Saturday, October 31th 2:45 – 4:15

Session Room: Loft 1

1) Jennifer Long, Wilfrid Laurier University
Spatial Capital and the Politics of Belonging: Exploring the everyday exclusion of non-Western Muslim Immigrants in Rotterdam, the Netherlands

The Netherlands used to be known as one of the most tolerant nations towards immigrants. Yet over the last 10 years, the Netherlands has undergone a markedly rapid and drastic shift in their immigration policies that trends toward assimilation rather than integration. This shift coincided with the murders of two Dutch anti-Muslim activists (politician Pim Fortuyn and film director Theo van Gogh), during a period where tolerance towards immigrants was at an all-time low. Within the public and political arena, there has been a tendency to conflate “the immigrant problem” with the Muslim population as anti-Muslim and anti-immigration sentiments grow in the Netherlands. At importance then, is to understand the role of Islamophobia and the constriction of integration policies have affected ordinary Dutch residents in their everyday lives.

This paper concerns the findings of my doctoral research in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. There, I found a trend toward what Dutch scholars call the ‘culturalization of citizenship’ which refers to the significance placed on cultural aspects of belonging, in particular, for non-western Muslim immigrants and their children. My research showed an importance placed on public spaces as part of a nation-building project and as a tool of exclusion, through the everyday practices of local residents. It was these latter practices that illuminated the role of ordinary citizens in the larger, exclusionary practices of national belonging beyond political rhetoric and national posturing.

Using data gathered during a 12-month ethnographic fieldwork in Rotterdam that included individual and group interviews and participant observation, this paper will explore the role of what Miller and Rose (2008) call “the activity of minor figures” in the processes of immigrant integration and nation building. I use the concept of spatial capital (coined by Ryan Centner 2008) to understand the importance of spatial practices in discourses of national belonging.

2) Derya Gür-Seker, University of Duisburg-Essen/Germany
The (De-)Construction of protest. How a supposed civic movement becomes right-wing populism. A multimodal analysis of PEGIDA in German Online Newspapers and Social Media.

In October 2014 in the German city of Dresden a movement called ‚PEGIDA’ arises (engl.: Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) protesting not only an assumed islamisation of the so called ‘occident’ but also critizing political establishment, specific political and societal issues. Politicians and media actors were surprised by the large number of protesters which got larger and lager each week. From 350 participants in October 2014, 15.000 in December 2014 to 25.000 in January 2015. Topics such as ‚political disaffection’, ‚missing closeness of established politicians to the people’ or ‚a missing interest in the problems of the people’ were discussed in order to explain the success of PEDIGA in such a short time. On the one hand politicians preferred to talk with the PEGIDA organizers on the other hand there was and still is a huge rejection at political side. In January 2015 PEGIDA officials themselves carried out the dismantling of the movement and its right-wing orientation when one of the PEGIDA founders “played Hitler” (Faz.net, 21.01.15) in Facebook.

The contribution presents results of a linguistic discourse analysis focussing on the PEDIGA movement from October 2014 until January 2015. The focus lies on the analysis of argumentation patterns and statements of different key actors such as politicians or PEGIDA actors in online newspapers, internet-based communication or social media. Which arguments can be found? Which attitudes in terms of nation, cultural diversity, identity and Europe are used? A key question of the analysis will finally be: When and why the movement become an explicit right-wing populist movement and which role media coverage and PEGIDA actors played in constructing this image?

3) Anke Patzelt, University of Ottawa
Constructing Ethnic Identity Abroad - A Case Study Amongst Contemporary German Immigrants in Ottawa, Canada

Canada like the US is one of the classic immigration countries and has long been one of the preferred destinations of German emigrants. Especially after World War II large numbers of Germans went to Canada in search for a new home. Today, Canada is still amongst the top eleven destination countries attracting German immigrants, with approximately 3,000 Germans moving there each year. Compared to previous generations, Germans immigrating to Canada today are facing completely different circumstances. In the age of globalization and international mobility, modern forms of communication and transportation allow these German migrants to maintain close ties with their home country both in terms of family and social, as well as political, economical and cultural relations. Taking these circumstances into consideration, this paper aims to examine the extent to which contemporary German immigrants in the city of Ottawa, Canada, construct their ethnic identity and relate to Germany as their country of origin. By drawing on in-depth interviews it will particularly analyze how such factors as the social circumstances framing migration processes, one’s age, and the time of residency in Canada take an influence on how these notions are constructed. ?The results show that even though the outward identification with being German slightly declines over time, the emotional connection to Germany remains high. Even though Canada is perceived as a new home, Germany remains their true homeland.