Racism and transnationality

Transnational social work with young refugees

In late 2014, the UN Refugee Agency counted 59.5 million people around the world on the run (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2015). This is the highest number that has been r...

Transnationale Biografiearbeit mit geflüchteten Menschen

Menschen, die aus ihren Herkunftslandern fliehen, erleben gravierende biografische Bruche und mussen sich einen Alltag erst wiederaufbauen. Auch in den Ziellandern sind sie mit Herausforderungen konfrontiert: Sie warten auf den Ausgang ihres Asylantrags, streben nach Teilhabe und Zugehorigkeit. Der Beitrag stellt die Idee transnationaler Biografiearbeit in der Arbeit mit Gefluchteten vor. Transnationale Biografiearbeit setzt an den Handlungsfahigkeiten der Akteur_innen an und hat genauso Leidensprozesse im Blick. Sie unterstutzt Gefluchtete bei der Wahrnehmung und Anerkennung ihrer Ressourcen und der Verarbeitung herausfordernder Lebensereignisse. Gleichzeitig fungiert transnationale Biogra…

Social Work in Germany: Between a Nation State Focus and Transnational Horizons

In this contribution, authors point out the history of social work in Germany and its interweaving within nation state structures. The chapter explores the central organisations and agencies in Germany and its working methods. At the same time, it also deals with transnational tendencies of social work.

Growing Up Transnationally between SWAPO and GDR—A Biographical Ethnographic Study on Namibian Refugee Children

(2013). Growing Up Transnationally between SWAPO and GDR—A Biographical Ethnographic Study on Namibian Refugee Children. Transnational Social Review: Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. M-28-M-33.

An analysis of metaphors in the biographies of the ‘GDR children of Namibia’

Metaphors are linguistically dense images that transfer terms from their original usage to a different context and describe actions and objects beyond their literal meaning. This article uses Rudol...

Transnationales Aufwachsen namibischer Flüchtlingskinder zwischen SWAPO- und DDR-Erziehung—eine biografisch-ethnografische Studie

International solidarity in the GDR and transnationality: an analysis of primary school materials for Namibian child refugees

As part of a solidarity project between the South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), approximately 430 Namibian children were brought to the GDR from 1979 to 1989 to be trained as an elite for a future liberated Namibia. The children attended school in the GDR until they were brought back to Namibia in August 1990. The school lessons intertwined topics about Namibia and SWAPO with the usual GDR school curriculum. The linchpin of this intertwining was the socialist ideal of international solidarity. This article uses an objective-hermeneutic analysis to show how the school materials produced transnationality.

Refugees across the generations. Generational relations between the ‘GDR children of Namibia’ and their children

This article represents the first ever analysis of the generational relations of an otherwise largely neglected group – the ‘GDR children of Namibia’ and their children. The ‘GDR children of Namibi...

Social Work in Germany. Developments in a professional field and academic discipline

In many countries of the Global North, social work developed as an independent profession and discipline in the 20th century. One of the countries in which social work became established as a professional field was Germany. This field's origins go back to the “social question”. The articles in this volume deal with current social work issues, offering an insight into the current state of discussion on each topic in Germany. They all draw attention to the complex interplay between local social work and the field’s expansion beyond individual places and national states, and the interconnections between national societal developments in Germany and those on an international, global level.

“You are special”: othering in biographies of “GDR children from Namibia”

ABSTRACTThe article analyses a historical case of politically induced flight. The so-called German Democratic Republic (GDR) children from Namibia are about 430 people brought to the GDR between 1979 and 1989. They came from Namibian refugee camps and were part of a solidarity project between South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) and the GDR. They were educated to become the Namibian elite once the country had been liberated. Their stay was to be temporary, with the children identified as Namibian by SWAPO and GDR. The article reconstructs culturalist and biological-racist forms of othering as characteristic biographical experience of the young people which deny them belonging to…