The German Migration Integration Regime: Syrian Refugees, Bureaucracy, and Inclusion

by Morgan Etzel

Overview

Syrian refugees who gained asylum in Germany following the so-called refugee crisis in 2015 quickly entered into an ‘integration regime’ which produced a binary notion of ‘well integrated’ migrants versus refugees falling short of the narrow social and political definitions of a ‘good’ refugee.

Etzel’s rich ethnographic study shows how refugees navigated this conditional inclusion. While some asylum seekers gained international protection, others were left with limited agency to demand government accountability for the ever-moving target of integration.

Putting a spotlight on the inconsistencies and failings of a universal approach to integration, this is an important contribution to the wider field of migration and anthropology of the state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529231236
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Series:	Global Migration and Social Change
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Morgan Etzel is Program Officer for Anti-Racism at the Federal Agency for Civic Education in Germany.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Arrival, Processing, Status

1. The Path to Asylum

2. Asylum Decisions and What Followed Thereafter

Part 2: Integration

3. Young Refugee Men: Saarbrücken

4. Families: Osnabrück and Hameln

Part 3: Stagnation, Independence, Dependence

5. Institutionalized Integration: Munich and Kassel

6. Pathways Forward and Pathways Uncertain

Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book makes an important contribution in scholarship by illustrating how contradicting state ideals and standards and shifting bureaucratic expectations make the relationship between refugee populations and state actors more difficult, even thwarting processes of integration and social inclusion." Sahar Sadeghi, Muhlenberg College

“With a lucid narrative on the anthropology of the state from the gaze of refugees in Germany, Etzel eloquently demonstrates the everyday life of Syrians.” Ayhan Kaya, Istanbul Bilgi University