Stereotyping German Turks Cultural Studies Essay

Stereotyping German Turks Cultural Studies Essay An American, a Chinese a German and a Turk are in a plane. Because of a technical fault the plane is about to crash if not immediately some ballast is thrown out. The Chinese opens the door and gets rid of the rice in his bag explaining: it doesnt matter, we have too much rice at home. Then the American stands up and throws greenbacks out of the window: we have way too many of them back home. After a short silence the Turk turns to the German and says: Bruder (buddy), dont get any silly ideas!. by pointing out their representation as victims and unwelcome guest-workers. Meanwhile, wrapped in a humorous aspect this joke clearly hints at the fact that prejudices and stereotypes have an immense influence in our daily life. Now the following question arises: To what extent do stereotypes affect intercommunal relations? With the intention of answering the question this work will focus on stereotypes, Turks in Germany are confronted with, by analyzing the representation of both immigrants with Turkish heritage and native born Germans in literature as well as in cinema. In order to support the theses it will refer to authors like Arlene Akiko Teroka, Rob Burns, Gà ¶kà §e Yurdakuli Y. Michal Bodemann, Johanna Watzginer Tharp and to their works. In addition, it will discuss the social consequences of stereotyping and show how much prejudices and labeling affect our actions towards and treatment of other groups. In order to be able to understand the labeling process the emergence of specific stereotypes one should be well informed about the historical background of the aforesaid nations and their international relationships. In the case of Germany and Turkey the era after World War II plays a decisive role. Aiming to rebuild the country and reconstruct its ruined economy the German government decided to import labor from nearby countries like Turkey. (Yurdakul, 2006) These so called guest-workers were unskilled peasants in search of income, which they were unable to gain in their homeland. This immigration policy of the German government is inextricably linked with the perception of Turkish immigrants in the eyes of German citizens. To be precise, the first stereotype Turks have to cope with is the image of unskilled guest-workers. In order to make this labeling clear a connection with literature and cinema seems adequate at this point. Migrant writings and films between 1970s and 1980s were called guest-worker literature or the literature of the effected. (Burns, 2007) They mostly tended to foreground two thematic concerns; the reality of the exploited, discriminated and socially excluded Turkish guest-worker experience and the problems of living between two cultures. (Burns, 2007) One example underlying the above mentioned image and experience of the uneducated and socially excluded Turkish guest-workerr is the novel and film Ganz Unten (Lowest of the Low),. In the film, the writer Gà ¼nter Wallraff borrows the identity of a real immigrant, the guest-worker Ali Levent Sinirlioglu and records his experiences in a variety of dangerous, unsanitary and badly paid jobs. Devoid of both a personal history and a private sphere, Wallraffs Ali has no individual identity, no life beyond the workplace.(Burns, 2007) In the film the immigrant Ali is defined purely in relation to his economic function as a worker. According to the Turkish writer Aysel ÃÆ'-zakin, Walraff presents a patronising clichà ©d portrait of the Turk as uneducated, unskilled and basically ignorant, as well as naive [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] oppressed and, hence, ultimately pitiful. (Burns, 2007) Thus Ganz Unten reinforces the stereotype of the Turks as merely unskilled and suppressed guest-workers. This example additionally shows that the stereotype of guest-worker goes hand in hand with the portrayal of German Turks as victims,oppressed by the superior, the German employer. One narrative example that underlies the image of the exploited, helpless guest-worker is the story about the laboratory assistant Kadir, who falls victim to a nefarious employer a German manager, who supplies him with hormone pills for the stomach cramps that continually afflict him.(Burns, 2007) At the end when Kadir grows breasts after the excessive supply of hormone pills he cuts his own breasts with a kitchen knife. This act of self-mutilation serves as a [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] metaphor for German treatment of guest-workers, especially Turks as subhuman beings and for the helpless and self-destructive response of a man, who falls victim to the bewildering complexities of urban technological society.(Burns, 2007) Beside the portrayal of being a victim the fact of being regarded as a guest-worker also leads to another stereotype: the image of being an outsider. The film 40 m2 Deutschland (40 Square Meters of Germany, 1986), is a very well example to show the Turk, isolated between two cultures. The films location is a flat in Hamburg, the new home of Turna, who has been brought over from rural Anatolia to live with her husband, Dursun. Turnas task is to transform this space into a little enclave of Turkish culture, offering Dursun refuge after his work at the factory and safeguarding his wife from the moral depravity he sees pervading German society. (Burns, 2007) This film demonstrates that Turks tend to distance themselves from the German society and their rules, in order to save their own cultural values. This kind of behavior contributes to the labeling process as an outsider. The Turk is seen as someone, who wants only minimal contact with German life and deliberately deprives him/herself of social intercourse. This limited contact with the German society and culture even led to the development of a new language-the so-called Gastarbeiterdeutsch (Guest-worker German), a simplified form of German to meet only basic communicative needs (Watzinger Tharp, 2004); a form of German which leads to reduced or even incorrect input. (Watzinger Tharp, 2004) A new arising form of language among the second and third generation Turks in Germany, the so called Tà ¼rkendeutsch, introduces a new stereotype: the fact that German Turks are stuck between two cultures, even unable to speak one language properly. This stereotype is clearly reflected in Geierbachs choice of his novels title: Bruder, muss Zwiebel und Wasser essen! (Brother, have to eat onion and water!). This sentence is neither German nor Turkish: The content reflects behaviour peculiar to lower class Turks whereas the sentence is completely written in German. Thus, it appears to be rather a mix of two languages, two cultures, and therefore ser ves as an example to demonstrate the fact that the German Turk, has positioned him/herself between two cultures remaining culturally torn. However, these are only some of the stereotypes Turks in Germany are confronted with. Still, they can be seen as the main ones. The following abstract will now shortly focus on the social consequences of stereotyping and show their effects,which mainly cause social tension and even racial violence. The bad image of the Turks created through stereotyping connected with increasing unemployment rates in Germany led to an atmosphere of open anti Turkism among Germans. Some even say that former anti Semitism was transformed into open anti Turkism. In short stereotyping led to animosity and aggressive tendencies and increasing violence towards Turks. The Solingen arson attack of 1993 serves as an example of anti foreigner violence in modern Germany, when Neo Nazis set fire to a Turkish familys home. On the Turkish side, however, being constantly stereotyped and mocked resulted in anger and hostility among German Turks. A cartoon published in the German magazine Stern shows a heavily mustached man crawling through a cat hole in a door named European Union, trying to gain entry into Europe. Some imitation Arabic writing appears on top of the cat hole, and a suitcase with a Turkish flag stands next to the man.(Yurdakul, 2006) Some claim that the nose of the Jew is now replaced by the mustache of the Turk and consequently accuse Germans of anti Turkish racism. As a response, associating Turkish concerns with those of the Jews and comparing the Holocaust to the bombings of Turkish houses, the Turkish society has openly begun to attack the Germans, where they are most vulnerable, creating even more hostility between both nations. In conclusion, by analyzing the representation of Turks and Germans in literature and cinema, this paper has tried to highlight the stereotypes directed against Turks-mainly German Turks, dominating Turkish-German relationships, even until today. After, explaining the historical evolution of stereotypes and the emergence of specific prejudices against Turks, the essay has illustrated the social consequences of labeling. As seen in literature and cinema stereotyping is an element, which dominates relationships between different nations. In a nutshell, the main aim of this paper is to show that stereotyping and labeling are very serious and dangerous social traits, which can have drastic consequences on intercommunal relations fueling emotions like hostility, dislike, anger and even racism, all being traits which should have no place in an enlightened, modern society.

Colorof Water :: essays research papers

Before I read "The Color of Water," by James McBride, I saw his appearance on 20/20, discussing his quest to discover the background of his mysterious, marvelous mother. McBride said he didn't even know his mother's maiden name, much less about her Orthodox Jewish background, until he prodded it from her because he needed it for school records. "Shilsky," she told him, impatiently, offering no further details. McBride, who is now about 42 years old, said he asked no more questions of her, but added when he was "bonding" in Black Pride with his college friends, playing bongo drums and jazz music, he'd think: "Shilsky. Shilsky. Something's funny here...". Watching him on television, such a fascinating, articulate and yet entertaining man, made me want to know more about his amazing mother. I received a copy of the book as a gift. None of Ruth McBride's 12 children knew anything of substance about her background. When they asked what color she was, she would answer, "I am no color" and say that God is "the color of water." Ruth Shilsky, whose father was an abusive Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, treated her and her mother extremely cruelly when she was a young girl in Suffolk, Virginia. Jews were discriminated against second only to blacks. But Ruth fell in love with a young black man, became pregnant by him, and was sent to live with an aunt in New York city. She never went home again. She felt much more at home in 1940s Harlem, and fell in love with another black man, having a baby and living with him for more than a year before they were wed and had several more children. They made a good life together, but he died. Ruth later married yet another remarkable black man, having more children with him for a total of 12. James was in the middle, precocious, curious, bright and at risk for becoming a street kid. But he didn't have that much time. He didn't know why at the time, but his mother made him and his siblings attend a Jewish school out of their neighborhood, feeling that they would receive a better education there. As a young man, McBride started down the wrong path -- smoking dope, stealing, hanging out with bad company. But his stern mother seemed to intervene at the right time, delivering the fear and discipline McBride needed. All 12 of Ruth McBride's children received college degrees, masters degrees, and several became physicians, attorneys and scientists. McBride has been a journalist for some of the nation's most prestigious newspapers,

Billy Budd by Herman Melville

The story, Billy Budd, by Herman Melville embodies many themes. The same story has also been the subject of many different interpretations because of these themes. One of the more popular interpretations has to do with the many different allusions to the holy Christian bible. Billy has often been interpreted as Adam from the book of Genesis, while his counterpart, Claggart, has often been compared to the serpent in the Garden of Eden or as Satan. The reason for this comparison has to do with the sacrifice that Billy makes at the end of the story.Good natured and kind hearted, Billy becomes the innocent victim of a harsh society. In order to make this portrayal, however, it is necessary to briefly discuss the trials and tribulations that Billy endured. The goodness of Billy is highlighted more during the times when Claggart tries to tempt Billy in committing dastardly acts and deeds of evil; the temptations that Claggart dangles in Billy’s way show Claggart’s different a ttempts to destroy the character of Billy. This is analogous to the situation in the Garden of Eden where the Serpent tries to deceive Adam into taking the fruit of the forbidden tree.The description of Claggart’s dead body as it lies lifeless in the form of a snake reinforces this point. This is an important characterization that is used well in the story as it makes it easier for the readers to identify one of the many themes that are embedded in Billy Budd. Without these comparisons to Adam, the innocence and the tragedy of the downfall of Billy would not be as highlighted as they are in the story. The sacrifice that Billy makes in the end becomes the haunting image of how a hostile society can corrupt the lives and minds of the innocent ones.

Stanford Prison Experiment - 905 Words

The Stanford Prison Experiment California State University, Long Beach The Stanford Prison Experiment The Stanford Prison Experiment is a very thought-provoking topic discussed in various classes. Professor and psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted this experiment through Stanford University. Twenty-four men were randomly selected to participate in a simulated prison environment and were given roles as prisoners or prison guards. This was done to challenge the moral compass of â€Å"good† individuals in a negative environment, which in this case was a prison. Surprisingly, the participants truly embodied their roles. Throughout the experiment, the prison guards enforced their authoritarian power and tormented the prisoners both†¦show more content†¦Although this was not direct physical violence, sleep deprivation and rigorous physical activity could have been detrimental in other ways to the prisoners’ bodies. 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