5. MULTICULTURALISM AND INTEGRATION: NECLA KELEK‟S BITTER TRUTHS
5.2 Criticism
particular behaviour. More generally, as intercultural literature, it lends itself to a discussion of challenges associated with cultural transitions.
compares male circumcision to female mutilation (“Die Genitalverstümmelung von Mädchen ist durch den §262 Strafgesetzbuch verboten. Warum gilt die Beschneidung nur bei Mädchen als Körperverletzung?“) (Kelek 2006a: 121)
The actual story at the beginning of the chapter titled „Ich bin ein Mann‟ would have sufficed to convince the reader that under certain conditions, circumcision is a traumatic experience for young boys. If some readers were left with the impression that Islamic tradition celebrates child abuse, suspicion of attitude-driven writing will only increase as subsequent paragraphs aim to underline the point made in the story.
Reference is only made to voices that present an outright rejection of the possibility that circumcision can be an important and meaningful ritual to some communities.
While the narrative can be accepted as based on subjective experience, what follows are one-sided statements that neither help the story, nor are they academically sound because they are unbalanced. Apart from a lack of consideration for those following religious or traditional practices such as circumcision, Kelek also ignores anyone who does not support her view. The United Nations health agency UNAids and the World Health Organisation for example regard circumcision as an important tool in Aids prevention. They also emphasise that “male circumcision has no connection with female genital mutilation, a practice with many adverse physical and psychological impacts and with no demonstrated medical benefits”. (Aids prevention: UN gives green light to circumcision. 2007, online document.) UN guidelines further propose that circumcision should be promoted „with full adherence to medical ethics‟, but in a
„culturally appropriate manner‟. For instance, traditional practitioners who carry out circumcision in a ritual to symbolise a child‟s transition to adulthood should be consulted to help ensure support for a circumcision campaign. (Aids prevention: UN gives green light to circumcision. 2007, online document)
In February 2006, the German newspaper Die Zeit published an open letter by Terkessidis and Karakasoglu entitled „Gerechtigkeit für die Muslime! Die deutsche Integrationspolitik stützt sich auf Vorurteile. So hat sie keine Zukunft. Petition von 60 Migrationsforschern‟. (Terkessidis and Karakasoglu: 2006, online document.) This was a petition signed by 60 academics engaged in migration research. The main thrust of their criticism concerns the fact that policy makers in Germany prefer to base their decisions on prejudiced, unbalanced material, rather than on sound scientific research:
Dass der ehemalige Innenminister Necla Keleks Buch bespricht, dass sie für ihre in höchstem Maße unseriöse Arbeit den Geschwister-Scholl-Preis erhält und dass sie eine gern gesehene Beraterin im Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge ist; dass große Teile der Verwaltung, Ministerien und Medien lieber auf unseriöse Pamphlete zurückgreifen, während die differenzierte wissenschaftliche Forschung kaum wahrgenommen wird – diese Entwicklung ist in der Tat besorgniserregend. (Terkessidis and Karakasoglu: 2006, online document.)
The article further notes that in her dissertation Islam im Alltag, Kelek finds that for young people with a Turkish migration background, Islam is a way of social identification rather than an unquestioned religious tradition. She has since distanced herself from this view; in her book Die fremde Braut Islam is portrayed as a backward, patriarchal and reactionary religion: “Es ist der unverbesserlich rückschrittliche Islam, der verantwortlich ist für Zwangsverheiratungen und andere Grausamkeiten. Als Gegenmittel hilft nur „Integration“ in die deutsche, sprich westliche Gesellschaft“. (Terkessidis and Karakasoglu: 2006, online document.)
In her written reply to the newspaper, Kelek (2006c) responds by saying that she sees her work as going beyond explaining phenomena contextually. Exposing taboos and proposing solutions are an urgent concern to her, considering the miserable lives of many import brides in Western societies, and the generally deteriorating relationships in many families with migration backgrounds:
diese Kritiker [kommen] aus der gut ausgestatteten Welt der öffentlich finanzierten Migrationsforschung. Sie hätten in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten Zeit, Mittel und Gelegenheit gehabt, die Frage von Zwangsheirat, arrangierten Ehen, Ehrenmorden und Segregation und dem Islam zu untersuchen. Sie hätten die Fragen stellen können, die ich gestellt habe. Sie haben es nicht getan, weil solche Fragen nicht in ihr ideologisches Konzept des Multikulturalismus passten. Damit haben sie aber auch das Tabu akzeptiert und das Leid anderer zugelassen. (Kelek 2006c, online document.)
She received support in this regard from Alice Schwarzer, a well-known women‟s rights activist in Germany. (Schwarzer 2006: 40) Schwarzer‟s article (as well as the migration researchers‟ petition) mention Kelek alongside the Somali born activist Hirsi Ali who received similar criticism for her book Infidel:
If her coming-of-age-story and the saga of her nomadic family, who moved from prewar Somalia to Saudi Arabia, then Ethiopia and finally Kenya – were allowed to breathe on its own, “Infidel” would prove an eye-opening look into the plight of African Muslim women. But throughout the book, you can‟t help but feel manipulated, rather than moved. (Ali 2007: 32)
Hirsi Ali‟s activism on behalf of Muslim women, similar to Kelek‟s, was criticised for its assumption that Islamic and Western ideas are essentially incompatible. Their writings were criticized for actively supporting the idea of their incompatibility:
Hirsi Ali is more a hero among xenophobes of Islam than Islamic women.
That is problematic considering that she describes herself in “Infidel” as a woman who “fights for the rights of Muslim women, the enlightenment of Islam and the security of the West”. “How can you change the lives of your former sisters, and work toward reform, when you‟ve forged a career upon renouncing the religion and insulting its followers? (Ali 2007: 33)
One could come to the general conclusion that social activism (the necessity of which remains undisputed) does not mix well with literary or academic texts. Since activism presents a clear point of view, its main weakness lies in the absence of other points of view. Kelek‟s claim to „go beyond the contextual‟ can only be interpreted as simply assuming that everyone should share a certain attitude. This kind of unauthorized universalism is incompatible with academic research and literary interpretation. At the same time, Kelek‟s social awareness campaign has brought the issue of migration and integration into sharp focus, an achievement that academic writing with its balanced approach and fictional writing with its interpretativ approach to reality are perhaps less able to achieve – apart from the fact that campaigning is usually not the intention behind this type of writing. In the following, I will discuss Kelek‟s contribution in the context of the German and European debate on Muslims living in Europe.