Montag, 28.04.2025, 16:40-18:20 Uhr in N.316
Which language “sounds” better? The war in Ukraine and language use among “Spätaussiedler” in Germany
“How many languages you speak, that’s how many people you are” says a Georgian folk wisdom.
This expression became my personal motto during my PhD in the South Caucasus as well as my current research project in Germany. Several languages were not only relevant for research but were deliberately used selectively for certain communication purposes.
My presentation focuses on language usage in different social spaces of migrant life in
Germany. My case studies originate from ethnographic field material that I was able to obtain
during my several years of research with my interlocutors from Lower Saxony and Bavaria.
In my projects, I have been exploring how my interlocutors cope with their surrounding social,
political and economic realities.
Language is the key to socialization and sociality both at the inter-group and intra-group level.
My contribution shows the entanglements of language and identity and analyses changes toward
groups as well as the diverse approaches within communities.
My first case study discusses the usage of languages among members of “Spätaussiedler”
organizations in private and public domains during one specific, “Friedland Commemoration
event”. Based on participant observation before, during and after event- commemorating the
wartime deportation of Russian Germans in the Soviet Union- I show how the “ideologeme of
the mother tongue” changes depending on the political, social and cultural context.
I argue that due to the official nature of the commemoration, both in terms of emotional content
and language use, the participants are “asked” to choose in which language (German or
Russian) they speak. Which form of speech and which language would be more suitable or
acceptable for the German state (in the form of politicians and event organizers)?
While in a relaxed private atmosphere (during the bus ride to Friedland) the members of the
association talked and sang happily and exclusively in Russian, the performance in Friedland
changed significantly. During the official event only, German was spoken and sung in the hall
and on stage. After the official part, the picture changed again. As soon as the state actors,
politicians and organizers had left the place, Russian took back control of the space of
communication. The field notes from 2021 and 2023 are then compared and analysed for further analysis
My second example leads us to the topic of language and conflict. I focus on and analyze the
interactions between “Spätaussiedler” counsellors (Geflüchtetenberater*innen) and refugees
from the Ukraine in Bavaria.
One of the very special features of these consultations is the “language of help” itself. The
Russian language harbors ambiguities in the processes that create certain delicate, opaque
situations which could be labeled as “uncanny intimate".