Typical Turkish woman?

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Typical Turkish woman? is a company portrait by Hilal Sezgin , published by Herder in 2006 in Freiburg im Breisgau . The “portrait of a new generation” of German-Turkish women was received differently by the critics.

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In her work, Sezgin draws images of the lives of young Turkish women in Germany on the basis of personal conversations. The 19 portrayed are "gynecologists or pop musicians, (...) lawyers or housewives", wear a headscarf or not. Also in very different ways these women try to unite their Turkish roots with their integration in Germany. Finally, with the spectrum of portraits of women that she offers, the author answers the question that forms the title of the book: Typical Turkish women - there are just as few as typical Germans.

Reviews

For Daniel Bax from the taz , the book fills the gap between “biographical confessional literature” and social science publications. The reviewer praises the author's lack of “frivolous generalizations”. Above all, however, the “success story” of migration is still “far too short” in the current discussion. The book could help change this a bit.

Cathrin Kahlweit from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, on the other hand, was a little bored by the positive developments regarding young Turkish women in German society. Only when the author or her interlocutors address the “phenomenon of the Turkish parallel society” does it become “very exciting” in the book, according to her.

Mark Terkessidis wrote for literatures that Sezgin's book is thankful: “In the best case, you read this (…) on the bus or in the subway, suddenly look at the young woman on the seat opposite, whom you just remembered for a“ typical ” Turkish woman »and thinks: She lives in the same world as me.“ In his review he also deals with a problem raised by one of the portrayed in the perception of the majority society:

"Right at the beginning Gülbahar complained that she was 'always asked the same questions - whether I am a Muslim, as it is with women in Turkey'. And at the end she states: 'If you can express yourself well and discuss God and the world with them, then you are not a typical Turkish woman. Without a headscarf, but with education - that must be an exception! ' But Sezgin's 'Portrait of a New Generation' (...) is not about exceptions, but about normal women, those you know or could get to know. If you are ready to part with the cliché of the 'typical Turkish woman' and discover individuals. "

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