allochthonous (ethnology)

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The adjective allochthon ( Greek  ἄλλος állos “different”, “different”, χθών chthōn “earth” = “foreign”, “outside”) or the noun allochthonous denotes in the social sciences in the general sense people and communities with a non-resident social origin or descent . Allochthonous minorities arise outside their own territory (exogenous) due to migration , displacement or labor migration . The opposite autochthonous (αὐτός autós "self", χθών chthōn "earth": "indigenous", "long-established") denotes population groups that have arisen within their area (endogenous) due to political-historical processes, and is especially synonymous in French " Indigenous peoples " (peuples autochtones).

Importance in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands , a person is called “ allochtoon ” if he or at least one parent was born abroad. The Dutch Statistical Office includes those who live in the Netherlands and of whom at least one parent was born abroad as an allochton. In contrast, the similar German term “people with a migration background ” includes all persons who themselves or at least one of their parents moved to Germany after 1950.

In the Netherlands, those who come from Turkey, Africa, Latin America or Asia are counted among the “non-western allochtones” - this does not include the former Dutch East Indies / Indonesia and Japan. All other people who do not have their origin in the Netherlands are called "western allochtones".

There is still a distinction to be made between the 1st and 2nd  generation of the Allochtonen: The first generation consists of people who were born abroad, while the second generation was born in the Netherlands and has at least one parent who was not born in the Netherlands has been. A child of parents who both belong to the second generation is called "autochthonous". People who were born abroad but whose parents were born in the Netherlands are also referred to as autochthonous.

The group of origin of the first generation of Allochtonen is determined on the basis of the country of birth, that of the second generation on the basis of the mother's country of birth, if she was not born in the Netherlands, otherwise according to the father's country of birth.

The terms are used in the same way in the Flemish or Dutch- speaking part of Belgium .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uta Helfrich, Claudia Maria Riehl (Ed.): Multilingualism in Europe - Obstacle or Opportunity? (= Pro Lingua. Volume 24). Egert, Wilhelmsfeld 1994, ISBN 3-926972-41-6 , p. 2.
  2. ↑ Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (Statistics Netherlands): Allochtoon. In: CBS.nl. February 24, 2016, accessed January 13, 2020 (Dutch; definition of term).