Recently debates about immigration and asylum have once again become burning topics right across Europe. Approaches that put a positive twist on this development are in short supply, meaning that there is little to serve as a counter-balance to a knee-jerk sense of resentment, reflected in election outcomes in many European states. Even in more liberal political circles, the topic is mostly viewed in terms of integration and/or assimilation. What do people mean though when they talk about the ideal of »well-integrated migrants«? Does this merely signify linguistic integration into the dominant majority in society or does the term hint at much broader considerations? In the light of increasingly heterogeneous societies around the globe, is it legitimate to urge that immigrants should integrate? How can one conceive of cultural difference – after 40 years of post-modernity – without taking a reductionist approach determined by calls to assimilate?
Debates on immigration, asylum and migration are becoming increasingly burning topics across Europe. Virtually no other theme currently produces polarisations in socio-cultural debates to such an extent. On the one hand we find knee-jerk resentments and defensive reactions, reflected in election results in many countries. On the other hand we find a celebration, which by now has become almost entirely impotent, of multiculturalism, an approach rejected by the highest political echelons. In the continuing discussion however solid and more viable concepts, which look at this issue from a positive angle and go beyond mere celebration of diversity, are in short supply.
The crux of this entire nexus of issues appears to lie in the fact that even in more open-minded political circles the topic is often viewed with a reductionist gaze that only takes integration and/or assimilation into account. This edition takes that as its point of departure and raises a series of questions that cut across the political, social and cultural realm, as well as the realm of art in the stricter sense of the term: What exactly do we mean when we talk about the ideal of a »well-integrated migrants«? What is the aim of the call for a willingness to integrate, which is still heard so frequently? Does this refer simply to linguistic integration into the majority society or are more far-reaching considerations included in this notion? Can the call for integration be legitimate in the light of increasingly heterogeneous societies around the world?
Migration researcher Nikos Papastergiadis has long addressed these global realities and inexorably advancing scenarios in which societies grow more mixed. His summary of the debate, which has become more heated as a consequence of the Western paranoia raging in the wake of 9/11, is both simple and apt: it is impossible to reverse the wheel of change; instead art needs to find approaches that deal explicitly with aspects of mobility, difference and belonging. One focal point has long been explored by photographer Yto Barrada in the border region between Morocco and Spain, one of those zones in which continents and worlds collide. In »Closer to home« historian Rita Chin explores both the historic and current role played by Muslim women in the migration and integration debate. Whereas in the 1970s feminists endeavoured gain a better understanding of women from a Turkish background living in Germany, by means of social reportage on their social and cultural environments, this group of women has nowadays become associated with a quite different political issue. They are often the focus of demands, from a Western standpoint of superiority, for (purported) emancipation and full rights, and often serve as a pretext to reject the entire Islamic background in one fell swoop too.
Issues of full political and social rights, or the lack thereof, and cultural teaching concepts associated with this are also addressed in the essay by Ljubomir Bratic. His explorations of the animosities and attempts to assert themselves undertaken by guest workers in Austria or their offspring sketch out a series of transformations, some of which have already occurred, some still ahead of us, and which will radically transform the current image of society. A similar argument is explored by Rubia Salgado; working in a community project with asylum-seekers, she articulates the »right to remain« they are striving to attain: »We’re not going! « is the slogan in a context in which migration and asylum increasingly run the risk of being displaced into the realm of discourses on security issues (rather than on human rights issues).
The extent to which the »integration pact«, which politicians of all persuasions are so keen on nowadays, has always been based on dubious assumptions is elucidated in two further essays in this edition: artist Farida Heuck addresses coerced language policy and the unequal migration premises, whereby those with greater economic advantages are unequivocally given privileged treatment. In his essay Süreyyya Evren explores the coordinates of cultural geography that separate Europe from Asia, and at the same time highlights repressed sexual components of the migration discussion. A separate section focusing on topics of African art and modernism sheds light on the question of how integration issues look from the perspective of European-African dialogue, as well as considering how far-removed we are in reality from such objectives. .
The »Not integrated« edition endeavours to depict a spectrum within which the notions of difference, minority and non-homogeneity can be conceived without merely being reduced to assimilatory or integrative endeavours.