Migrant Bodies in the Land/City/Seascapes of 2000s Turkish Cinema

In this essay, I explore the land-, sea-, and cityscapes in six films (five Turkish and one Turkish German)—Bliss, The Wound, Rıza, Broken Mussels, The Guest, and Seaburners—and their use of place and non-place. Hamid Naficy’s concept of transitional space and Marc Augé’s notion of non-place, based on Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, will be the basis of the theoretical discussion. I focus on what I see as a major shift in the representation of the migrant experience in the Turkish cinema of the early and late 2000s, a shift from the land- and cityscapes to films whose setting is the seascape. This shift, I argue, corresponds to changes in the phases of migration that flow within and through Turkey, and both government policies and the public perception.

Kitap İncelemesi: Gözde Naiboğlu, Post-Unification Turkish German Cinema; Work, Globalisation and Politics Beyond Representation

Gözde Naiboğlu, Post-Unification Turkish German Cinema; Work, Globalisation and Politics Beyond Representation [Birleşme Sonrası Türk-Alman Sineması, Temsilin Ötesinde İş, Küreselleşme ve Politika], London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, 217 pp. 1990'da iki Almanya devletinin birleşmesiyle başlayan dönem, artık Almanya'da yetişen ikinci kuşaktan Türk-Alman sinemacıların da üretimlerine başladığı yıllarla örtüşmektedir. Avrupa'da göçmenlerin demografik hacminin genişlemesi ve ardından yeni kuşak göçmenlerin film endüstrisi içerisinde etkinliklerinin artmasıyla, 2000'li yıllardan itibaren göçmen sineması alanında çalışmalarda da artmış ve bunların içinde Türk-Alman Sineması önemli bir başlık olmuştur. Naiboğlu'nun Birleşme Sonrası Türk-Alman Sineması'nı incelediği çalışması, göç sinemasının temel konularından olan Avrupa'ya işçi göçü ve sonrasında oluşan atmosfere yeni bir bakış açısı getirmektedir. Kitap, birleşme sonrası Türk-Alman sinemasını etik, duygulanım ve emek odaklı olarak incelemektedir. Odağını uzun süredir devam eden entegrasyon, kimlik ve kültürel çatışma kaygılarından kaydıran Naiboğlu, bu filmlerin artık göçmenler ve vatandaşlar arasındaki çatışmaları vurgulamadığını savunmaktadır. Temelinde işçi göçüne dayanan bu sinemanın gözardı edilen köklerine dönerek, filmlerdeki çalışma yaşamına ve bunun yansımalarına odaklanmıştır. Filmlerde; çalışma, işsizlik, güvencesiz ve yasadışı çalışma, toplumsal yeniden üretim, tükenme ve istikrarsızlık temaları aracılığıyla geç kapitalizm altında yaşanan deneyimin yeni ifadelerinin sunumuna odaklanarak, yerleşik sınıf, topluluk ve kimlik fikirlerinin yeniden düşünülmesi çağrısında bulunmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, çoğunlukla kimlik ve temsil eksenine dayanan Türk-Alman Sineması yazınına yeni bir yaklaşım önerisi getirerek, temsil sonrası yaklaşım biçimlerini örneklendirmektedir.

Depictions of God in the Drawings of German-Muslim Children

This empirical inquiry aimed to examine the qualitative differences of the ‘God’ concept of Turkish-German Sunni Muslim children living in Germany. In this study, non-anthropomorphic drawings did not increase gradually with age. Anthromoporphic God depictions seem to be ontologically moving away from people with age. In the present study, indirect God depictions occurred six times more than the direct God depictions. ‘Religious-cultural drawings’ were the most common in the sample. The girls drew more aesthetic drawings that expressed an emotional bond with God. Boys depicted God more rationally and pragmatically in regard to human life and the world.

Constraints on subject-verb agreement marking in Turkish-German bilingual speakers

Turkish 3rd person plural subjects normally appear with verbs that are unmarked for number. Following earlier findings which indicate that Turkish heritage speakers (HS) accept overt plural marking more readily compared to monolingually raised Turkish speakers, the present study investigates to what extent bilingual speakers are sensitive to grammatical, surface-level and semantic constraints on Turkish plural agreement marking. A scalar acceptability judgement task was carried out with non-bilingual Turkish speakers residing in Turkey and Turkish-German bilinguals residing in Germany. Our experimental design involved manipulating both subject animacy and subject position. Participants’ judgement patterns confirmed Turkish speakers’ general preference for unmarked verb forms, which was modulated both by subject animacy and by subject position. Significant differences were observed between lower proficiency HS on the one hand, and monolinguals and advanced proficiency HS on the other, suggesting that the relatively subtle interplay between different types of constraint on number agreement marking is affected by heritage language conditions. We found no evidence for simplification or optionality reduction in the lower proficiency HS’ judgements, however. We innovate on previous research by using Gradient Symbolic Computation modelling to capture between-group differences in the relative weightings of the constraints under investigation.

English L3 acquisition in heritage contexts: Modelling a path through the bilingualism controversy

The current study adds to research investigating the influence of bilingualism on third language (L3) acquisition, more specifically the assumption that the two previously acquired languages enhance the acquisition of an additional language. We here rely on data from 1,409 bilingual (Russian-/Turkish-German) and monolingual (German) students of grades seven and nine, sampled in schools across Germany. The relevant literature yields mixed and controversial results regarding bilingual advantages, yet it also suggests that L3 acquisition is a multidimensional process potentially affected by various linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. Thus, we examine the relationship between English proficiency (L2 or L3), reading comprehension in German and the heritage languages Turkish and Russian along with cognitive ability and socio-economic status by using several multi-group path analyses, a type of structural equation modelling. The proposed structural equation model of English proficiency can be successfully fitted for all participants investigated, i.e. for both the monolingual and bilingual learners, with the exception of the Turkish-German group when analyzed separately. Overall, the results do not suggest any obvious bilingual facilitation effects or general differences across the learner groups, yet minor differences between the monolingual and bilingual groups in various componential relationships are detected.

Reviewer Acknowledgements

Applied Economics and Finance (AEF) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether AEF publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 8, Number 2 Andrey Kudryavtsev, The Max Stern Yezreel Valley Academic College, IsraelAyoub Taha Sidahmed, SIU, SudanJose Solana Ibañez, Centro Universitario de la Defensa, SpainMurad Harasheh, University of Milan-Bicocca, ItalyPayal Chadha, University of Wales Prifysgol Cymru, KuwaitRajeev Rana, APB Govt. P.G. College, IndiaRamona Orastean, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, RomaniaRuhet Genc, Turkish-German University, TurkeyVictoria Cociug, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Moldova Nikki GibbsEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of Applied Economics and FinanceRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://aef.redfame.com

Exchange rate volatility and Turkish–German commodity trade: an asymmetry analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show that in some industries the linear model may not reveal any significance link between exchange rate volatility and trade flows but once nonlinear adjustment of exchange rate volatility is introduced, the nonlinear model reveals significant link. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the linear ARDL approach of Pesaran et al. (2001) and the nonlinear ARDL approach of Shin et al. (2014) to assess asymmetric effects of exchange rate volatility on trade flows between Germany and Turkey. Findings This paper consider the experiences of 75 2-digit industries that trade between Turkey and Germany. When the study assumed the effects of volatility to be symmetric, the study found short-run effects in 31 (30) Turkish (German) exporting industries that lasted into the long run in only 10 (13) Turkish (German) exporting industries. However, when the study assumed asymmetric effects and relied upon a nonlinear model, the study found short-run asymmetric effects of volatility on exports of 55 (56) Turkish (German) industries. Short-run asymmetric effects lasted into long-run asymmetric effects in 10 (25) Turkish (German) exporting industries. All in all, we found that almost 25% of trade is hurt by exchange rate volatility. Originality/value This is the first paper that assesses the possibility of asymmetric effects of exchange rate volatility on German–Turkish commodity trade.