Experiences of migration from Turkey to Germany: the female guest worker in contemporary documentaries

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines two documentaries that go beyond the audio-visual canon representing the guest worker from Turkey to Germany. Look, Listen Carefully (Özlem Sarıyıldız, 2021) and Gurbet is a Home Now (Pınar Öğrenci, 2021) provide a platform for migrant women to reveal their stories, expanding the sphere of representation of guest workers. Indeed, men’s labor is always at the forefront of the historical guest worker migration narrative, while women’s labor in the factory and domestic sphere has largely ignored. Moreover, the documentaries hold a mirror to the ongoing migration from Turkey to Germany. Both filmmakers are women and new wave migrants from Turkey to Germany, referencing a migration resulting from the growing authoritarian context in Turkey over the last ten years. The filmmakers examine the history of migration to understand their own position in Germany, engaging with the subjects of their documentaries to forge intergenerational links between migrant women. I argue that these documentaries are decolonial feminist works; they expand the sphere of representation of female guest workers, working against their historical invisibility, centralizing their voices, and contextualizing the power dynamics that have shaped their experiences.