Dealing with the violent past in the diaspora
perspective of the second-generation youth from ex-Yugoslav and Turkish-Kurdish communities in Switzerland
At a glance
- Project leader : Dr. Dilyara Müller-Suleymanova
- Project team : Mareike Scherer, Hanna Ziegler
- Project budget : CHF 690'302
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : SNSF (Ambizione / Projekt Nr. 174164), Foundation (Landis & Gyr Stiftung)
- Project partner : Universität Zürich / Institut für Sozialanthropologie und Empirische Kulturwissenschaft, Tampere University / Tampere Peace Research Institute TAPRI, Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien ZOiS
- Contact person : Dilyara Müller-Suleymanova
Description
The project explores the way young people of ex-Yugoslav and Turkish-Kurdish origin in Switzerland deal with the history of their origin countries’ violent past and war/conflict-related migratory experiences of their parents and what repercussions these have for various facets of their (post-)migrant lives. It looks into the ways young people engage with the memories and the narratives of violent past (and present) as communicated and practiced within family and the diasporic spaces. At the center of the project are life-story (narrative-biographic) interviews conducted with young people belonging to the so-called second generation (born and/or raised in Switzerland) from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia) and Turkey. These interviews are complemented by ethnographic fieldwork in diasporic spaces and in the context of young peoples’ engagement in diaspora-related activities thus disclosing the second-generation perspective on migrant organized live. Biographic analysis reveals how homeland’s conflictual past and family migration experience is integrated into own biographic narration, interpreted and made meaningful in the context of socio-cultural positioning, life strategies and personal choices. By bringing together biographic and ethnographic approaches, this research project reveals what role political past (and present) of the homeland country plays in the way young people of the second-generation:
- imagine and construct the concept of “home”, “homeland” and negotiate one’s relation to it
- construct and negotiate of the feeling of belonging at the backdrop of public/political discourses surrounding migrant population in Switzerland
- deal with ethnic, religious and ethno-political divisions and tensions in the diaspora context (migrant organizations/spaces and narratives circulating there) and in interpersonal relations
- participate in and position themselves towards commemorative practices, discursive framings and reiterations of the homeland conflict/past in the diaspora
- articulate civic and political stances and future visions; participate in civic activities related to homelandThis project thus contributes to the question about the long-term and transnational impact of political conflicts and gives insights into the (multiple) positioning of the second-generation youth within various narrative frameworks.
Workshop «Dealing with the Violent Past: Transnational Dimensions and Diasporic Experiences», 23 - 24 September 2021. This international workshop addresses the question what repercussions experiences of violence and conflict have for members of migrant communities.https://www.zhaw.ch/de/sozialearbeit/weiterbildung/fachveranstaltungen/veranstaltungen-detail/event-news/workshop-dealing-with-the-violent-past/
Further information
- SNF Project page
- Workshop «Dealing with the Violent Past: Transnational Dimensions and Diasporic Experiences»
- Special Issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 47, no. 2 (2024). "Remembering and dealing with violent past: diasporic experiences and transnational dimensions"
Publications
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2024.
Ethnic and Racial Studies.
47(2), pp. 344-366.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2261292
-
2024.
Remembering and dealing with violent past : diasporic experiences and transnational dimensions.
Ethnic and Racial Studies.
47(2), pp. 259-273.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2260882
-
2023.
In:
Macht- und ungleichheitskritische Perspektiven auf Bildung – Erkenntnisse und Suchbewegungen der empirischen Forschung, Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich, Schweiz, 25. Mai 2023.
-
2023.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
49(7), pp. 1786-1802.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2021.1973392
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2022.
Der lange Schatten des Krieges : Auswirkungen auf junge Menschen.
In:
Veranstaltungsreihe «Um 6 im Kreis 5», Zürich, Schweiz, 4. Oktober 2022.
Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXc0dtE8E7k
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Milivojevic, Mirko; Müller-Suleymanova, Dilyara,
2022.
(Post)-Yugoslav memory travels : national and transnational dimensions
.
In:
Krawatzek, Félix; Friess, Nina, eds.,
Youth and Memory in Europe: Defining the Past, Shaping the Future.
Boston:
De Gruyter.
pp. 181-190.
Media and Cultural Memory ; 34.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733501-013
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2022.
Liebe Eltern, erzählt uns vom Krieg.
Sozial : Magazin der ZHAW Soziale Arbeit.
(17), pp. 13-17.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-25925
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2022.
“I am something that no longer exists ...” : Yugonostalgia among diaspora youth
.
In:
Krawatzek, Félix; Friess, Nina, eds.,
Youth and Memory in Europe: Defining the Past, Shaping the Future.
Boston:
De Gruyter.
pp. 191-204.
Media and Cultural Memory ; 34.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733501-014
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2021.
Memories of violence in the diaspora : transnational and intergenerational dimensions.
In:
15th International Interdisciplinary Conference "Comparative Studies in Modern Society; Balkans in European and Global Context", Prizren, Kosovo, 19-20 March 2021.
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2020.
In:
Memory as a Dialogue? History for Young People, Online, 9-11 September 2020.
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2020.
GISo : Gesellschaft - Individuum - Sozialisation. Zeitschrift für Sozialisationsforschung.
1(2), pp. 1-15.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.26043/GISo.2020.2.3
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Müller-Suleymanova, Dilyara; Scherer, Mareike,
2020.
The meanings of the difficult past : homeland conflict and second-generation youth in Switzerland.
In:
16th EASA Biennial Conference, Online, 20-24 July 2020.
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2019.
Engaging with the homeland and remembering the past among second generation Bosnians in Switzerland.
In:
Migration. Erinnern. Praktiken des Erzählens und Erinnerns in der Migrationsgesellschaft : Internationale Fachtagung, Zürich, 24.-25. Oktober 2019.