Despite all the differences in the laws, the migration history, the social status and the settlement patterns among South Asians in Britain and Germany one can find some similarities among the second generation. In particular they consider in both countries their place of residence their home where they want to remain, while at the same time looking to South Asia for the determinants of their identity. Much of the ambivalence in their lives is generated by external categorisation through parents and environment, which at the same time hinders and triggers the shaping of an own form of ethnicity and way of life. Due to the difference in laws the significance of citizenship for the second generation South Asians, however, differs drastically in both countries.
It has been repeatedly emphasised that categorisation by parents and the environment has a major impact on the self-definition of the second generation South Asians. Jenkins (1994 and 1996) describes these processes in detail and coins the term 'transactional ethnicity', which is never stable and always dependent on the interaction of the self and the other. He furthermore argues that socialisation necessarily always implies categorisation and thus for second generation migrants also an ethnic component (Jenkins 1997, 58-59 and 108). On the side of the parents this need not occur explicitly, although many do tell their children that they are South Asians and nothing else, but this will be transmitted much more subtly in the general up-bringing which is shaped by the parents' own experience of migration, their feeling of being othered and their ability to cope with this situation. To analyse this further one needs to go into the extensive literature on migration and group formation. Interesting ideas on this can be found not only in the works of Jenkins, but also in Cohen (1997), Cohen (1985) and Rex (1995). The migrants attempt to create a community of their own, which is defined via its difference to the majority rather than through internal homogeneity, i.e. it is aggregating more than integrating (Jenkins 1996, 108). The second generation members have to live with these creations of their parents, although they have not been tailored to their needs and the second generation has quite different perspectives on many matters. At the same time they have to face the civic, racial and cultural boundaries (Jacobson 1997) put in place by the society and state they are living in, among which the perceived racial difference is used as the basis for much othering. From this reality the second generation's social and ethnic identity is constructed and thus becomes a reality in itself (see Jenkins 1996 and 1997, 73).
The difference between Britain and Germany is that in the latter country not only the racial but also the civic boundary is defined in exclusionary terms and thus also the realm of the civic is of major importance in external and internal definition. Citizenship develops into a symbol of belonging and much discussion and emotion revolves around it, even though as Britain displays, the abolition of this boundary is not sufficient to eliminate the feeling of being othered. It can thus only be a first step.
Citizenship can become a symbol only when it enters the consciousness of the person, thus it is of importance at what age a second generation South Asian acquires the passport of his or her country of residence. In Britain with the rules being based on ius soli almost everybody is born with British citizenship and most parents do not make any endeavours to equip their children with the South Asian alternative. Accordingly, having a British passport is how things are, there is nothing to think about and nobody will question it as anything else would be less practical. Citizenship becomes a non-topic, the civic boundary is not there, there is no legal othering and thus other forms of othering are the issues of interest. One can see similar processes in Germany among those who got the German citizenship before they noticed this consciously. These second generation South Asians also do not think much about the issue, citizenship for most of them has no particular relevance in the sense of belonging. The struggle with the issue develops only among those who consciously had a non-German citizenship and experienced, at least to some extent, the official legal othering. As was already seen in the literature about second generation Turks, the state socialises in this case also the second generation South Asians as South Asians, alienates them from Germany and thus citizenship as a symbol arises. In order to integrate the young people into the state it would thus be best to introduce also in Germany the principle of ius soli. Alternatively the granting of a temporal dual nationality after naturalisation in contrast to the normal either/or decision would allow a gradual approach to being a German and would thus facilitate the eventual renounciation of the South Asian citizenship.
Having a foreign citizenship means that it is far easier to distance oneself from the country one lives in than if one is its citizen. Accordingly the simplest reaction to othering is to fall back on the foreign identity and develop anti-host country sentiments. This became very clear in one of the interviews where only naturalisation made the respondent rethink her anti-German feelings and accept her own German socialisation and thus the German parts of herself. Flight, however, in most cases means that one seeks the role of the victim and stays in passivity. This is the easier option than fighting for one's own rights, but in the long run might be a hindrance to the formation of a positive self-definition and interaction with others. The possibility of fleeing from the national identity is probably of more significance in Germany than in Britain as also many 'normal' Germans would like to flee from their country's past and have many problems in defining themselves as Germans, i.e. in accepting to be part of the historical aggressors rather than the victims. It appears from several of the responses that this is one further reason, why some Indo-Germans of mixed parentage emphasised their non-German origin so much. It gave them the legitimacy to belong to the oppressed rather than the oppressors and thus excluded them from the collective guilt. This was, however, not a general sentiment among the respondents, some argued that their South Asian origins made it much less necessary for them to distance themselves from Germany as they were linked to the country today rather than that of 60 years ago.
General ignorance of the details of law is a normal feature, people act not on the basis of a knowledge of statutes but rather on what everybody says is the law. This will not be quite accurate but is normally sufficient to be protected from major surprises. For ethnic minorities the situation is somewhat different, since migrants bring their own notions of law with them, informed through the legal system of their countries of origin (see Pearl 1972, 120). As can be seen in Britain this can lead to some surprises and problems, especially in matters of family law. For the second generation, however, the situation is somewhat different, they are primarily informed about the laws by the general notions in their country of residence. Thus they would be well informed if the same laws applied to them as to the other residents, as is the case in Britain. In Germany, however, those without German citizenship are misguided in this assumption since for them the legal rules are quite different. Accordingly, for example, many respondents mentioned that when school trips were planned they regularly forgot that they had to apply for visas and thus endangered their participation. Little thought is put by the second generation foreigners, furthermore, into such matters as eligibility for scholarships, rules relating to studying abroad or access to particular professions. Most young people just forget that for them the regulations might be different than those for their German friends. Even less do they worry about issues such as marriage, inheritance, etc. They are thus likely to be continually surprised by legal restrictions they encounter and will not only face troubles but also often barriers, which could only have been removed with foresight. Second generation foreigners in Germany, accordingly, face an increased ignorance of law and its consequences.<
Second generation South Asians both in Britain and Germany are there to stay. Britain accepts this and thus gives them the rights of a citizen, even if great parts of the society and establishment still other and exclude them. Germany in 1998, however, still sticked to the myth of the ethnically homogenous nation where others are only guests and will go after some time. Citizenship is thus not used as a means to integrate, in fact it functions as an exclusionary force, with the effect of refusing a not unimportant part of the population civic rights and thus sending its members signals to withdraw from the state, its institutions and the shaping of its polity. This, however, cannot be in the interest of any state as it restricts its control over the population and, instead of integrating, creates an antagonised group within its territorial boundaries.
In the time of globalisation and the consequent development of trans-national identities (see Cohen 1997, 157) it is, in any case, questionable whether an ethnically or nationally defined citizenship is still adequate. Although the continuance of this concept would cater for the increased need for symbols in a time where many traditional ones are vanishing (Cohen 1997, 169 and Jenkins 1996, 109), it falls short of being able to deal with new realities. A change towards a more functional concept of citizenship linked to residence rather than ancestry or culture can cope with those much better (see also Spencer 1995). Currently much research is done on this topic, which revolves in Germany around the idea of Verfassungspatriotismus, i.e. constitutional patriotism. A discussion of that topic must, however, be left to another study.
© Urmila Goel,
urmila.de / english
or Desis in Deutschland/
Zweite Generation /Citizenship
1998/2004