Timelines

Migration is a natural part of living systems, and human history is no exception. Yet it remains one of the most debated public issues of our time.

Both people and borders move. Who is allowed to move, and who is granted rights, lies at the heart of how nations define belonging. In Germany and the United States alike, these debates have been deeply intertwined with evolving ideas of race and ethnicity.

These timelines trace how citizenship and belonging have been constructed, challenged, and redefined through laws, social movements, global events, and cultural works — and how those histories continue to shape the present.

1998

Kanak Attak // KanakSprak

It is one of the most significant works of so-called migration culture. Feridun Zaimoğlu's book “KanakSprak – 24 Misstöne vom Rande der Gesellschaft” (KanakSprak – 24 Discordant Notes from the Margins of Society) is a collection of fictional monologues by men* with a migration background, which is particularly captivating for its language.

In “KanakSprak,” pimps, garbage collectors*, drug addicts, Islamists, and transsexuals have their say. “These characters describe mainstream society and their own status within it in a critical, provocative, and at times even offensive manner. The challenging attitude of the volume is expressed in the appropriation of the highly derogatory term ”Kanake" in the title. Instead of pointing to positive counterexamples in an attempt to counter the negative associations of this term—such as crime, violence, or sexism—KanakSprak embraces many of the stereotypes associated with this slur in an exaggerated and defiant appropriation." (Yasemin Yildiz)

Photo of Feridun Zaimoglu, author of the book "Kanak Sprak".

Germany

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