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Being “East German” or being “At home in eastern Germany”? Identity as experience and as rhetoric

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Anselma Gallinat

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Abstract

An apparent resurgence of East German identity aroused much scholarly interest in recent years whilst it is contested in the German public discourse. Scholars see the phenomenon as based in experiences of domination and cultural devaluation; German scholars focus on East-West German differences, and the public discourse refers to the continuation of the “[Berlin] Wall in people's minds.” When conducting field research in Saxony-Anhalt in 2001, I found, however, that my informants would consciously and carefully negotiate their senses of belonging. Many avoided claims to an exclusive identity category and instead emphasised more local senses of attachment which nevertheless encompassed the whole of eastern Germany. This article seeks to highlight the interplay of these two kinds of belonging. Its central argument is that they are two aspects of the same phenomenon. The article therefore explores how identity is based in the mundane and quotidian forms of everyday life leading to senses of belonging that allow for a reflexive positioning of the self and the other. This belonging is at certain times also voiced explicitly. The article also explores how and when identity rhetoric comes into play. An apparent resurgence of East German identity aroused much scholarly interest in recent years whilst it is contested in the German public discourse. Scholars see the phenomenon as based in experiences of domination and cultural devaluation; German scholars focus on East-West German differences, and the public discourse refers to the continuation of the “[Berlin] Wall in people's minds.” When conducting field research in Saxony-Anhalt in 2001, I found, however, that my informants would consciously and carefully negotiate their senses of belonging. Many avoided claims to an exclusive identity category and instead emphasised more local senses of attachment which nevertheless encompassed the whole of eastern Germany. This article seeks to highlight the interplay of these two kinds of belonging. Its central argument is that they are two aspects of the same phenomenon. The article therefore explores how identity is based in the mundane and quotidian forms of everyday life leading to senses of belonging that allow for a reflexive positioning of the self and the other. This belonging is at certain times also voiced explicitly. The article also explores how and when identity rhetoric comes into play.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Gallinat A

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Identities

Year: 2008

Volume: 15

Issue: 6

Pages: 665-686

ISSN (print): 1070-289X

ISSN (electronic): 1547-3384

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10702890802470694

DOI: 10.1080/10702890802470694

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