'Born in East LA' and Jackie Chan's 'Rumble in the Bronx'," Göktürk says. "Irony and self-conscious role-play disrupt the sense of a coherent ethnic or national identity. I read these comedies as a forum for more playfully engaging adopted notions of other and self."