Belonging

Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton at Unsplash

Issue 4
Belonging

How far has a radically open society been realized in the face of growing nationalist narratives on both sides of the Atlantic? The issue “Belonging” of Gegenüber magazine tells of life in a different homeland to one's grandparents, of cultural reproductions and mutations from one place to another, of new roots and aspects of exclusion that should not be alien to anyone, but which weigh differently. And it asks whether the concept of “native” vs. “migrant” is still valid.

Identity and belonging
Who belongs?

What insights from psychoanalysis can shed light on the connection between identity and belonging? Leonhard Emmerling embarks on an inward journey and discovers that being a stranger is the very essence of belonging.

Leonhard Emmerling

Migration policy in Germany
A perceived crisis

Few topics are as fiercely debated today as the "migration crisis". The situation is paradoxical: despite widespread labor shortages across the country, the focus of politicians and the media remains fixed on one issue: deportation.

Mark Terkessidis

Postmigration Societies
The Importance of Belonging

Issues of migration have become the dominant social question of the 21st century. How are German and North American societies dealing with them?

Prof. Dr. Naika Foroutan

Alone in a crowd – just one of the consequences of Covid-19: since the pandemic, younger and middle-aged adults have been more likely to be affected by loneliness and feel excluded.

The Invisible Consequences of the Pandemic
“Loneliness Can Affect Anyone”

According to a study, around one in three Germans between the ages of 18 and 53 feel lonely nowadays, and in some cases excluded. In our interview, the study’s author Lena Frembs explains the reasons why and proposes some possible solutions.

Lena C. Frembs

Wolfgang Mulke

Every 30 minutes, or so it seems, someone finds something intolerable or outrageous. People find pleasure in narcissistic identity talk, dismantling anything that could hold society together in favour of a cult of difference.

Dr. Leonhard Emmerling in Who belongs?

Stories of advancement
Take a seat?

Are stories of advancement in literature helpful motivators or manipulative fairy tales? Anne-Carolin Seebeck on deceptive feel-good literature.

Anne-Carolin Seebeck

Promoting a sense of belonging
Thirdspaces

It is in the interest of every society to help newcomers feel at home in their new environment. But how? The thirdspace theory could be helpful.

Michael Krell

Out of Rosenheim, dir. Percy Adlon | Still: Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder

"Belonging" in European cinema
The delocalization of the “I”

Wandering and exile are journeys without purpose, without end, often imposed by fate. André Lavoie evokes this diffuse feeling of uprootedness, from which even filmmakers are not immune.

André Lavoie

Germany’s Residence Act was amended a whopping 71 times between 2015 and 2023 – around nine times a year on average, in other words. Even seasoned lawyers can hardly keep track of all the things that make the lives of refugees (and indeed of migrant “skilled professionals”) so unnecessarily difficult.

Mark Terkessidis in A Perceived Crisis

Detail Cover Illustration Brothers and Ghosts by Khue Pham

Excerpt from the novel by Khuê Phạm
Brothers and Ghosts

Khuê Pham

Interview with a refugee
Questions for Yaman

Midjourney Illustration. Prompt: Goethe-Institut Los Angeles. Showing two men walking towards a metropolitan city in a rainbow colored downpour.

From Russia in Love
Kalifornski

Annett Scheffel

PEN America World Voices Festival
Forced Journeys: Stories of Home, Displacement, and Belonging

Novelists Charmaine Craig, Ipek S. Burnett, Héctor Tobar, and photojournalist Lara Aburamadan were invited by the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles for a conversation on Stories of Home, Displacement, and Belonging ...

Women in Hip-Hop Party Crashers

Anna-Lena Loh

Kiara Flores, Colorado Inter - Tribal Dancers.

Venice Biennial 2024  Foreigners Everywhere 

Leonhard Emmerling

Booktube

Achtung Buch! #11 “Where you come from”, by Saša Stanišić

Watch Marie-Pierre's take on Saša Stanišić's novel Where you come from in the newest episode of our Booktube series, Achtung Buch!

Issue 4 Belonging

Identity and belonging Who belongs?

Migration policy in Germany A perceived crisis

Postmigration Societies The Importance of Belonging

The Invisible Consequences of the Pandemic “Loneliness Can Affect Anyone”

Every 30 minutes, or so it seems, someone finds something intolerable or outrageous. People find pleasure in narcissistic identity talk, dismantling anything that could hold society together in favour of a cult of difference.

Stories of advancement Take a seat?

Promoting a sense of belonging Thirdspaces

"Belonging" in European cinema The delocalization of the “I”

Excerpt from the novel by Khuê Phạm Brothers and Ghosts

Interview with a refugee Questions for Yaman

From Russia in Love Kalifornski

PEN America World Voices Festival Forced Journeys: Stories of Home, Displacement, and Belonging