How diverse is Cologne carnival? How migrants appropriate popular art spaces

Abstract

The present article contributes to the ongoing academic debate on migrants’ appropriation of artistic and political spaces in Germany. Cologne, one of the largest cities in Germany, is an interesting example of the tension between political discourse centred around multiculturalism and cultural segregation processes. The ‘no fool is illegal’ carnival organised by asylum seekers shows their capacity to act, as they reinvent an old local tradition by reinterpreting medieval rituals. Today, different groups and associations appropriate this festive art space: migrants, gays and lesbians, feminists and far-left groups either organise their own parties or take part in the official parties and parades as separate groups. As a result, the celebration of diversity figures on the local political agenda and becomes part of the official carnival festivities. This leads to a blurring of boundaries, whereby mainstream popular culture becomes more and more influenced by multicultural elements.

Keywords:

• carnival
• migrants
• diversity
• Cologne
• multiculturalism
• reinvention of tradition

Notes

1. 1. A festive event can be seen as a battlefield where different actors try to expose, defend and reinforce their positions. As interest groups and alliances can change depending on space and time, we observed the same festive events over a period of several years, including the preparation for and evaluation of the events done by the actors involved.

2. 2. Although Bakhtin himself did not recommend comparing Middle Age and Renaissance carnivals (on which his work is grounded, since his major source are the writings of French Renaissance author Rabelais), his reflections on semiotics and on carnival as a social system can be stimulating for the analysis of contemporary festive events.

3. 3. The official committee of Cologne carnival, the Festkomitee, has commissioned a study by Boston Consulting Group about the economic impact of Cologne carnival: http://neu.koelnerkarneval1.de/254.html [Accessed 5 Feb 2013].

4. 4. http://www.stadt-koeln.de/2/integration/03741/; http://www.stadt-koeln.de/2/integration/ [Accessed 5 Feb 2013].

5. 5. Bommes, Michael and Wilmes, Maren 2007 « Menschen ohne Papiere in Köln. »Eine Studie im Auftrag des Rates der Stadt Köln.

6. 6. The German « Meldegesetz », a law that requires every person to register upon his/her arrival at a new place of residence for tax purposes, includes a declaration on his/her religion. Even though not everybody registers or makes a truthful declaration, estimates on the size of religious groups can easily be made in this way.

7. 7. Here, I refer to the Foucaultian term of dispositive as an ensemble of discourses, institutions, architectural sites, decisions, laws, administrative measures, scientific findings, philosophical, moral and philanthropic proposals (see Foucault 1977, p. 62–93).

8. 8. In my context as Chair of migration and religious studies at Lausanne University, I am currently involved in several research projects to related areas. A comparative project on the “Economies of urban diversities” in Istanbul and the Ruhr Area is about to be completed. A project on festive events as a means of expression for migrants has been conducted in Paris (Salzbrunn 2011e), New York (Salzbrunn 2011a, 2011c), Cologne (Salzbrunn 2011b) and Cherbourg (Salzbrunn 2011d). Furthermore, two new research projects have just started: one on the incorporation of Muslim migrants in urban spaces in Switzerland (Lausanne, Geneva) (Schneuwly Purdie and Salzbrunn 2011) and one on digital-cultural resources of undocumented Tunisian migrants in Tunisia and Europe (http://p3.snf.ch/person-580020-Salzbrunn-Monika).

9. 9. Martina Löw defines the Eigenlogik (inherent logic) of cities as the hidden structures of cities, which are subtle invisible constitutions of meanings in process (2008, p. 19).

10. 10. The official name of the committee is ‘Festkomitee des Kölner Karnevals von 1823 e.V.’

11. 11. Here, the fake priest is making an ironic allusion to the spectators, a large number of whom are members or supporters of KMII.

12. 12. ‘Bella Ciao’ was initially an Italian populist song about the difficult working conditions of women on the rice fields in the Northern Italian Po plain. In the 1940s, the text was rewritten and became a reference for antifascist fighters. Other linguistic references from the 1940s are consciously used by supporters of asylum seekers in order to justify their illegal acts as morally justified ‘resistance’ against a government that violates human rights by arresting asylum seekers in ‘camps’ and ‘deporting’ them to countries where their lives are in danger.

13. 13. The Roma are an ethnic group that originally comes from Romania. They have no identity documents, which means that they cannot obtain a residence permit anywhere. In Cologne, a huge solidarity movement helped convince the city to give permanent residence permits to Roma who wanted to settle there.

14. 14. See Köpping and Rao (2000) for discussions on the transformation of reality by rituals and festive events.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Monika Salzbrunn

MONIKA SALZBRUNN is Full Professor of Religion, Migration, Diaspora Studies and Director of the Institute for Social Sciences of Contemporary Religions at Lausanne University.