Paper short abstract:

Considering the relationship between individuals and the state, the paper will explore the images of “ethnic entrepreneurs” as a technique of taking care of oneself and others, depending on the practices of “immigrants” in Berlin.

Paper long abstract:

Considering the relationship between individuals and the state, the paper will explore the images of "ethnic entrepreneurs" in Berlin, considering the practices of "immigrants" from Turkey.

The "ethnic entrepreneur" is a reflection on changing categories of the "other" through memories and practices: an "other" that emerged through an inclusive exclusion (Agamben, 1998, 15-29); an "other" that has turned from a symbol of minimizing socio-political costs and maximizing economic profits into a category of social concern that needs to be integrated; a "tolerated" "other" that has competitive, participating, calculating and cooperative skills in a world of declining profitability of mass-production industries and increasing crises of social welfare policies; an enterprising "other" without the need for direct political intervention; an efficient "other" that can shape, socialize and maximize capacities of its members with ethics of autonomy and responsibility (Donzelot, 1997).

Having its historical features at the junction of political, economic, social, cultural and intellectual endeavors, "ethnic entrepreneurship" has been constituted as a technique of taking care of oneself and others (à la Foucault). Consequently, it has become a form of subjectivity that can be exemplified in the compromises between autonomous individualism and social engagement, between memories and future plans, between social policies and individual imaginations, between "problems" and "potentials".

Through the practices and knowledge of "ethnic entrepreneurship", the paper will examine the conditions of change, the political rationalities and the mechanisms of othering keeping in mind the relationship between Turkey, Germany and "Europe" since the beginning of the 1960s.