Send message to Contributor

Contribution short abstract

This contribution examines the concept of 'clan crime' in Germany, highlighting its intersection with migration, marginalization, and securitization. It critiques stigmatizing narratives and emphasizes the need for empirically grounded approaches to understanding clan-based criminality

Contribution long abstract

This paper critically examines the concept of 'clan crime' as it is constructed and contested in Germany. Drawing on my ethnographic fieldwork since 2015, it explores how narratives surrounding so-called clan-based criminality intersect with issues of migration, marginalization, and securitization. The term 'clan crime,' often linked to specific migrant communities, has become a focal point in public and political discourses, frequently reinforcing stigmatizing and essentialist perspectives.

This study interrogates the socio-political construction of 'clan crime,' questioning how these narratives contribute to processes of exclusion and 'uncommoning,' wherein entire communities are portrayed as threats to societal norms. By analyzing the intersection of structural marginalization and familial or networked criminality, the paper highlights the ethical and methodological challenges of researching these dynamics.

The discussion aims to provide a nuanced understanding of clan-based criminality that avoids reductive stigmatization, instead emphasizing the broader structural and cultural contexts in which such phenomena emerge. This contribution seeks to inform more ethical and empirically grounded approaches to studying and addressing the complexities of crime within migrant communities in Germany.