Urban encounters with difference: the contact hypothesis and immigrant integration projects in eastern Berlin

Recent urban scholarship celebrates the increased cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary cities as promoting conviviality and intercultural sensibilities. The contact hypothesis and immigrant integration policies drawing on it similarly stress the importance of increased face-to-face contact for reducing inter-group prejudice and conflict. Drawing on ethnographic research in eastern Berlin, this paper examines spaces of encounters between local residents and recent immigrants and their potential for decreasing negative stereotypes, prejudice, and conflict. We find that contact between Russian Aussiedler and local German residents in public and quasi-public spaces remains fleeting, often reinforcing pre-existing stereotypes. Local immigrant integration projects, despite their intentions of increasing contact between migrant and non-migrant residents, often fail to provide opportunities for deeper contact. On the other hand, sustained and close encounters are enabled in spaces of neighborhood community centers, where immigrants and native residents work side-by-side on common projects. These sustained encounters engender more empathy and positive attitudes toward individual immigrants but these are not scaled up to the group, contradicting claims of recent contact theorists. We suggest that scholars and integration practitioners be cautious of overoptimistic assumptions about how encounters across difference can contribute to decreasing resentment and interethnic conflict, as these are underwritten by much broader processes of marginalization and deeply entrenched unequal power relations. Des études récentes en urbanisme se réjouissent de la diversité culturelle et ethnique augmentée des villes contemporaines qui promue les sensibilités conviviales et interculturelles. La hypothèse de contact ainsi que les politiques sur l'intégration qui en tirent de l'inspiration mettent l'accent sur l'importance d'un contact face-à-face accru pour réduire les préjugés et le conflit entre groupes. Cet article examine des espaces de rencontre entre les habitants locaux et les immigrés récents en tirant de la recherche ethnographique menée à Berlin oriental pour mesurer le potentiel de ces espaces pour diminuer les stéréotypes négatifs, les préjugés, et le conflit. Nous concluons que le contact entre les Aussiedlers russes et les habitants allemands locaux dans les espaces publiques et quasi-publiques reste fugaces et renforce souvent les stéréotypes préexistants. En dépit de leurs intentions d'augmenter le contact entre les habitants migrants et non-migrants, les projets locaux d'intégration échouent souvent à fournir des opportunités pour un contact approfondi. De l'autre côté, les centres d'animation de quartier où travaillent côté à côté les immigrés et les autochtones permettent les rencontres intimes et maintenus entre ces deux groupes. Ces rencontres suscitent plus d'empathie et plus des attitudes positives vers les immigrés récents mais elles ne sont pas augmentées à l'échelle du groupe, ce qui contredit les affirmations des partisans de la hypothèse de contact. Nous suggérons donc que les chercheurs et les spécialistes d'intégration se méfient des suppositions simplistes du rôle du contact à travers la différence dans la diminution de la rancœur et du conflit interethnique car ses derniers sont maintenus par des processus de marginalisation beaucoup plus larges et par des relations de pouvoir inégales. Erudición urbana reciente se celebra la aumentación de diversidad étnica y cultural de ciudades urbanas como la promoción de camaradería y sensibilidades interculturales. La hipótesis de contacto, y políticas enfocando en la integración de inmigrantes enfatizan la importancia de contacto cara a cara por reducir prejuicios y conflictos entre grupos. Llevando de investigaciones etnográficas en Berlín Este, este articulo se examina los espacios en que residentes locales y inmigrantes recientes se encuentren y su potencial para disminuir estereotipos negativos, prejuicio y conflicto. Descubrimos que contacto entre Rusos Aussiedleres y residentes Alemanes locales en espacios públicos y cuasi-públicos permanece breve, que puede reforzar estereotipos preexistentes. A pesar de las intenciones de proyectos locales para aumentar el contacto entre residentes migrantes y no-migrantes, con frecuencia los proyectos fallan de ofrecer oportunidades para contacto más profundo. Por el otro lado, los espacios de los centros comunitarios se posibilitan encuentros sostenidos y cercanos, donde inmigrantes y residentes nativos trabajan uno al lado del otro en proyectos comunes. Estos encuentros sostenidos engendrar empatía y actitudes positivos hacia inmigrantes individuales pero estos sentimientos no están aplicados al grupo en general, contradiciendo las afirmaciones de teoristas del contacto recientes. Proponemos que los eruditos y practicantes de integración deben de estar cautelosos de suposiciones sobre optimistas sobre como los encuentros a través la diferencia puede contribuir a la disminución de resentimiento y conflicto interétnico, porque estos están afectados por procesos mucho más extensos de marginalización y relaciones de poder desigual muy arraigados. Keywords: immigrant integrationcontact hypothesisprejudiceencounterBerlinKeywords: intégrationhypothèse de contactpréjugésrencontreBerlinKeywords: integración de inmigranteshipótesis de contactoprejuicioBerlín Acknowledgements This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant 0726769 and by a Graduate Research Partnership Program grant from the University of Minnesota Graduate School. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. And finally, we would like to thank all our informants for sharing their experiences and ideas with us. Notes 1 Although prejudice as a term has not been adopted widely in geography, Valentine (Citation2010) has recently made a case for its incorporation in critical social geographic research. 2 That such an insistence on the awareness of hard categorical boundaries between majority and minority groups might only lead to the continuation of prejudice and stereotyping is left unconsidered (e.g. Reicher Citation1986). 3 Hewstone has admitted that contact theory might have been misappropriated in policy circles (Hewstone Citation2003). This has, however, not stopped him and his colleagues from directly lobbying with the UK government officials and educators for state adoption of increased contact policies in wake of urban unrest that swept a number of British cities in the early 2000s. 4 See Simmel's own ambiguous stance on city life. 5 Another crucial question concerns also what we strive for in life with difference. While we do not have the space to examine the many nuances of theoretical writing on the issue, we want to underline the insufficiency of thinking about encounters with difference through tolerance, so prevalent in urban writing on difference. Tolerance hardly expresses 'the extent to which people embrace diversity', as for example Wessel recently claimed (Citation2009: 6). Tolerance requires little, if any, work. It merely expresses a passive attitude of putting up with some degree of difference. Proclamations of tolerance are always predicated upon unequal power relations where it is up to the subject who finds herself in the position of power to tolerate Otherness. As such, tolerance becomes antithetical to equality (e.g. Brown Citation2006). Such depoliticization of unequal power relations and disregard for deeper issues of persistence of prejudice are also inherent in the concept of civility, another popular concept of thinking about urban encounters with difference (e.g. Bannister et al Citation2006; Boyd 2006). 6 Lacking command of German language is the consequence of German minorities' loss of cultural autonomy in the Soviet Union in wake of Nazi Germany's attack (Bade and Oltmer Citation1999). In addition, as Soviet Germans started intermarrying with Russian and other local ethnic groups in the post-World War II era, the Russian language eventually replaced a variety of German dialects as their effective native tongue (Münz and Ohliger Citation1998). 7 Caritas provides, for example, free, federally funded individual counseling to new immigrants. 8 As the overall project focused primarily on middle-aged residents, the largest proportion, 39 per cent of our participants were between 50 and 60 years of age, 28 per cent between 40 and 50, 14 per cent between 30 and 40 and 12 per cent over 60. 7 per cent of the participants were under 30. While the effort was made to create gender balanced groups, women comprised about two-thirds (68 per cent) of the participants in immigrant groups. In interviews conducted with local Germans, the ratio was more even at 55 per cent. About one-third of both local and immigrant participants had college degrees (at the level of German Diploma, which is approximately equivalent to a Master's level degree), and one German participant is currently persuing graduate studies. Most Aussiedler with higher-education credentials had worked as teachers, economists, or engineers before they moved to Germany. With the exception of two local German participants (an economist and a graduate student) and one pensioner, all the other participants were underemployed. While both groups experienced deskilling, such as from being an architect to a worker in an internet coffee-shop, Aussiedler participants were more likely to have experienced significant de-skilling and temporary employment. One-quarter of participants were long-term (that is longer than 6 months) unemployed, and with an exception of one unemployed volunteer participated in temporary workfare measures in various communal organizations at the time. Others were employed in various low-paid service jobs, such as cleaning, shop assistance, or construction work. Reflecting the Aussiedler' varied geographic origin, the great majority of participants came originally from either Russia (50 per cent) or Kazakhastan (28 per cent), with others originating from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, or Belorussia (1–2 participants from each). Only 18 per cent of the Aussiedler migrated from bigger cities in the former Soviet Union. Majority came either from small towns (42 per cent) or villages (40 per cent). 9 For identity protection, names of our focus group participants were changed. 10 Although there are no precise data documenting this trend, many local participants repeatedly commented on it. 11 For example, in northern Marzahn 14 per cent of the population were unemployed in 2008, with 87 per cent of them being out of work for more than 6 months. These numbers, however, do not include those long-term unemployed who participated in temporary workfare measures. In addition, the employment situation started to improve for the first time in years precisely in 2008. In comparison to the previous year, unemployment fell by 42 per cent for the short-term unemployed and 7.9 per cent for the long-term unemployed. Finally, approximately three-quarters of these unemployed are concentrated in the eastern part of northern Marzahn who were precisely under our investigation (Stadteil Porträt Marzahn-Nord 2009). 12 These are officially called Work opportunities with paid additional costs (Arbeitsgelegenheit mit Mehraufwandsentschädigung) and they constitute one of the workfare measures of the federal government. Long-term unemployed are at times obliged to take such 3–12 months lasting, 30 hours/week 'jobs' under a threat of a cut to their welfare benefits. While on the job they earn € 1–2.50 per hour in addition to their welfare benefits. 13 With this observation we do not intend to imply that we favor policy shift from welfare to workfare, a component of broader neoliberal agenda. 14 Interestingly Aussiedler did repeatedly suggest, in focus groups as well as throughout the entire field research, that more knowledge about their background would lead to better relationships with local Germans. 15 Although this article did not address the issue of how multiple social identities effect our particular ways of responding to and negotiating across difference, we do recognize that this is an important aspect of such research, as shown for example by CitationLeitner's (forthcoming) examination of encounters with immigrant Others in small-town Minnesota.