Ethnoreligious identities in home–school–society relational spaces: The case of Turkish immigrant parents in Germany

ABSTRACT

Applying a socio-spatial perspective, this study examines the ethnoreligious identities of Turkish immigrant parents in Germany within home–school–society relational spaces. A total of 22 qualitative interviews with parents of children aged 3–6 years or 8–12 years were conducted and analyzed using content analysis. The findings show that parents construct a home space by adopting religious congruence with or separation from school and societal spaces based on their ethnoreligious identities. The inclusive or exclusive school and societal spaces reproduce each other and, in turn, shape parental identities that influence beliefs and practices related to ethnoreligious upbringing within the home space. Besides contributing to the spatial perspective in educational research, this study has implications for policy and practice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2022.2138320.

Additional information

Funding

The study is part of the ‘Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society’ (ISOTIS) project, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 727069.

Notes on contributors

Hande Erdem-Möbius

Hande Erdem-Möbius is a PhD candidate in Educational Science at the Free University of Berlin and a research fellow at the Chair of Early Childhood Education at the University of Bamberg, Germany. Her key research areas are migration, identity, and social and educational inequalities. She mainly adopts an interdisciplinary, socio-spatial approach in her research.

Özen Odağ

Özen Odağ is a professor of psychology at Touro College Berlin, Germany, with a specialization in media psychology. She teaches in the fields of cross-cultural and industrial psychology as well as psychological research methods. In her research, she adopts an advocacy perspective, aiming to empower marginalized and at-risk social groups in society.

Yvonne Anders

Yvonne Anders is a full professor of education and the head of the Chair of Early Childhood Education at the University of Bamberg, Germany. Her key areas of research are the quality of early childhood education and care and its impact on children’s development, the professional competencies of ECEC staff, and international comparative analyses of ECEC quality and its effects.