Experiencing “close strangers” and “distant intimates”: Transnational childhoods between Turkey and Germany

Abstract

This article deals with the circumstances experienced by those children who not only were affected by the emigration of their parents, but who also showed a high mobility volume themselves. This was accomplished by focusing on children of Turkish migrants from the "guest worker" era in Germany. Due to multiple migration processes, they have had to adapt to diverse transnational family arrangements early in their lives. In general, many children of Turkish migrants were characterized by transnational childhoods. By examining cases where children were initially left behind in the care of their grandparents in Turkey and followed their parents to Germany later on, the article points out how those migrant children experienced both "close strangers" and "distant intimates." The article thus contributes to the understanding of the relationship between sociality and spatiality in migration processes.

The Socialisation of Migrant Children in Transnational Settings

“…Migrant children also crossed borders repeatedly for holidays and family events, such as birthdays or weddings. On the whole, migrant children and young people move back and forth repeatedly between the immigration and emigration country (of their parents) [Apitzsch, Siouti 2008;Reisenauer 2015], thereby becoming extremely mobile actors [Fog Olwig 2012]. The mobility of migrant children turns migration into not a singular occurrence but rather as an ongoing and recurring process in the life course.…”

“…[Zielke-Nadkarni 2003: 170] Moreover, as shown above, migrant children moved several times between Turkey and Germany. This circulation meant that the migrant children experienced not only a recurring geographical relocation but also multiple and repetitive separations from and reunifications with members of their nuclear and extended family [Reisenauer 2015].…”

“…Separations and reunifications were also found to have far-reaching consequences on nuclear and extended family members in the context of Turkish-German migration. This is especially evident in cases where the migrant children were initially left behind in Turkey and followed their migrant parents to Germany later [Reisenauer 2015]. The narratives of former migrant children provide insight into the effects that such separations have on future parent-child relationships.…”