Gender and identity construction across difference [Elektronische Ressource] : cultural discourses and everyday practices among Sorbs in Germany / vorgelegt von Fen-fang Tsai

Tsai Mei-Chih

Sujets

• Soziologie

Informations

• Publié par: goethe_universitat_frankfurt_am_main
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

GENDER AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION
ACROSS DIFFERENCE:
CULTURAL DISCOURSES AND EVERYDAY PRACTICES
AMONG SORBS IN GERMANY


Inauguraldissertation
zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie
im Fachbereich Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften
der Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität
zu Frankfurt am Main



vorgelegt von

Fen-fang Tsai

aus Taipei

Einreichungsjahr: 2008

Erscheinungsjahr: 2009


1. Gutachterin: Prof. Dr. Gisela Welz

2. Gutacherin: Junior-Prof. Dr. Kira Kosnick

Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 22. Juni 2009 Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER 1 MAPPING THE FIELD: THEORY, OBJECTIVES, METHOD ...... 8
1.1 Gendered Ethnicity – Ethnicized Gender .......................................................... 8
1.1.1 Women as the Key Symbols in Ethnic and Nationalist Processes .......... 9
1.1.2 Conceptualizing Gender........................................................................ 13
1.1.3 Conceptualizing Ethnicity ..... 16
1.1.4 Intersections of Gender and Ethnicity................................................... 23
1.2 Articulating and Changing Identities – Discussions on Identity Construction in
the Sorbian Community ......................................................... 26
1.2.1 “Becoming” “Sorbian” Implicated in the Relation between Ethnicity
and Nationalism ............................................................. 26
1.2.2 Identification in Relation to the Other .................. 31
1.2.3 The Intertwined Relation between Identity and Difference 35
1.2.4 Identity as a Positioning Constructed through Sets of Differences ...... 36
1.3 Objectives of This Study .................................................................................. 40
1.4 Research and Fieldwork Approaches ............................... 44
1.4.1 Participant observation.......... 47
1.4.2 Interviewing .......................................................................................... 48
1.5 Encountering Myself and the Interconnection with Those Researched ........... 50
CHAPTER 2 THE EMERGENCE OF AN IMAGINED SORBIAN
COMMUNITY ............................................................................................................. 58
2.1 On the history of the Sorbs .............. 60
2.1.1 Anthropologizing Sorbian History ........................................................ 60
2.1.2 The Sorbs as a Volk ............................................... 67
2.1.3 Staking off Lusatia as the Sorbian Heimat ............................................ 71
2.2 The Sorbian Language ..................... 75
2.2.1 The Emergence of the Written Sorbian Language ................................ 75
2.2.2 The Written Sorbian Language in the Nationalist Projects ................... 82
2.2.3 Sorbian Women as the Designated Repository of the Sorbian Culture
and Language ................................................................................................. 85
2.2.3.1 Serbska mać – The Sorbian Mother ........... 85
2.2.3.2 Sorbian Women as the Guardians of the Sorbian Language ...... 89
2.2.4 The Media Presence of the Sorbian Language...................................... 92
2.2.5 A Closing Note ...................................................................................... 97
2.3 Traditions of the Sorbs ..................... 98
2.3.1 Tradition from the Sorbian Perspective .............. 100
i 2.3.2 Traditional Sorbian Costumes as an Expression of Gendered Tradition
...................................................................................................................... 104
2.3.3 Tradition as Social Life Practice .......................... 111
2.4 The Narrative of Sorbian-ness ........................................................................114
2.4.1 An Internal Debate about the Definition of Sorbian-ness ....................115
2.4.2 So langsam wird‘s Zeit: Cultural Perspectives of the Sorbs .................117
2.4.2.1 Promoting Sorbian Culture: Aims, Approaches and Measures .117
2.4.2.2 Reviewing the Report .............................................................. 130
2.5 Summary and Conclusion .............................................................................. 134
CHAPTER 3 A DIALECTIC PROCESS OF ETHNICIZATION AND
ETHNICITY ............................................... 137
3.1 Ethnicization: Being Othered ......................................................................... 139
3.1.1 “Sorbische Amme” and “Ammendasein” – The Sorbian Wet Nurse and
Life as a Wet Nurse ...................................................................................... 140
3.1.2 Experiences with Discrimination ........................ 143
3.1.3 “Being a Sorb Doesn‟t Mean Being Different!” ................................. 151
3.2 Ethnicity: The Mechanism of Inclusion and Exclusion . 154
3.2.1 Types of Exclusion I: Between Sorbian and (Non-)Sorbian/German . 157
3.2.2 Types of Exclusion II: Between Sorbian and Sorbian ........................ 161
3.2.3 “I Cannot Say I am German…” .......................................................... 165
3.2.4 The Territorialization of Ethnic Identity ............. 169
3.2.5 A Dyad of Cohesion and Confinement ............................................... 172
3.3 Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 176
CHAPTER 4 IDENTITIES THROWN TOGETHER – EVERYDAY LIFE
EXPERIENCES ......................................................................... 179
4.1 Work ............................................... 180
4.1.1 A Sense of Collectivity – A LPG Woman‟s Life . 183
4.1.2 Women in High Positions – Heads of Departments ............................ 185
4.1.3 “The First Priority is Work Now!” – Unemployed Women ................ 187
4.1.4 Unequal Pay for Equal Work .............................................................. 190
4.2 Children‟s Education ...................................................... 192
4.2.1 Value Orientation for Children ............................ 192
4.2.1.1 A Cosmopolitan Version .......................................................... 192
4.2.1.2 A Multiplicity of Choices in Life ............. 194
4.2.1.3 The “We-Feeling” and Solidarity ................................ 195
4.2.2 A WITAJ Parent‟s Thoughts................................ 199
4.3 Leisure Activities ........................................................... 201
4.3.1 Definition: The Relationship between Work and Leisure ................... 201
ii 4.3.2 Involvement in Women‟s Organizations ............................................. 203
4.3.3 Writing as the Textualization of Life .................. 204
4.3.4 Vacations ............................................................................................. 206
4.3.4.1 “It is Important to Get Away…” .............................................. 206
4.3.4.2 “You Just Went from Rostock to Zittau…” 207
4.3.4.3 “I Suddenly Could Go Everywhere, but I Could Not Go
Anywhere… ” ...................................................................................... 208
4.3.4.4 Traveling to Slavonic Countries: A Journey in Search of “Home”
.............................................. 208
4.4 Cultural Consumption .....................................................................................211
4.4.1 Mediated Experiences through Media Consumption .......................... 212
4.4.1.1 Newspapers .............. 214
4.4.1.2 Radio and Television Broadcasting .......................................... 216
4.4.1.3 Interaction with the Media ....................... 218
4.4.2 Musical Practices ................................................ 219
4.5 Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 222
CHAPTER 5 POSITIONINGS AND REPOSITIONINGS ACROSS CULTURES,
GENDERS AND IDENTITIES ................................................ 224
5.1 Traditions reinterpreted .................................................. 224
5.1.1 Easter Procession Rides: Continuity and Change ............................... 225
5.1.2 Women‟s Experiences with Traditional Sorbian Costumes ................ 228
5.1.2.1 Between Being a Sorb and a Berliner ...................................... 230
5.1.2.2 The Enjoyment of Wearing Traditional Costumes ................... 231
5.2 Diasporic Belongings: Two Sorbian Organizations in Berlin and Dresden ... 234
5.2.1 SKI in Berlin ....................................................................................... 235
5.2.2 Sorbentreff in Dresden ........................................................................ 238
5.2.3 Some Concluding Remarks on SKI in Berlin and Sorbentreff in Dresden
...................................................................................................................... 242
5.3 Thinking Identities in the Play of Difference ................. 245
5.3.1 Difference Transformed ...................................................................... 246