Living in Germany as a Kanak: Some Thoughts About Nonbelonging

OpenAlex · English

Kanak is a swear word used by Germans for Turkish migrants. From the beginning of Turkish migration sixty years up to now the meaning of this swear word has changed. The word Kanak transformed from a swear word to a name that is carried now "with proud defiance" by the children and grandchildren of the first-generation migrants. Kanak became a synonym for a new and different "German-ness." Introducing and relating to the concepts of the "internal racial other" of Fahkry Davids, the "large group identity" of Vamık Volkan, and his own conception of hybrid identity development, the author analyzes the impact of such identity transformations on the "migrants" as well as on the "natives" and in particular on the host large group.