Migration – Social Inequality – Conduct of Everyday Life: Social Belonging and Othering in the Life Course of Young People with Migration Experiences in Germany

Migration from the Global South to the North and lived experiences of educational, social and global inequality along the dimensions of class, race, gender and dis_ability are intertwined and interrelated. The superordinate reasons for migration from the Global South to the North are primarily (forced) displacement, persecution, wars, environmental degradation and, as a result, (impending) poverty – linked to the processes of exploitation of ‘the Global South’ by ‘the Global North’ (outsourcing of industrial production due to lower labor protection and lower workers' rights, financial dependence and debt, exploitation of environmental resources, etc.). On the one hand, there is a close interrelation between migration opportunities to the Global North and the societal positioning of a person in the above-mentioned inequality relations; on the other hand, societal positioning is linked to life chances in the countries of emigration and immigration. Questions of belonging are negotiated in the conduct of everyday life in the face of experiences of inequality regarding economic living, education and societal participation opportunities. In our research project ‘Living youth in a migration society’ in Germany based on biographical-ethnographic research methodology, the research focus is on how societal structures and power relations relating to global, social and educational inequality are affecting the conduct of everyday life of young people with migration experiences. How do societal belonging, participation and experiences of othering change over the course of their lives in different stages and different countries/ places of their migration experience? How is the life story narrative co-constructed in the research setting?

After a brief introduction to the research project and the research methodology, first preliminary research findings will be presented on the basis of excerpts from biographical narratives.