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Belonging is a not a state that we achieve, but a struggle that we wage. The struggle for belonging is more difficult if one is returning to a homeland after many years abroad. In Pursuit of Belonging is an ethnography of Turkish migrants’ struggle for understanding, intimacy and appreciation when they return from Germany to their Turkish homeland. Drawing on an established tradition of life story writing in anthropology, Rottmann conveys the struggle to forge an ethical life by relating the experiences of a second-generation German-Turkish woman named Leyla.
“With its focus on migration as an ethical experience, the book makes an important contribution to studies of transnational mobility, return migration, and migrant lives.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)
“If the readers want to read a rich critical analysis of a wide range of social science topics like identity, belonging, discrimination, otherization, stigmatization, and multi-layered sense of belonging, In Pursuit of Belonging is the best title. The readers get two-in-one! They are presented with a remarkable literary plot embedded in scientific genre or the other way around: a nuanced diligent discussion of identity and identification by means of a life writing… Having read her memoir, going into rich ethnographic evidence and conceptual discussion would benefit the reader immensely.” • Anthropos
“In Pursuit of Belonging, which is elegantly written and ethnographically rich, poses new questions about ethics in migration settings and should be on the shelves of scholars interested in migration studies, anthropology, ethics, human rights, gender, and narrative studies.” • Narrative Inquiry
“…interestingly it makes a contribution to the literature by being an ethnography of one woman whose life story is situated in a transnational space… This is an impressive study”. • Kimberly Hart, SUNY Buffalo State
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: At Home in European-Turkish Space
Chapter 1. Making a Living in Illegal German-Turkish Call Centers
Chapter 2. The Circumcision Celebration: Motherhood and Ethical Transformations
Chapter 3. A "Man From a Village” and a "European Girl”: Love and a Life Together
Chapter 4. Shaping a Community: A Dream Comes True
Chapter 5. Being and Becoming Muslim
Conclusion: In Pursuit of Belonging
Appendix I: Leyla’s Memoir Study Guide
Appendix II: Leyla’s Memoir
References
Index