Cultivating membership abroad: Analyzing German pre-integration courses for Turkish marriage migrants

ABSTRACT

Addressing research on migration governance, this article examines German pre-integration courses offered to Turkish marriage migrants in Istanbul. The courses were implemented in response to growing concern about the perceived poor integration of Muslim migrants and a high number of forced marriages. I argue that these courses are a micro form of biopolitical governance. Specifically, they are an attempt to generate internalized ways of being and knowing that are desired by the state, which I call ‘membership cultivation.’ As such, the courses are not precisely aimed at restricting migration as in other pre-integration measures, nor are they mainly reinforcing symbolic boundaries and teaching liberalism as in post-migration German civic integration courses. Rather, the courses attempt to re-make migrants with regards to morality, culture and gender. Using participant observation and in-depth interviews, this research examines the disciplinary mechanisms targeting migrants’ transformation to enhance our understanding of the biopolitics of pre-integration governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Marriage migration
• rights
• gender
• integration
• governance
• biopolitics

Acknowledgments

I extend my deepest gratitude to the individuals who shared their thoughts and feelings with me as part of this research. I am also grateful to Maissam Nimer, Aida Ibrecevic, Sule Hussein, Andreas Önver Cetrez, Soner Onder, Gina M. Longo, Suzanne Carlson, Ergun Bağcı and Linda Rottmann for thoughtful readings of the article and support while undertaking this research. This article benefitted from comments shared after presentations at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul and as part of Koç University’s Migration Research Center Lecture Series.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. All names used are pseudonyms.

2. Actually, I am not aware of any advantage to be gained by showing the certificate to an official. But, such statements about advantage can themselves be seen as part of the governing process.

3. http://www.almanya-danismanlik.eu/node/806.