Citizenship and Identity

4.2. The Interviews

Given that in 1998 there was no research published so far on the situation of second generation South Asians in Germany, the basis for the following analysis are 68 interviews I conducted in the summer of 1998. Being myself a second generation Indian (with a German mother) in Germany and having been involved in the Indian community my whole life, the interest for the topic arose over the years and I had enough contacts to make extensive interviews. I chose my respondents among friends and acquaintances of myself, among people I met at seminars and among other persons recommended to me by respondents. The main selection criteria were that they came from members of established middle class families, in order to avoid the introduction of social diversity and the necessity to eliminate its influences on identity formation, with at least one South Asian parent and a minimum age of 15 years. I attempted to have a rather diverse sample instead of opting for a random sample, in order to include respondents with one or two South Asian parents, of both genders, with German or non-German citizenship, some with Pakistani roots, and of different ages. Basically all my respondents were either at high school, at university or had left the latter already, a few had opted for an apprenticeship, i.e. all were well educated. The major group missing, due to time restrictions, in the sample are second generation South Asians over 35 years of age, who would have had quite a different legal and socialisation history and could thus have complemented the picture. The interviews were conducted in an open form, giving the respondent his or her own time and way of dealing with certain core questions. All interviews lasted between 10 and 45 minutes and were taped. In order to assess the impact of skin colour I also interviewed a few members of other second generation ethnic minorities without a visible difference to normal Germans.

The following analysis does not claim to provide a representative picture of the attitudes of second generation South Asians in Germany, neither is the rather large sample size of 68 taken as a basis for quantitative analysis. It is believed that the value of the study lies in a qualitative interpretation of the interviews, highlighting interesting common features without implying that all respondents can be nicely put into labelled jars.

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.