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A Non-Event?: Using Biography to Understand East German (Non) Migration

A Non-Event?: Using Biography to Understand East German (Non) Migration. Presentation to The Third International Population Geography Conference Liverpool 19 th -21 st June 2006. Kim Seaton University of Sheffield K.Seaton@shef.ac.uk. ‘Eventually the wall will fall’

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A Non-Event?: Using Biography to Understand East German (Non) Migration

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  1. A Non-Event?: Using Biography to Understand East German (Non) Migration Presentation to The Third International Population Geography Conference Liverpool 19th-21st June 2006 Kim Seaton University of Sheffield K.Seaton@shef.ac.uk ‘Eventually the wall will fall’ (Berlin wall pre-1989) Funded by the ESRC

  2. Outline • Research background • Why look at non-events? • A Biographical Approach • A brief methodology • Being an East German (non) migrant • Being a ‘type’ and being individual • Some conclusions

  3. Research background • Project developed out of an interest in: • Reunification in Germany and the impact on internal migration (especially from East to West) • The way in which issues of identity inform migration • Why some people remain behind while others with similar characteristics migrate

  4. Net migration in the German Bundesländer 2001 West German Bundesländer East German Bundesländer

  5. Why look at non-events ? • Traditional focus in population/migration geography on events • Desire to look at the ‘other’ side of this, tackling (non) migration comprehensively • Desire to appreciate and explore the way in which individuals personalise changes at the structural level (i.e. changes resulting from reunification) • Focus on how the behaviour (i.e. (non) migration) and attitudes of individuals differ depending on their biography not just certain characteristics of age, gender and so on

  6. A Biographical Approach • A biographical approach allows us to: • Consider migration as an ongoing and dynamic process, rather than a ‘step in time’ or singular event (Halfacree and Boyle, 1993) • Contextualise migration within the individual life course, i.e. understand how (perceptions of) life experiences and opportunities combine to influence (non) migration decisions over time and space • Explore differences as well as commonalities regarding attitudes towards East and West Germany, behaviour and identity as a whole

  7. A brief methodology • Results are based on 40 semi-structured in-depth interviews with East Germans • 23 carried out with non-migrants, 17 with migrants • Two main age groups 20-29 and 40-49 to allow comparison of those socialised and educated predominantly in the GDR and those who were not – all with some memory of the GDR and reunification • Roughly equal number of male to female respondents • All had ‘transferable’ skills and were employed • Based in Halle, Germany for 9 months • Snowballing key form of contact to interviewees and ‘public interest’ newspaper article

  8. Being an East German (non) migrant • Being East German – personal/group distinction from West Germans • Being (un)employed – value and role as an individual (within society and in a certain place) • Being connected – a sense of belonging somewhere • Being a ‘type’ and being individual – interlacing the general and personal using biography

  9. Being a ‘type’ and being individual • By looking at the whole biography of the interviewees and their responses to different events and issues it became clear that: • (Non) migration is determined by multiple influences that change in priority over time • There is no fundamental difference between a migrant or non-migrant, their status depends on one or two ‘triggers’ which are not necessarily predictable

  10. Being a ‘type’ and being individual • We can understand the opportunities and characteristics that make people more mobile generally but do not know if these will combine in a way that ‘triggers’ migration – this is very individually specific • (Non) migration occurs when circumstances and personality combine in a way that facilitates (non) movement (structure/agency) • However, the interviewees respond in a generally consistent manner (indicating some continuity of identity) based on their outlook on life in response to certain ‘(non) events’

  11. A typology of East German (non) migrants

  12. Being a last-resort migrant • E.g. Hannes (41), Annette (43), Elke (49) • Have no desire to migrate from the East to West and actively avoid this • Illustrate active agency and a distinctive/strong personality in shaping their lives and non-migration • Share many characteristics of the ‘reluctant migrant’ • Typically older

  13. Elke 49: (talking about being connected) ‘We love Halle, we were both born here and we both grew up here. In GDR times we established our garden, where we really built it brick by brick…yes every part of, everything we have we created for ourselves and we would never have left that behind, no way.’

  14. Annette (43) (talking about being East German) ‘The former GDR remains my home, and it is my feeling that, that it is a different culture, and also a different interpersonal culture and the people are different in their character, in their behaviour, in their way of life to the West German people .’

  15. Hannes (41) (talking about being ‘active’ in finding employment in the East after reunification) ‘Ithought there has to be something for me here…I in no possible way wanted to go away as I like being a Hallenser very much…I looked, found out what would be needed here. There were no social educators in the GDR, because we didn’t have any social problems…and then I studied social pedagogy… Nobody had a computer so you had to look further a field, you had to look to word of mouth, and then I heard that this department was opening and with no other information applied to Magdeburg.’

  16. Conclusion • The decisions surrounding the interviewees’ (non) migration are attributable to: • The way in which personality and circumstances combine and change over and within the life course ie.: • The way in which the interviewees perceive risk • Certain aspects to their personality (a socio-psychological element is suggested by but beyond the remit of this research) • The way in which they (are able to) use their own agency to initiate change, if at all • The opportunities (e.g. job/relationship) that arise and life experiences (e.g. encounters with the West) and their response to these opportunities and experiences based on the above

  17. Conclusion – (non) events and biography • To reiterate, looking at (non) events using biography helps us to: • Combine a general and individual understanding of the (non) migration process by: • Uncovering how the East German interviewees display some continuity of identity – how they see things generally as a ‘type’ to provide an overview • And explaining how the general becomes individualised in different contexts (allowing for change and fluidity in the migration process)

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