Da My Dao, Max Müller, Anita von Poser and Edda Willamowski (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg), Birgitt Röttger-Rössler and Giang Thierbach (Freie Universität Berlin), Gabriel Scheidecker (University of Zurich)

Language: German

Belonging is a central topic in social science research on migration and transnationalism. Many studies explore how people living in transnational contexts experience, perceive, and negotiate multiple forms of social and cultural belonging—how they position themselves and create a sense of home across different social worlds. In this body of research, multiple belonging is often portrayed positively: as an expansion of connections, opportunities, knowledge, and skills.

By contrast, the other side of belonging—non-belonging—has received far less attention. In our anthropological research on emotions in Vietnamese Berlin, however, we have repeatedly encountered the significance of non-belonging. People of different generations with Vietnamese migration backgrounds describe feelings of not belonging—both in Germany and in Vietnam—as a particularly painful aspect of their lives. This perspective is at the center of our contribution.

The event will begin with a keynote (Röttger-Rössler) examining how experiences of non-belonging shape everyday life and identity formation among young people who grew up in Germany with parents from Vietnam. This will be followed by a moderated panel discussion (von Poser) with short contributions from Dao, Müller, Scheidecker, Thierbach, and Willamowski, addressing dilemmas of belonging that characterize both the parental generation and subsequent post-migrant generations. These dilemmas are shaped, on the one hand, by the structures of migration regimes (such as flight or labor contracts) under which earlier generations migrated, and, on the other, by the specific challenges that arise with aging. Finally, the discussion will open up to broader contexts, connecting these questions of belonging and non-belonging to wider societal issues.