Cultural and Corporate Belonging in the Course of Transnational Biographies: A Case Study of a Sierra Leonean Immigrant in Germany

Authors

  • Jan Küver Tumaini University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.3.1375

Keywords:

biographical research, cultural identity, Sierra Leone, African diaspora, postcolonial studies, migration, social integration

Abstract

How does cultural and corporate affiliation emerge in transnational biographies? How does it develop under the influence of global and national power structures? These questions are addressed in this study that combines epistemological approaches dealing with the interplay of social and individual factors in identity formation with a structural analysis of historical power relations in form of racism and colonialism. Empirically this paper identifies how immigrants deal with challenges of integration into the host society and incorporate these experiences into their biographical self-construction. It concentrates on African and particularly Sierra Leonean immigrants in Germany. The findings are generated from a reconstructive analysis of selected biographical narrations which were scrutinized from different perspectives. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903234

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Author Biography

Jan Küver, Tumaini University

Jan KÜVER, born 1978, obtained his M.A. in cultural anthropology and sociology at Goettingen University, Germany in 2007. At present he is head of the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Tourism at Tumaini University in Iringa, Tanzania. Apart from teaching, he is currently preparing his doctoral research project. His research interests are postcolonial theory, qualitative social research, and migration and belonging.

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Published

2009-09-29

How to Cite

Küver, J. (2009). Cultural and Corporate Belonging in the Course of Transnational Biographies: A Case Study of a Sierra Leonean Immigrant in Germany. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.3.1375