The majority of Turkish migrant workers (Gastarbeiter) who came to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s were men aiming to save as much money as possible to eventually return to Turkey. Contrary to the expectations of both German authorities and Turkish guest workers, many migrants started to permanently settle in Germany. Orientation issues such as refusing to learn the German language, living in “ghettos”, experiencing rejection by the autochthonous population caused some integration problems for the Turkish immigrants in the host country, especially in terms of culture, language, religion, socio-economic structure etc. and partly due to German authorities that for a long time perceived immigration as a temporary phenomenon. As the number of migrants increased, respective policies like a national integration plan were designed and the topic of integration attracted scholarly attention.
This study argues that the term of integration has been controversial and much disputed subject within the field of immigration. It is a challenge to research integration with the all dimensions, especially doing research on effect, influence or role of media in integration. Therefore, it is assumed that knowledge construction is a vital dimension of integration. Instead of focusing on the influence or impact of the media on integration, it is worth concentrating on exploring the experiences of young Turkish immigrants’ knowledge construction process through digital media. It is assumed that if we focus on the process then we might be able to understand also “What they talk about”, interaction with others, knowledge management, networking etc. Since media is in the centre of this study and it is expected that there is a relation between media and knowledge, especially in terms of obtaining knowledge, sharing it, narrowing or widening the knowledge gap through media. It is vital to explore the role of media and knowledge construction.
Media and migration, media ecology, integration, identity, terrorism and media, media and political participation.
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