„Integration? Ich kann’s nicht mehr hören!“ Eine ethnographische Studie unter türkischen Migrantinnen in Kreuzberg

„Integration? I am sick of hearing it!“ notes one of the five women from Berlin with a Turkish migration background whose biographical narratives are presented and contrasted with key words of the integration debate in this paper. The main hypothesis claims that there exists an interrelation full of tension between the women’s stories and their projected self image on the one hand and elements of the discourse about integration on the other hand. The following questions are being discussed: In which way do the discourses about integration and “Turkish minority” have an effect on the everyday experiences of the women, and how are they processed in their narratives? What means “integration” to them? This ethnographical master’s thesis is based on a fieldwork in the district Neukölln of Berlin. The work with and analysis of the accumulated material is accomplished with reference to central theorems of the German migration research. The work is methodically determined by the fact that an “approach from the outside” is difficult. A main focus of attention is directed to keep possibilities and limits of a self-reflection of the researcher in mind.