Migration | Migrant Groups
Turks
Berlin Turks—40 Years of Life in Germany
Coffee Table Quarrel, Berliner Zeitung, October, 30 2001
Ethnologist Ayse ?aglar explains that the habits and tastes of Turks in Germany have a variety of sources. An interview with Martin Z. Schr?der.
MS: Ms. ?aglar, after studying the cultural influences on Turks in Germany you concluded that other forces have been stronger.
A?: How can culture explain social positions? The way I define myself vis-a-vis others certainly plays a role, but that’s not culture in the sense of ethnicity and the territory of the country of origin. One could analyze culture as a discourse, but it’s not an analytical category. Observation of the worlds in which people live does not entail this essentialist notion.
MS: What led you to the coffee table?
A?: I came to Germany not from Turkey, but from Canada, where I went to university. In Germany, I noticed the standardized way of seating during my field research, and found it strange. Then I asked myself why the coffee table, so prized by Turks in Germany, became a point of contention for the same family in Turkey.
More here (in German)
http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2001/1030/feuilleton/0005/index.html
