After 9/11 national borders, both geographical and virtual, become the focus of international attention for security purposes. What does this mean for citizens and travelers?
Cagatay Topal studies, surveillance regimes that migrant workers from Turkey have experienced since the first recruitment agreement between Germany and Turkey. His research is titled "Surveillance over Migrant Workers from Turkey in Germany: From the Disciplinary Society to the Society of Control." It locates the surveillance experiences of Turkish migrant workers within the context of the relationship between Turkey and the European Union. It aims to show that inclusion/exclusion of migrant workers from Turkey within/from Germany can be seen as the joint effect of the processes of immigration, globalization and surveillance. After 9/11 national borders, both geographical and virtual, become the focus of international attention for security purposes. What does this mean for citizens and travelers?
In the summer of 2004, Topal conducted field research in Turkey and visited a variety of Turkish organizations. He found that both German and Turkish states have instituted electronic recording of information on migrant workers from Turkey. Turkey does not have a separate database for migrant workers in Germany, but Germany, on the other hand, has a central foreign register that includes a great deal of information about all immigrants in Germany, including those from Turkey.
For the second part of his field research in Germany, Topal interviewed representatives of Turkish labour organizations. He conducted interviews and collected documents from organizations concerning the conditions of migrant workers from Turkey. He hopes his research will demonstrate the practical appearances of surveillance in Germany confronted by migrant workers from Turkey.
The Surveillance Studies Centre
c/o David Murakami Wood
Department of Criminology
University of Ottawa
Canada