2018 Book Prize Finalist - Jennifer A. Miller

Jennifer A. Miller. Turkish Guest Workers in Germany: Hidden Lives and Contested Borders, 1960s to 1980s. (University of Toronto Press)

Turkish Guest Workers in Germany tells the post-war story of Turkish "guest workers," whom West German employers recruited to fill their depleted ranks. Jennifer A. Miller’s unique approach starts in the country of departure rather than the country of arrival and is heavily informed by Turkish-language sources and perspectives.

What's the one key idea or message you want readers to take from your book?  

One key idea is that the "guest worker" and other immigration and migration movements of the postwar period could have had different present-day outcomes if the state, policy makers, and individuals had made different choices. Guest worker programs do not have set, predictable results. I question the "guest worker" program's lasting legacy. The guest worker program is often blamed for an aftermath of contemporary problems: ethnic enclaves, citizens who do not speak perfect German, a lack of national social cohesion. By pointing out as many initial decisions as I could about recruitment, transportation, housing, working conditions, language learning, social interactions and more, I try to find out where the official program and all participates made all of the little decisions that culminated in today's realities.

What got you interested in the topic of your book? 

I have studied and lived in Germany for a long time, starting when I was in high school. I majored in German in college and studied abroad both during and after college before attending graduate school. Both formally and informally I saw very little discussion of non-ethnic Germans included in discussions of Germany's postwar history, literature, and culture. And yet, whenever I was in Germany, it was all I noticed. I always had ethnic Turkish neighbors when I lived in Germany. When I started studying German history formally, I noticed very little mention of ethnic minorities living in Germany in the scholarship; it was noticeably absent in the books assigned for seminars or found on exam reading lists or in the topics discussed and debated at conferences. The mismatch between my lived experiences in Germany in the 1990s and early 2000s fascinated me. A lot has changed since then, and there is a lot of exciting historical scholarship on ethnic minorities in Germany.

Books answer questions, but they also raise new questions. What questions does your book raise? 

I stated that a key point of my book was that the guest worker program could have had multiple different outcomes. So a key question would be what other outcomes could the program have produced?

What are you currently reading, in your field or just generally, and what do you like about it?

I am currently reading Rita Chin's The Crisis of Multiculturalism in Europe with my class. It is a great way to show them how scholarship and historical context can be used when discussing contemporary debates.