Diasporas of difference: Turkish communities in Germany, Canada, and the United States

Abstract

This dissertation is about the cultural and socioeconomic experience and assimilation of Turkish immigrants and their descendants in three countries: Canada, the United States, and Germany. In these countries, the Turks form diaspora communities. Describing Turkish immigrant communities as diasporas attributes to them the capacity for reproduction through generations, maintaining themselves as minority groups. To maintain distinctive cultural identities within the larger environment of the host society—at individual and community levels—depends upon the cultural and structural conditions imposed by the dominant hegemonic group, as well as the community’s own internal affiliations and resources. The main question in this work is whether and how Turks culturally and structurally assimilate into the host societies. The three countries provide a frame for comparative understanding of the process.

It uses a multi-method approach to investigate Turkish experiences. Primary materials were collected by 80 in-depth interviews in the Vancouver British Columbia and Seattle Washington regions, and the extraction of statistics from census data files in Canada and the United States; whereas my study of the Turkish German diaspora was based on secondary materials which are plentiful. My aim was to contribute an original basis for the study of the North American diasporas, which is not otherwise available, and to make comparisons with the better-known Turkish German diaspora.

The results show that in all three Turkish communities, Turks are currently cultural hybrids. Their assimilation is not yet complete. They learn English and eventually use it as their home language. They intermarry within their host societies. However, Turks still maintain a Turkish identity heavily influenced by their proud Turkish cultural heritage. They still experience some economic and cultural exclusion and discrimination (more so in Germany and the least of all in the United States). Finally they form ethnic organizations for religious, cultural, political, and economic purposes in the diaspora. Based on this research, most Turks are expected to continue to strive for assimilation within the societies where they live; but also to continue the celebration of their ancestral origins and contemporary Turkish culture.