Abstract

The arrival in 2015 and 2016 of over one million asylum seekers and refugees in Germany had major social consequences and gave rise to extensive debates about the nature of cultural diversity and collective life. This volume examines the responses and implications of what was widely seen as the most significant and contested social change since German reunification in 1990. It combines in-depth studies based on anthropological fieldwork with analyses of the longer trajectories of migration and social change. Its original conclusions have significance not only for Germany but also for the understanding of diversity and difference more widely.


Jan-Jonathan Bock is Programme Director of Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, United Kingdom. His publications include Austerity, Community Action and the Future of Citizenship in Europe (2018), co-edited with Shana Cohen and Christina Fuhr.

Sharon Macdonald is Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Social Anthropology at the Institute of European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität Berlin. She founded and directs the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), as well as its major project Making Differences – Transforming Museums and Heritage in the 21st Century.