Citizenship and Identity

4. Second Generation South Asians in Germany

4.1. Introduction

During the past few years, second generation South Asians in Germany, most of them with Indian roots, have started to organise themselves somewhat, help each other in the identity formation process, learn more about the country of origin of their parents and become more visible in Germany. While a concern about their own bi-cultural identity and its consequences probably has always been an issue in private, it comes out into the open in particular at seminars and conferences. One major trigger in the development of activities has been an annual seminar for second generation South Asians which was started in 1994. Following from this, the Indian Embassy organised a meeting for the participants with the ambassador to discuss the issue of dual nationality in October 1994, regional groups have developed, members of the second generation have entered the editorial team of a magazine for dialogue between India and Germany and have acquired positions of functionaries in South Asian societies. Defining their own identity is at least implicitly always one of the issues, another are the alienation by society and the struggles fought with the parents. The latters' views can have an impact also in alienating the second generation from Germany. In particular so, when a father tells his children, as I witnessed, that they will always be foreigners in the country, thus had better expect to be kicked out, and should plan their life accordingly. In another case a father while conceding that naturalisation is an option for the second generation emphasises that it is a sign for detaching yourself from the country of origin (Mandapathil 1992). Pandey (1988, 251-263) describes a situation in a bi-national family where both parents use the issue of citizenship for creating allegiance to their respective countries of origin. The children, having been defined by their father as Indian, identified themselves with the Indian citizenship and had thus some problems with losing it.

Compare: The virtual second generation

Content

• Chapter 1 is the introduction.
• Chapter 2 develops the British context, briefly describing the post-war migration history of South Asians to the Isles, the British citizenship law (as well as in a brief excursion the Indian rules) and then analysing the relevant literature on second generation South Asians in Britain.
• Chapter 3 sets the scene for Germany, providing also a brief post-war migration history of South Asians, an overview of the citizenship law and rules on naturalisation, a description of the legal impact of being a foreigner in Germany and finally a brief look into the general literature on second generation migrants in Germany.
• Chapter 4 is dedicated to the detailed analysis of second generation South Asians in Germany. It bases on the extensive fieldwork conducted in the preparation of this dissertation. After describing how the material was acquired through interviews, the material will be presented and analysed by distinguishing in a first step between second generation members with two and those with only one South Asian parent. In a second step the general features discovered by the fieldwork will be discussed.
• Chapter 5 establishes the general conclusions to the topic by comparing the British and German situations. The discussion will centre on the interaction of external and internal definition in the formation of identity and belonging, and the role citizenship plays in this. Furthermore, it will be analysed how a foreign citizenship influences the relationship of second generation South Asians towards the state in which they live. From this questions for future research will develop.