Community In Germany Research Articles

“Like the father's home:” perceived state of the Turkish-Sunni community in Germany

Focusing on a mosque organization, the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), this paper engages with the Turkish-Sunni diaspora's complex perception of the ‘state’ in Germany. DITIB is a Sunni-Islam based mosque organization that oversees over 900 mosques across Germany. However, the Turkish-Sunni diaspora does not consider DITIB mosques as simply religious or cultural spaces but instead attributes a highly complex quasi-stateness to it. My field research between 2016 and 2018 reveals that for this community, DITIB reflects an intimate familial version of the Turkish state in Germany. While DITIB has significant connections to the state in Turkey, based on my findings I argue that these connections alone do not explain why the diaspora perceive DITIB like a state. Rather, DITIB's perceived stateness has been constructed through a historical process that brings to the fore diasporic experiences, feelings, and memories centered at the ethnoreligious spaces of mosques. Thus, this research produces new questions for, and theoretical approaches to geographies of states, extending this literature's emphasis on everyday and intimate perspectives. I build on feminist geopolitics and diaspora studies to contribute to this scholarship by analyzing the role of feelings and memories in forming perceptions of the state. I explain how spaces of perceived states become fluid, cross the borders of officially defined national territories, and exceed the classical spaces and embodiment of states. Instead, spaces like mosques come to be perceived like a state through their association with care, unity, and a home. This analysis points to the emotional and memory-based production of what is perceived as a state and how those perceptions are formed.

Association between caring for grandchildren and feelings of loneliness, social isolation and social network size: a cross-sectional study of community dwelling adults in Germany

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine whether there is an association between grandparental care and loneliness, social isolation and/or the size of an individual’s social network among community-based...

ОСНОВНЫЕ ТЕНДЕНЦИИ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ ЧЕРНОКОЖИХ ЖЕНЩИН ГЕРМАНИИ

The article for the first time analyses literary creativity of black women in Germany. The paper examines the specificity of the authoresses’ self-consciousness in their creative self-expression, identifies thematic peculiarities of literary works and ascertains the place of back authoresses in the German literary space and in the black community in Germany. It is shown that black women’s literature is an important factor in the development, integration and self-expression of Germany’s black diaspora. The research findings broaden the existing conception of the modern German literature.

METHODOLOGY OF OPERATION OF DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES INTER-REGIONAL COLLABORATION

Methodology of development of strategies of development of interregional collaboration of territorial communities is described in the article, that consists of the next stages: forming of general strategic vision of interregional collaboration, choice of base and perspective models of collaboration, forming of mission of project of collaboration; authentication of factors of environment : forces and weaknesses of internal environment (potential of communities), possibility and threat of environment; estimation of factors of environment of interregional collaboration; choice of current and alternative strategies of collaboration; development of directions of politics of collaboration and compromises as to the means of realization of strategy of development of interregional collaboration; development of complex of instruments as totalities of tactical events, that can use the organs of local self-government and general co-ordinating committees; testing, control and realization of correcting influences is for the acceptance of administrative decisions in relation to expediency further interregional collaboration; realization of events and management achievements (an estimation of economic, ecological, social effect is for development of communities). The formed arguments are in behalf on activation of interregional collaboration on different levels. Examples of successful regional partnership are made in communities of Germany, France, Ukraine.

Making Movies and Community of Talent

Staff members at a movie company Daiei, known for presumably the world’s best film technology, continued to produce movies for several months even after the company went bankrupt. It was because they desired to make outstanding films. A director can create a high-quality film by combining the skills and ideas of such staff. Akira Kurosawa named the group that could produce excellent works the “Community of Talents”. By using research on a community as a clue, this paper aims to highlight how the “Community of Talents” is organized. First I point out that a “Community of Talents” is formulated primarily by the labor of the staff based on Kumazawa’s “Community on the Shop Floor”. The paper subsequently refers to research by Heinrich Nicklish, a representative researcher on the study of community in Germany, in an attempt to verify that the community is a group of people established on functions. Lastly, the paper explores Guido Fisher’s research to reveal the role of democratic leadership centered on the director who transforms the objectified staff in the organization into an independently-minded presence and help them prove their abilities. The paper continues to emphasize the significance of leadership in the formation of the “Community of Talents”.

GREEK-ORTHODOX RELIGIOSCAPES AS DOMAINS OF MIGRATORY INTEGRATION AND HYBRIDISATION IN GERMANY AND GREAT BRITAIN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

This paper aims to introduce an alternative research approach in dealing with migrant communities as religioscapes, from the perspective of religious aesthetic. Namely, it focuses on the Greek and Greek-Cypriot migrant communities in Germany and Great Britain and examines their religiocultural symbolic constellations in the public sphere, particularly, those which illustrate aspects of their self-perception and migration narratives. In both cases churches serve as arks of culture and identity. In the lapse of time, community and church, being closely knit, jointly constructed their migrant narratives of de- and re-territorialisation, cultural adaptation and hybridisation, essentially their own distinct sense of being and belonging. Therefore, one observes the phenomenon of interwoven migrant and church narratives. The particularities of these constantly under construction identities are manifest in the architectural, hagiographical/iconographical themes, aesthetics and concepts of their churches. It is typical, however, of the Byzantine iconographic tradition to include and demonstrate the socio-political conditions of its time and place; and, those visual manifestations, as part of a sociocultural reality, possess a contextual dimension in their symbolic content, while being an act and a medium of communication in their own right. It is therefore feasible to decode their aforementioned content and articulate the narrative therein.

Your Health, Your Faith: HIV prevention with African faith-based communities in Germany

Abstract Migrants are disproportionally affected by HIV/AIDS in Germany, with about every third new HIV diagnosis given to a person who has migrated to Germany. More than half of HIV new diagnoses among migrants are people from sub-Saharan African countries. Because infections are not just brought from the countries of origin but also occur in Germany, HIV prevention services must be better tailored to the needs of migrants. Your Health, Your Faith (2016-2018) is a community-based participatory health project that aims to improve the involvement of African faith-based communities in HIV prevention services. The project is conducted by the National AIDS Service Organization in collaboration with partners from different African communities, African pastors, AIDS service organizations (ASOs) and researchers from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Teams of African activists, African pastors and ASOs have been built in eight German cities. All partners were invited to a series of concept workshops in Berlin in order to define together prevention contents, methods and forms of cooperation. Together, they developed a concept for preaching preventive messages in church settings and scenarios for a mobile educational theatre group. To date 65 multilingual events have been held at various African churches, reaching approximately 5000 people. The results of the project has been evaluated on a multi-case basis, with quality standards being compiled for prevention events in African churches. In the course of the project, the participants designed a video that illustrates the prevention work in African Church communities. At the request of the pastors involved, a mobile training series on HIV/Aids for African pastors has been developed with the support of medical doctors. Key messages HIV prevention in African churches and cooperation between African churches, public health authorities and ASOs is possible and promising. Communication via pastors has proven useful, as have supporting theatre performances that facilitate communication about taboo subjects such as HIV/AIDS.

The long-term impact of the location of concentration camps on radical-right voting in Germany

Of all atrocities committed by state actors in 20th century Europe, the systematic killings by Nazi Germany were arguably the most severe and best documented. While several studies have investigated the impact of the presence of concentration camps on surrounding communities in Germany and the occupied territories in terms of redistribution of wealth and property, the local-level impact on voting behaviour has not yet been explored. We investigated the impact of spatial proximity to a concentration camp between 1933 and 1945 on the likelihood of voting for far-right parties in the 2013 and 2017 federal elections. We find that proximity to a former concentration camp is associated with a higher vote share of such parties. A potential explanation for this finding could be a ‘memory satiation effect’, according to which voters who live in close proximity to former camps and are more frequently confronted with the past are more receptive to revisionist historical accounts questioning the centrality of the Holocaust in the German culture of remembrance.

Integration as a task of municipal policy. The exploration of an emerging field of local politics

Based on three empirical case studies, this paper discusses options of addressing social integration as a task of local authorities. It furthermore aims to provide a conceptual scheme for a systematic exploration of this field of local politics. The argumentation starts from the observation that many communities in Germany have taken promising attempts to establish a genuine integration policy at the local level in the wake of recent refugee immigration. Thereby, they bolster the often-heard catchword of 'social integration occurs at particular places' and, at the same time, support both local civil society and local economy in developing their integrative potential. However, the case studies have also shown that an 'integrative urban development' (policy) must not refrain its efforts to the very field of integration policy but should link this policy to further cross-cutting paradigms – i.e., the principles of recognition, backstopping, and social cohesion. Examples from the case studies illustrate how to pursue local integration policies that allow for these principles. Yet, it will always be a matter of framework conditions, experiences and distinct local discourses, which of the proposed strategies, instruments or measures apply.

CLOSING THE IRON CURTAIN: HOW GEOLOGISTS IN BERLIN EXPERIENCED THE COLD WAR ERA

ABSTRACT After World War II, the geological community in Germany was severely disrupted. Nevertheless, there were also first attempts to mend severed professional ties by contacting colleagues within Germany and outside. As far as logistically possible under the difficult circumstances of the time, publications and maps, paleontological specimens and geological information were exchanged, e.g., between East-Berlin (Soviet Sector of the divided city) and Hannover (within the British Occupation Area) or Tübingen (within the French Occupation Area), and vice versa. Over the next couple of years, however, matters of logistics did not become easier—to the contrary. Berlin colleagues reported increasing political pressure and many left eastern Germany to seek employment in the west. Those that remained were forced to abandon professional bonds with the western zones. Whereas it seemed comparatively harmless, when one had sent a few fossil corals from Berlin on loan to Tübingen, those that had sent information on petroleum and ore deposits suddenly found themselves charged with espionage and high treason, facing imprisonment and potentially worse. As a consequence, letters crossing the border became less and less frequent and geologists like everybody else settled into two different worlds separated by the ‘Iron Curtain’.

Politicization as an antecedent of polarization: Evidence from two different political and national contexts.

Using longitudinal research designs, we examine the role of politicization in the development of polarization. We conducted research in two different political and national contexts. In Study 1, we employ a panel sample of supporters of the Tea Party movement in the United States and examine the relationship between the strength of their politicization and their subsequent feelings towards conservatives versus liberals (affective polarization) as well as their subsequent perceptions of commonalities with conservatives versus liberals (cognitive polarization). In Study 2, we employ a panel sample of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community in Germany and examine the politicization-polarization link with regard to feelings towards, and perceived commonalities with, feminists versus supporters of a populist right-wing political party. We obtained converging evidence suggesting that politicization promotes both affective and cognitive polarization. There was also some, but very limited evidence pointing to reverse causation. The danger of escalating polarization is discussed.

Technology Adoption, Motivational Aspects, and Privacy Concerns of Wearables in the German Running Community: Field Study.

BackgroundDespite the availability of a great variety of consumer-oriented wearable devices, perceived usefulness, user satisfaction, and privacy concerns have not been fully investigated in the field of wearable applications. It is not clear why healthy, active citizens equip themselves with wearable technology for running activities, and what privacy and data sharing features might influence their individual decisions.ObjectiveThe primary aim of the study was to shed light on motivational and privacy aspects of wearable technology used by healthy, active citizens. A secondary aim was to reevaluate smart technology adoption within the running community in Germany in 2017 and to compare it with the results of other studies and our own study from 2016.MethodsA questionnaire was designed to assess what wearable technology is used by runners of different ages and sex. Data on motivational factors were also collected. The survey was conducted at a regional road race event in May 2017, paperless via a self-implemented app. The demographic parameters of the sample cohort were compared with the event’s official starter list. In addition, the validation included comparison with demographic parameters of the largest German running events in Berlin, Hamburg, and Frankfurt/Main. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to investigate whether age, sex, or course distance were associated with device use. The same method was applied to analyze whether a runner’s age was predictive of privacy concerns, openness to voluntary data sharing, and level of trust in one’s own body for runners not using wearables (ie, technological assistance considered unnecessary in this group).ResultsA total of 845 questionnaires were collected. Use of technology for activity monitoring during events or training was prevalent (73.0%, 617/845) in this group. Male long-distance runners and runners in younger age groups (30-39 years: odds ratio [OR] 2.357, 95% CI 1.378-4.115; 40-49 years: OR 1.485, 95% CI 0.920-2.403) were more likely to use tracking devices, with ages 16 to 29 years as the reference group (OR 1). Where wearable technology was used, 42.0% (259/617) stated that they were not concerned if data might be shared by a device vendor without their consent. By contrast, 35.0% (216/617) of the participants would not accept this. In the case of voluntary sharing, runners preferred to exchange tracked data with friends (51.7%, 319/617), family members (43.4%, 268/617), or a physician (32.3%, 199/617). A large proportion (68.0%, 155/228) of runners not using technology stated that they preferred to trust what their own body was telling them rather than trust a device or an app (50-59 years: P<.001; 60-69 years: P=.008).ConclusionsA total of 136 distinct devices by 23 vendors or manufacturers and 17 running apps were identified. Out of 4, 3 runners (76.8%, 474/617) always trusted in the data tracked by their personal device. Data privacy concerns do, however, exist in the German running community, especially for older age groups (30-39 years: OR 1.041, 95% CI 0.371-0.905; 40-49 years: OR 1.421, 95% CI 0.813-2.506; 50-59 years: OR 2.076, 95% CI 1.813-3.686; 60-69 years: OR 2.394, 95% CI 0.957-6.183).

A Study on the Function and Role of the Organizations of Turkish Migrants in Germany

The purpose of this study is to understand the function and role of the organizations of Turkish migrants in Germany. Their immigrant organizations have an important influence on the political behavior of immigrants in Germany. The Turkish migrant organizations can be divided into the religious, political, and business associations. But these organizations are not homogeneous and are different in terms of their background, strategy and goals, while participating in politics and negotiating their positions. These organizations are able to play an important role both in integrating Turkish migrants and contributing to solving the sociocultural and economic problems of the Turkish community. They (not incorrect, just a bit repetitive) must cooperate more with each other by overcoming their ideological rivalries to find solutions for their common socio-economic problems, to contribute to integrating Turkish community in Germany.

DIASPORA NETWORKS AND THE CONSUMPTION OF NOSTALGIC PRODUCTS AMONG ROMANIAN MIGRANTS IN GERMANY

Statistics show that cross-national immigration represents one of the fastest growing global trends. Researchers have revealed that immigration is a transnational process with immigrants maintaining ties across the sending and receiving locations, and acting as a bridge between their countries of destination and origin. Research has also revealed the economic link created by the diaspora between the countries of origin and destination with two main components: the remittances sent to families and the consumption of home origin goods, also defined by scholars as ethnic products, nostalgic products or nostalgia products. During the period 2010-2015, the Romanian diaspora had the world's second fastest average annual growth rate. In the same period, Germany became one of the premier destinations for Romanian migration. An empirical study was organized in Germany in the period June – August 2017. The study is based on a regional survey of 124 subjects belonging to the Romanian community in Germany in four Bavarian cities. Four hypotheses have been advanced with the purpose of evaluating the level of demand for home origin products among Romanian migrants, the sources of supply, the level of expenditures and the motivational factors. The findings show that Romanian migrants in Germany manifest an important interest in and demand for home origin country goods; they spend 420 EUR yearly on ethnic products and their consumption motivation is strongly related to the products' special tastes and characteristics. Most of the products are obtained through local ethnic stores. The study’s results also reveal important similarities between the nostalgic product consumption habits of Romanian migrants in Germany and those of South American migrants in the U.S. The study’s findings are relevant for both the literature and for the Romanian companies, especially the ones active in the food and drink sector.

De la diaspora à la « minorité imaginée ». Mémoires de persécution et transformation transgénérationnelle des réseaux migrants protestants en Europe à l’époque moderne

Most early modern religious diaspora groups in Europe cultivated narratives of persecution and martyrdom and handed them on to future generations. Yet the function of such narratives changed in each migrant generation. Focusing on printed publications of Netherlandish exile communities in Germany and the Northern Netherlands, this article argues that the reception of persecution narratives underwent drastic changes and stimulated new religious identities that allowed believers to see themselves as part of a religious minority even if they now belonged to the dominant groups in society.

Prevalence and Strain Characterization of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile in Representative Regions of Germany, Ghana, Tanzania and Indonesia - A Comparative Multi-Center Cross-Sectional Study.

Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile infections (CDI) are considered worldwide as emerging health threat. Uptake of C. difficile spores may result in asymptomatic carrier status or lead to CDI that could range from mild diarrhea, eventually developing into pseudomembranous colitis up to a toxic megacolon that often results in high mortality. Most epidemiological studies to date have been performed in middle- and high income countries. Beside others, the use of antibiotics and the composition of the microbiome have been identified as major risk factors for the development of CDI. We therefore postulate that prevalence rates of CDI and the distribution of C. difficile strains differ between geographical regions depending on the regional use of antibiotics and food habits. A total of 593 healthy control individuals and 608 patients suffering from diarrhea in communities in Germany, Ghana, Tanzania and Indonesia were selected for a comparative multi-center cross-sectional study. The study populations were screened for the presence of C. difficile in stool samples. Cultured C. difficile strains (n = 84) were further subtyped and characterized using PCR-ribotyping, determination of toxin production, and antibiotic susceptibility testing. Prevalence rates of C. difficile varied widely between the countries. Whereas high prevalence rates were observed in symptomatic patients living in Germany and Indonesia (24.0 and 14.7%), patients from Ghana and Tanzania showed low detection rates (4.5 and 6.4%). Differences were also obvious for ribotype distribution and toxin repertoires. Toxin A+/B+ ribotypes 001/072 and 078 predominated in Germany, whereas most strains isolated from Indonesian patients belonged to toxin A+/B+ ribotype SLO160 and toxin A-/B+ ribotype 017. With 42.9–73.3%, non-toxigenic strains were most abundant in Africa, but were also found in Indonesia at a rate of 18.2%. All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and metronidazole. Mirroring the antibiotic use, however, moxifloxacin resistance was absent in African C. difficile isolates but present in Indonesian (24.2%) and German ones (65.5%). This study showed that CDI is a global health threat with geographically different prevalence rates which might reflect distinct use of antibiotics. Significant differences for distributions of ribotypes, toxin production, and antibiotic susceptibilities were observed.

Urbanization versus other land use: Diverging effects on dragonfly communities in Germany

AbstractAimLand use change, such as urbanization and intensification of agricultural practices, poses major threats for biodiversity. We examined whether the composition of freshwater species differs between landscapes dominated by urban, agricultural or more natural structures in a region with a long history of landscape transformation. We determined the differences and characteristics of the dragonfly fauna in relation to major land use categories. We particularly focused on urban land use, as it generally induces a high level of landscape transformation.LocationGermany.MethodsWe used distribution data of dragonflies derived from a citizen science database, which was compiled for the German distribution atlas. To analyse whether different land use categories are associated with distinct species compositions, we performed the classification method random forest.ResultsBased on dragonfly abundance per grid cell, we identified distinct land use‐related assemblages that were separated by two gradients, that is, the level of transformation and a gradient from open land to forest. In particular, urban landscapes possessed a distinct species composition with specific species, all of which were opportunistic and supported by warm climate. They also comprised significantly higher α‐diversity than intensive agricultural landscapes. Similar values of γ‐diversity over all land use categories implied a countrywide homogenized dragonfly fauna, which is probably caused by historic land use.Main conclusionsOur results indicate that land use is a relevant driver for the composition of freshwater species at the landscape scale. Urban landscapes maintain species diversity better than agricultural landscapes, but they modify the species composition. Additional research on the effects of land use change is required to understand species responses and predict future distributions in a changing world in order to plan sustainable conservation strategies.

Guarantee of Religious Practices as a Part of the Cultural Security of Polish-Speaking Catholics Living in Germany

The paper deals with three problematic threads, i.e.: defining cultural security, the issue of legal guarantees due to a national minority in a foreign country, and the results of a research conducted among the Polish community in Germany. Field research was conducted using a technique of questionnaire interviews in the community associated with two Polish diaspora organizations: Polish Catholic Mission in Hamburg and Gazeta Polska ("Polish Newspaper") in Hamburg. The aim of the discussion is to answer the following question: do Polish-speaking Catholics, representing the national minority in Germany, perceive threats to their own religious practices? The results of the research have highlighted the perspective of representatives with extreme and moderate views on the right to manifest religious identity in Germany.

From diaspora community to diaspora literature: the case of Vietnamese boat people in Germany

ABSTRACTThe formation of Vietnamese community in Germany was determined by both historical events in Vietnam and turbulent socio-political context in Germany. The boat people, who were referred in German as Bootsflüchtlinge (boat people) or Kontingentflüchtlinge (contingent refugees), have been rescued by the ship Cap Anamur from 1979 onwards and enjoyed social support for their integration. In contrast, the contract workers experiencing harsh time after the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990 were stigmatized as bad immigrants in mainstream media and society. Within such a framework, I will tell two opposite stories of the formation and the development of the two main Vietnamese communities in Germany. The distinguished groups of Vietnamese also determine the essence of its diaspora literature which is not unified and fixed but diversified and fragmentary. In the second section, I focus more on the diasporic features of the literature by viewing how writers create their literary platforms to share their own memory and identity. The first representation is the establishment of Vietnamese Writers Abroad, based in the United States, which leads to the participation of Vietnamese boat people in Germany. This act is seen as the authors’ effort to create a connecting community of those who shared the same collective memory towards homeland and host land. Not only participating in a literary association overseas, Vietnamese refugees in Germany have Viên Giác as their own socio-cultural centre. Interestingly, the formation, operation and transformation from Buddhism to non-Buddhism of the centre reflect political tendency in creating a forum by and for the refugees, who are mostly against the current regime in Vietnam. The network of authors and readers by Viên Giác centre shows the second representation of the Vietnamese refugees in Germany as the diaspora community that they all share religious and political interests.

Social Change, Astro-Turfs, and Entrepreneurial Activities in the Context of German Non-Elite Football: The Example of Lower-Division Club BSV Bielstein

This article explores the efforts of a German non-elite football club to revitalize itself using a combination of modernization strategies to overcome a perceived existential crisis. The modernizing strategies involved improving facilities (laying an artificial pitch and building a new club house) while at the same time actively pursuing a community role via, for example, work with refugees. The interdisciplinary approach used here stresses the peculiar character of institutionalization/bureaucratization (clubs/associations) in combination with the social world of club football as emotional community in Germany since the nineteenth century. In contrast to an emphasis on the systemic character of football as a closed social system with its specific set of rules in which the logic of action is historically predetermined, this article focusses on social actors and their constant struggle to recreate and redefine the social world of football through their actions.