Berlin, GE

Ghosts of Berlin, Chapter 1 

 

During high school I took two years of German as an elective, and during the class I learned how to speak German as well as the geography of Germany, German history, and some lessons on German culture. I thought that I had a fairly good understanding of German identity because of my previous exposure with German, however when I started reading this book I realized how wrong I was. During my German classes I had learned about events in German history, including the Third Reich, but I had never contemplated about the impact those events had on the German citizens.  At one point while I was reading the introduction I stopped to think about how I would feel about the Berlin Wall if I was a German.   After several minutes of contemplation I became even more uncertain as to how I would feel because so many different feelings were attached to the idea of the Berlin Wall.  Usually monuments are created to memorialize, honor, and celebrate the achievements of a person or an event.  The Berlin wall however was not an intentional monument.  The Berlin Wall was created during one of the darkest times in modern history, and represents the cold war by its physical separation of East Berlin from West Berlin and the rest of Germany.  In addition, the Wall was not only just a physical barrier, it divided the Germans as a community.  This disunity could be observed through maps of Germany. The Wall was  a faint line barely indistinguishable from the roads in maps created in West Germany, whereas maps produced in East Germany showed large blank spaces for West Germany.  The differences in how West and East Germany responded to the wall was fascinating to me, and i found the reference to the Wall as a "zipper" in its ability to both unify and separate Germans quite fitting.  The whole concept of a national identity is still fairly new to me, but hopefully after some further exposure to the topic I will better be able to understand the conflicts that Germans face when defining their identity as Germans.

 

Introducing Globalization, Chapter 1

 

The first thing I felt after reading the introduction to this book was relief because the introduction promised an easy immersion into the discussion of globalization, which is another topic that I have little previous knowledge of.  In section 1.1.1 Globalization of Integration,Matt Sparke defines globalization as, "the process of economic, political, and social integration that have collectively created ties that make a difference to lives around the planet".  Everything that we consume makes an impact, even if we can't directly see the outcomes. Twice Sparke discusses the production of a book, starting from the trees that needed to be logged, turned into pulp, then chemically refined into paper by workers in a paper mill. This really caused me to consider how my choices as a consumer may affect other people's lives around the world, especially with the technological advancements that have seemingly closed the distance between countries.  The internet has made it possible to connect with people all around the globe, purchase things from the comfort of our homes, and share or learn about anything our heart desires.  I think it would be really interesting to research how technology, which has caused the world to become interconnected more than ever before, has changed our national and global identities. Also, after having read the first chapter of this book and the first chapter in Ghosts of Berlin, I started to wonder about how the Berlin Wall impacted the rest of the world.  How did it impact the global economy? How did it influence policy making after it was created? How did it change the identity of Germans? How did the Wall shape other nation's perception of Germany? These are broad questions, but I am excited to research and try to discover answers to these questions in the following weeks. 

 

Castle and Miller, Chapters 1, 2, and 10

 

Though the Berlin Wall is no longer standing, the impact of the Wall on German identity is still evident in today’s society.  The Wall created a physical barrier that separated West Germany from East Germany, and the citizens on each side adapted and formed new identities in response to the macro and micro structures on either side.  When the Wall was taken down, people were able to reunite their families and communities from before the wall went up, but the identities created by the separation of the Wall resulted in a confusion about what it meant to be a Berliner when the Wall was taken away.  More than 25 years after the Wall was demolished there is still a distinction between West and East Germany and an unclear meaning as to what it means to be German.  Berlin is certainly still the city of the Wall and it will be interesting to observe in what ways the Germans from East and West Germany have unified or continued to keep the identities of East and West Germans separate.       

        

A global city is defined as a city considered to be an important node in the global economic system.  I don’t think that Berlin is a considered a global city in terms of economic values, but I do think that Berlin is a global city in the sense that what happens in Berlin socially and politically matter to the rest of the world.  Castle and Miller interpret the idea of a global city as being multicultural and a hub for migration, which can leads to a formation of ethnic clusters. The formation of ethnic clusters can lead to an enriched culture, full of many unique communities and creates an accepting culture to new ethnic groups.  However, ethnic clustering can also lead to discrimination and isolation of groups from the majority, creating a more hostile culture.  Since the fall of the Wall, Berlin has experienced a bit of an identity crisis, and the changes that Berlin has experienced as a result of becoming more of a global city has not made defining a national identity any easier. It will be intriguing to see how ethnic minorities are treated in Berlin and how the identities of the ethnic clusters impact the larger picture of German identity. 

 

The European Union was formed in 1993 with the purpose of unifying European countries, thus enhancing political, economic, and social co-operation.  The caveat to the European Union though, is that non-EU citizens have a more difficult time entering and participating in EU countries. The creation of the EU has created this idea that European citizens who are not from countries part of the European Union are different, and are discriminated against.This leaves me to wonder if the creation of the European Union, and thus the harsher immigration policies, created a stigma between EU citizens and non-EU citizens and how that affected Berlin.

 

 In the first chapter of the Castle and Miller readings, Germany was mentioned as having very strict immigration policies and was described as trying to prevent the reuniting of families and reluctant in granting secure resident status (221).  It was unclear to me as to whether these were immigration policies that were in place before or after the Wall was demolished, but either way it seems like Germany felt overwhelmed by the effects of migration.  Immigration can cause many changes in the receiving country, and when Germany was already struggling to deal with the unification of East and West Germany, it is easy to see how the influx of even more ethnic clusters would cause resistance.  The Castle and Miller readings also called the United States a ‘classical immigration’ country, which they defined as a country that “encouraged family reunion and permanent settlement and treated most legal immigrants as future citizens” (221).  I found this statement to be surprising because, although the U.S. immigration policies may are friendly towards legal immigrants, the United States spends billions of dollars on National Security to prevent illegal aliens from entering the United States. Though not all immigrants are illegal, it is not uncommon for legal immigrants be subject to the stereotypes and discrimination that American citizens have towards illegal immigrants.  The U.S. is filled with ethnic clusters and each ethnic group is regarded differently by American citizens.  It will be interesting to compare the ethnic clusters that have formed in the U.S. and in Germany, how these ethnic clusters are regarded by the nation’s ethnic majority, and how that impacts the nation’s identity.

 

Identity and Poststructuralist Theory in SLA, by Bonny Norton

 

The first idea from this chapter that really resonated with me was the idea that access to language can be directly correlated with access to other resources, which, “might include friendship networks, educational activities, work opportunities, and so forth" (pg 64). As a native English speaker, I often neglect to consider the constraints that come with not speaking English fluently.  Perhaps this was more prevalent in my home town than here, but it was not uncommon for unjustified judgements to be made about individuals who didn’t speak English fluently. In the introduction to the chapter that we were given, Norton discusses Martina, who is an immigrated from Czechoslovakia to Canada. Martina was a successful single mother with a profession in quantity surveying, but in Canada she was unable to communicate her proficiencies in her usual profession in English.  Her inability to speak fluent English was correlated with incompetency and in her workplace, her lack of fluency caused her to be perceived as second class to both the business owner and the owner’s children.  Even though Martina is completely capable of higher level work, she is discriminated against and stereotyped with the immigrants who share her cultural background. Her inability to speak fluent English has affected her work opportunities and her relationship with her co-workers, who made her feel like she was a broom instead of an important human being worthy of respect.  Norton also mentions that Martina immigrated with her three children, and I think it would be interesting to see how the children’s experience in school is impacted by their second language acquisition, and how those children’s identities are impacted as they become more fluent in English, make friends, and become more involved with Canadian culture versus the culture of Czechoslovakia, where they were born. How will these kid’s accent or physical appearance affect other people’s perception of them and thus the opportunities available to them in the future, despite having grown up in Canada and not Czechoslovakia?

 

Another concept that made me pause in this text was the idea that, "If learners 'invest' in learning a language, they do so with the understanding that their social and economic gains will enhance the range of identities they can claim in a particular community" (pg 69).  This immediately made me think of the previous readings that discussed ethnic clusters and how they can be isolated by the ethnic majority and by their own wish to remain part of their culture of origin. This idea of investing in learning a second language to make gains in a new community brought up a lot of questions about the formation and presence of ethnic clusters.  If learning the major language of their new community and becoming more immersed in the culture of their community will increase the opportunities and resources available to immigrants, why do ethnic clusters still form? Do the people who are part of these ethnic clusters feel that being a part of their isolated community is better than trying to integrate into the culture of the ethnic majority? There were many more ideas and questions that this text provoked and it will be interesting to discuss and research some of these ideas further.

 

European Others, What it means to be German, and Rainer Forst

 

Until I came to the University of Washington, I had never participated in deep discussions regarding race, class, and gender.  This year I have greatly broadened my understanding of these controversial topics in both an honors debate class this past autumn and an honors interdisciplinary class on teaching to transgress.  Though I did learn some about other countries policies regarding race, class, and gender and how that affects the minority people, the focus of conversation was on U.S. policy and how the minorities are treated in the United States.  After having read the introduction from European Others, I find it to be hypocritical that any other European country could criticize the systemic racism that occurs in America. In the European Others text, Europe is referred to as colorblind, which means, “the invisible, unspeakable presence of race, the myriad ways in which it makes itself felt from day-to-day interactions to transcontinental political structures, while simultaneously being deemed nonexistent within European thought” (xix). This text goes on to discuss how second and third generation immigrants are still not considered by ‘true Europeans’ to be European, just because they do not look European (aka white), or they practice a religion that is in the minority for Europe.  It seems impossible for any second or third generation European who doesn’t look European to be accepted by the country to which they were born to and ascribe their national identity to.  At the same time, these second and third generation immigrants also don’t belong to the country from which their family immigrated from, meaning these individuals are stuck fighting to be acknowledged, but not crying out too loudly in fear that they will be ostracized further. 

 

The European other had many ideas that I thought were comparable to Rainer Forst’s lecture on tolerance and democracy.  Much of Forst’s lecture was built upon the idea that tolerance is a thing that can only exist if the majority believe there is something morally or ethically wrong with something, but the reasons to accept the wrong belief outweigh the reasons to reject them.  In this case, Europeans are tolerant of the ethnic minorities, but they do not accept them as European equals.  The ‘true Europeans’ have created standards and limits of toleration that the ethnic minorities must abide by, or otherwise face criticism by the European majority.  This whole concept of tolerance has led me to wonder how the tolerance limits created by the European majority towards ethnic minorities impact the second and third generation immigrant’s ability to access education.  Do second and third generation immigrants have access to equal quality education as their native German born peers? Do teachers treat minority students the same as they would native German students? Do minority students perform as well on standardized tests? How does their experience in education impact their involvement in society after they have left primary schooling?

 

Reflections on Gentrification:

 

I am originally from Arlington, Washington, which is a small town that is north of Seattle.  I have definitely noticed that as I have gotten older and the city has developed more that wealthy communities have made an impact on the development of Arlington, even if the effects aren’t as profound as in Capitol Hill in Seattle.  One of the largest factors that has caused changes in the Arlington community is the massive amount of cyclists that have started to visit the city while they are biking through on the Centennial Trail. The City of Arlington recognized and responded to the increase in cyclist by making the city even more bike friendly, including adding an air pump and tire gauge to the public restroom facilities that are conveniently located just off the bike trail.  There has also been a huge increase in the number of bike shops around Arlington, which has led to an increase in the cost of biking equipment, much to the annoyance of the local community.  The rise in the biking community certainly has not caused a change in the population that is pushing out current residents, but I do think it is relevant to note how the type of people you attract to a city can impact the businesses and decisions of the amenities that the city provides to the community.

 

I don’t have a very strong background in current communities and gentrification in Berlin, so I looked up gentrification of Berlin on the internet.  I didn’t find an article on Berlin exactly, but I did find one that discussed how Leipzig is being headlined by journalists as “the new-Berlin”. Despite the wish of the people of Leipzig to be recognized as a unique city and not the-new-anything, the hype about the hot real estate in Leipzig is causing dramatic changes in the community. A professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia commented that, “the greater the disparity between a city’s income and the price paid by international real estate buyers, the more locals become a part of a service economy catering to wealthy foreigners.” Then, when the city successfully attracts the wealthy foreigners, the entire culture begins to shift from what originally made the place attractive to begin with and the cost of living in the city increases to a point that the original community can no longer afford to live in the city they have called their home.  Leipzig is already beginning to see an increase in the average cost of renting an apartment, which has the city officials concerned about the future for its residents that have relied on the affordable cost of their city.

 

I think this is very relatable to the gentrification that is occurring in Capitol Hill and other areas around Seattle.  The media has advertised areas such as Capitol Hill for its unique culture and inclusiveness of LGBTQ communities, and has successfully created an image that Capitol Hill is an attractive place to move to.  The problem arises in that the people who are moving in are not necessarily moving to Capitol Hill because they appreciate or wish to participate in the culture that made Capitol Hill attractive in the first place. Over time the people who originally made up the community of Capitol Hill are being displaced by the new community both culturally and economically.  This poses a significant problem for the people who originally moved to Capitol Hill to remove themselves from the judgement of individuals who did not accept them as they were, but are now facing them again due to the gentrification of the area.  It will be interesting to see how the continued gentrification of Capitol Hill and other areas of Seattle will change the identity of these areas because as far as I can tell, once gentrification has begun it is seems impossible to stop. 

 

Sources referenced: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119394/new-berlin-rise-and-fall-cool-cities

 

Preliminary Research:

 

I am currently still trying to determine what exactly my research question will be, but I have been intrigued by the idea of theater arts and how it can be used by minority groups as a means to educate people on their minority status and also how the act of performing and being a part of a theater group is beneficial to the actors and actresses mental health.  Though I was unable to come up with any specific articles that I will analyze on this topic, I plan to use the UW library system to research articles and studies about performing arts as therapy and also using performing arts as a means of education.  Hopefully by reading further into these two ideas I will be able to differentiate which one I would like to focus on for my research topic.  While I am in Germany I plan to attend a few theater performances including the performance by the Theater Ballhaus Naunystrasse on June 27 in Berlin and hopefully a performance by the Maxim Gorki Theater. Though I probably won’t be able to understand the performance as it will be in German, I can still observe the impact of the performance on the audience and possibly interview members of the audience and some of the performers.  In addition, I can use the Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin’s department of Humanities and Social Sciences as a resource for contacts and further research on the topics of performance in their Art and Visual History department, culture in the Cultural History and Theory and Social Sciences departments, and art as a therapy with their Rehabilitation Sciences department.  The Goethe Institute website, though I haven’t had much opportunity to explore it yet, seems to be a wonderful resource with subsections for visual arts, education and knowledge, society and current affairs, and dance and theater, all of which contain aspects of interest for my research topic.

 

This weekend I will post more specific articles and websites that I plan to use for research on my subject, but as of tonight I have not had the adequate time to fully explore the resources available to me. 

 

"Creative Activism and Art Against Urban Renaissance and Social Exclusion" by Eva    Youkhana

 

The focus of this week’s article was on the use of street art by marginalized groups in order to provide a message to society. I think a great example of this was the image that showed the shadow of a policeman in place of the shadow for a post in the street that was placed directly in front of a police station.  It seems that the groups that are most underrepresented are often the most strongly stereotyped as dangerous or below the status of the majority population, and are thus under greater scrutiny by the law enforcement.  Therefore, since these minority populations are not able to have their opinions heard through their voice they claim public spaces and create a powerful message that can be understood by all through art.  Banksy, who is well known street artist, uses his talents to help some of these silenced groups gain a voice and gain some attention from the rest of the world.  One example of this is from when Banksy went undercover in Gaza and created several different street art pieces that represent the struggles of the people of Gaza. One example of his work that I found extremely powerful was this image:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://banksy.co.uk/index2.asp

 

This image shows an interpretation of the Thinker as a woman who is finding shelter from the desolation felt by the Palestinians. His entire collection of work from Gaza is so powerful and has gained the people recognition globally. 

               

For my research I am also interested in using the arts as a way for underrepresented people to inform people about their status as minority groups and the discrimination they feel by the general population.  I hope to analyze how actors and actresses use the theater arts as means to dramatize and over-exaggerate the stereotypes that they are burdened with and how their performance changes the perception of their audience.   Both the theater arts and street art is a way for the minority groups to proclaim their identity and share their message with the public, and by listening and paying attention to these messages we can learn how to combat these problems with discrimination and come closer to equality.