Paper short abstract:

This paper, on the life story of a Roma man, focuses on issues the narrator wishes to mediate to the Swedish readers. It is read as an act of “talking back”, of creating Roma history, in relation to stereotypical portrayals, and locates positioning in relation to normative scripts and racist discourses.

Paper long abstract:

Knowledge production about Roma groups at Swedish folklore archives has largely been performed by non-Roma and was produced in a society then largely permeated by antigypsyism. Roma voices and experiences were, as in much historiography concerning Roma groups over time, filtered through the collector’s point of view and purpose. Many of these sources are one-sided, prejudiced and filled with misconceptions. Very few “in-group” historical sources and materials exist in the Swedish archives. In early 1960’s Sweden, a Romani man handed in his written life story to the folklorist Carl-Herman Tillhagen at the Nordic Museum Archive. From 1943 until his retirement, Tillhagen was deeply involved in issues related to Roma, partly folklore research and popular adult education, partly in state investigations as a “Roma expert” and in Roma’s right to permanent housing. This life-story is produced in the aftermath of a public debate on “tinkers” containing suggestions such as sterilization and politics of territorial exclusion. The narrative, and its inclusion in national archival collections, is read as an act of “talking back”, of creating Roma history, in relation to the often stereotypical and antigypsyist portrayals of Roma in the public and archival sphere, and concentrates on positioning in relation to normative scripts and racist discourses. The paper will focus on which issues the narrator, positioned as a “tinker”, wishes to mediate to the majority Swedish readers, and discuss factors that made it possible to enter the nationally coded archival space at this time.

Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the mixed marriage cases between Lithuanians and non-Soviet citizens during the Soviet period of Lithuania in the years 1953-1990. The interviews revealed some aspects of space division and resistance considering sociocultural life of mixed families during the Communist regime.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the mixed marriage cases between Lithuanians and non-Soviet citizens during the Soviet period of Lithuania in the years 1953-1990. The geopolitical boarders of the Soviet Union (USSR) limited Soviet citizens’ movement outside the “Iron Curtain” as well as foreigners’ visits were under control and legal limitations. However, a number of mixed marriages between Lithuanians and citizens of non-Soviet countries did happen before the independence of Lithuania from the Soviets in the year 1990. Although it was not prohibited legitimately to marry a citizen from countries outside the Soviet Union, these cases were very rare.

I approached the topic by making case research. The interviews revealed some aspects of resistance within sociocultural life of mixed Lithuanian – foreigner’s family during the Soviet period of Lithuania. The social aspects were affected by the political and ideological measures of that time: movement restrictions, legal regulations and limitations of residing in the Soviet Union and studying at the universities of Soviet countries, employment obligations and finally civil safety. The stories referred to the strict control of the political bodies and the National Security Committee concerning mixed couple’s migration on the Soviet borders abroad or back.

The Soviet geopolitical borders with control and regulations significantly affected people’s social and marital life. Only resistant individuals would make effort to escape it. The number of mixed marriages however managed to breach the Soviet border that demarcated space division with its regulations and ideology.

Paper short abstract:

Concerning a power struggle at a primary school in Berlin-Neukölln between a group of racially and socially disadvantaged parents on the one hand and of mainly white, middle-class parents on the other, the contribution asks how spaces of resistance may close again against hegemonic relations.

Paper long abstract:

Some years ago, a power struggle erupted between two groups of parents at a primary school in Berlin-Neukölln. The question was, which of the groups would have more influence on decisions at the school.

One of the groups, consisting of racially and socially disadvantaged parents, initiated a self-organized coffee bar, where the parents took their space in a physical and in a metaphoric way: Gradually, they felt empowered in dealing with the school. This was especially important for them, as they used to be addressed by teachers as disinterested in educational matters (vgl. Chamakalayil, Riegel & Yildiz, 2018: 58).

The second group consisted of mainly white, middle-class parents, ,daring‘ to send their children to the local school which they perceived to be a “hotspot school”. In order to do so, they built groups of like-minded families and enrolled several children in each class of the first grade. These parents engaged actively in the existing committee structures. This was regarded as a legitimate form of parental commitment by the school itself (vgl. Gomolla, 2009). As a consequence, the two parental groups found themselves in a competitive relationship.

In my contribution, I analyze how the former "space of racism" concerning racially and socially disadvantaged parents opened up as space in which empowerment grew. Furthermore, I examine, how this space of empowerment closed again in favor of hegemonic relations.

The contribution is based on ethnographical data, that had been collected and interpreted with perspectives both of cultural anthropology and educational science (Dean 2020).

Paper short abstract:

My presentation will explore daily life of Palestinians migrants in Istanbul. Vigorous support for the Palestinian cause by the AKP leadership disguises Turkish distrust of Palestinians who are equated with Syrians, scapegoats for local problems. How do Palestinians act to overcome such ostracism?

Paper long abstract:

Nowadays, the city of Istanbul lies at the intersection of different migration waves and religions, and which shapes people's subjectivities. Since 2010, the number of Palestinians is increasing quickly since the AKP leadership presents itself as the "natural" defender of Palestinians in the name of Islam, and therefore vigorously opposes current European, American, and Israeli policies. Most Palestinians in Istanbul are students, but they are also restaurant owners or workers who contribute to the "Arabization of the city."

As migrants in Istanbul, Palestinians have set up a certain number of solidarity and mutual aid networks with Arab population that influence their choice of homes, places to visit, friendships to cultivate, or employment to pursue. Certainly, these coalitions are the consequence of the local population's ostracism and racism. At the same time, Istanbul emerges as a place of fluctuation, where discourses and practices are both "contested, tilted and represented" (Foucault 2004, p. 15). Caught between a sense of belonging, a distancing, and an exclusion, young Palestinian migrants use Istanbul's social geography to forge new spaces where they can distance themselves (even if only partially) from the social, sexual, and religious norms of their community. Through these processes, forms of solidarity take root in some urban spaces, such as sociability or public spaces and organizations. Solidarity forms are not strictly based on origins but also on other affiliations, and they are profoundly rooted in the social structure/divides of Istanbul, involving Turkish sexual or ethnic minorities.