Power Relations in Migrant Communities in Light of Long-Term Socio-Historical Processes in Contexts of Origin

The sociology of migration has again started to take into account the situation of migrants before they embark on their journey. However, as I argue, power relations in migrant communities can be traced to long-term socio-historical processes in contexts of origin that are often overlooked. Therefore, it is important to relate not only to the immediate surrounding of migrants before departure, but to take into account the social histories in the contexts of origin, ideally through careful contextualization of migrants’ biographies and family histories. In our research on a local community of Syriac-Orthodox Christians in Germany, this socio-historical outlook has proved essential for understanding the present. While most Syriac-Orthodox migrants have arrived in Germany from Eastern Turkey, a smaller number stems from Northern Syria. Despite the geographical proximity of these areas, living conditions there started to diverge after the definition of the border between Turkey and Syria following the First World War. Becoming established in the local context and in the state tended to be easier in Syria than for Syriac Christians in Turkey who were subject to ongoing discrimination. In my presentation, I particularly focus on politics of citizenship, land and social mobility in Syria and Turkey. These differences between the two countries influence the Syriac-Orthodox community to this day, for example in latent inner-community boundary-making processes and political orientations. My presentation is based on the first results of research for the project “Migrant arrival contexts in transregional comparison”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).