Ambivalent presents, open futures: Affective constructions of the future among highly qualified Turkish migrants in Germany

Abstract

Turkish migrant professionals in Germany are valued as highly skilled individuals. They describe their lives in Germany mostly in positive terms. Their social, cultural and mobility capital enables them to imagine the future as including favourable circumstances for them such as exciting job opportunities. At the same time, heightened anti-migrant discourses and uncertainties about the future create potential risks. By bringing together the sociological literatures on ambivalence and the future, I analyse how highly skilled Turkish migrants make projections about their future in Germany under this ambivalent atmosphere. Based on interviews conducted with 29 highly qualified Turkish migrants in Germany in 2022, the article identifies openness as an affective mechanism, which can be deployed both to embrace opportunities and navigate instabilities that might emerge in the future.