Experiences of Otherness and Practices of Othering: Young Turkish Migrants in the UK

Abstract

The present study aims to explore the experiences of marginalization amongst young Turkish migrants in the UK. It pays particular attention to the ways in which marginalizing experiences and practices are reproduced, normalized and resisted across different ethnic/national contexts, namely, in encounters with the British/English majority, mainland Turks and other diaspora members. A narrative-based analysis of semi-structured interviews reveals that participants do not experience to be sharing an equal status with British/English majority despite their strong attachments to the UK, and that their experiences of otherness are also extended to their relationships with mainland Turks in Turkey and encounters in the diasporic community. However, Turkish migrant identity is not constructed as a fixed position, that of an inferior other. Rather depending on the net of power relationships characterizing the encounters, being of the Turkish minority also becomes a base for marginalizing others and is marginalized by participants themselves.