Racism and transnationality

Transnational bodies: Embodiment of transnational settings

AbstractThe everyday life of more and more people is characterized by transnationalism. People increasingly interact across borders and in a network of transnational relationships. While interactions may be border-crossing, the actors’ body remains situated and limited in time and space. However, the thesis of this paper is that transnationalism processes are embodied. Thus, we speak of an embodiment of transnational settings. We focus on symbolic interactionism – Charles H. Cooley and George H. Mead in particular provide a large repertoire of concepts – to theoretically conceive transnational bodies. To show how transnational embodiment can manifest itself we use the example of young peopl…

Transnational lives. Transnational bodies? An introduction

Over the past 20 years, both “the body” and “transnationalism” have been elaborated as sociological terms, empirically investigated as research topics, and finally established within the social-sci...

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

Learning opportunities in the outdoor school–empirical findings on outdoor school in Germany from the children’s perspective

This article examines learning processes and learning opportunities in the outdoor school based on 13 focus-group interviews with children (ages 8–9) at three German elementary schools. For 1 year,...

Aufwachsen zwischen Zukunfts- und Traditionsorientierung.

Viele Dinge scheinen ganz selbstverstandlich zu sein; so als hatte es sie immer schon gegeben. Kinder und Jugendliche, die gemeinsam Knoten knupfen, Feuer machen, Lieder singen und sich ehrenamtlich in ihrer Region engagieren – vielleicht gehoren die Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder als Vertreter einer weltweiten Jugendbewegung zu diesen Selbstverstandlichkeiten.

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.

How best to serve at-risk youths? A critical evaluation of Germany’s socio-educational support abroad program

As a last resort for Germany’s most at-risk youths, socio-educational support abroad has been practiced for more than 40 years. Far removed from Germany, difficult to educate youths receive social educational assistance in a variety of formats. The present article discusses this special social work concept that currently figures little in international child welfare discussions. It begins by introducing the concept of projects abroad, then moves on to present evidence of the program’s effectiveness from the client’s perspective. It will become apparent that a large gap exists between socio-educational goals and implementation, a background against which the discussion on appropriate child w…

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...

Pfadfinden weltweit. Die Internationalität der Pfadfindergemeinschaft in der Diskussion

Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts wurden die Grundlagen fur ein globalisiertes Pfadfindertum gelegt. Rasant breiteten sich die von Robert Baden-Powell in seinem Buch »Scouting for Boys« formulierten Ideen auf der ganzen Welt aus. Heute zahlt die Bewegung mehr als 41 Millionen Kinder und Jugendliche aus fast allen Landern der Erde. John F. Kennedy, Hillary und Bill Clinton, Horst Kohler, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Mariah Carey und selbst Tick, Trick und Track aus Entenhausen gaben einst ihr Pfadfinderversprechen. Schatzungen gehen davon aus, dass etwa 300 Millionen Menschen bis heute der Pfadfinderbewegung angehort haben. Der Austausch uber Landergrenzen hinweg fuhrt zu internationalen Kontakten un…

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…

School Teaching in Germany Between Tradition and Innovation: The Concept of the Outdoor School

It is a well known fact that school is seen as having a spatial characteristic, being associated to indoor learning. The aim of this chapter is to underlined the idea that learning and educational processes can take place in different settings, and to offer other experiences that the traditional classroom with its specific conditions largely neglected. The dimensions of space, time, and body are re-evaluated from the perspective of outdoor education which faces children (and teachers) with new, sometimes challenging, and adventurous experiences that contrast with an everyday routine of school instruction.