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Paper short abstract

This paper explores onward migration aspirations among newly naturalized citizens and immigrants in Germany. Based on ethnographic research, it examines why some abandon the “European dream” and how ambivalence, broken hopes, and the affective notion of Ghurbah shape future-making beyond Europe.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the aspirations for onward migration of newly naturalized citizens and immigrants to leave Germany in search for a better life and future. The paper seeks to answer the following questions: Why individuals and families aspire to leave Germany/Europe after dreaming of migrating to it? What their aspirations and decisions to leave tell us about coping with broken dreams and identifying alternatives?

The paper is based on a preliminary ethnographic fieldwork with immigrants and refugees, most of them arrived in Germany in 2015/16. After almost ten years, many research participants have received the German citizenship and it seems that they give up the “European dream” for other countries, such as the Gulf States, or to go back home.

Conceptually, individuals’ and families’ aspirations to leave Germany are framed in terms of ‘onward migration’. This notion is understood as a migratory trajectory that remains open-ended and sheds light on notions of ambivalence and unexpected turns. To capture the affective dimensions, the paper proposes the Arabic term “Ghurbah” as an analytical tool. “Ghurbah” refers to a state of being and feelings of strangeness, alienation, or being an outsider, often experienced by individuals who are new to a place or culture, and/or who feel out of place within their own society. While “Ghurbah”, i.e. aspiring for migration, was and still is a dream for many people especially from the Global South, it is this very notion that makes some of them whether give up their dreams or seek new ones.