Research Progress

After beginning my research on my topics, I am able to create a more specific area of research I hope to study while in Berlin. My preliminary idea for research was to look at the legislation behind immigration and compare the laws in Germany with the laws of the EU. I also planned on examining the flow of knowledge and change in relationship to immigration between these two institutions, one a nation-state and another a regional organization.

Now, I plan on looking at how Germany’s participation in the European Union affects German National Identity. While I will have to start broad with questions of the perceived relationships between Germany and the EU, I hope to narrow in on how this relationship affects immigration law and the acceptance of immigrants in Germany, specifically in urban areas like Berlin. What do you see as Germany’s role in the EU? Does participation in the EU change German national identity? How do EU law and German law address the immigrant problem? How doe the affects of the EU changing German national identity (if it does) relate to the acceptance of immigrants? Does it make it easier or harder to accept immigrants into Germany? Are these two factors connected at all?

After determining the intended relationships the EU has with Germany, and the perceived relationships it has on the greater German public in practice, I hope to examine how this relationship may affect immigration laws and their perception in society. My research begins by examining the Treaty of Rome that created the EU and the parts of the treaty that examine the parameter for memberships and the created relationship with the member states. For this part of my study once I arrive in Berlin, I hope to interview locals on their perceived relationship with the EU and how they believe it may change the role of national identity. Next I will compare the immigration law established by the EU and Germany and see where they are differ and where they are similar. I hope to use the same interview time with individual to see if they view any relationship between the EU and Germany affecting the perception of immigration and immigration law in both.

Through this project, I hope to discover whether or not the participation in a regional organization degrades the role of German national identity and open the nation and it’s citizens to a broader mindset of what it means to be German. Does this change bring a new understanding of immigrants and the acceptance of new participants into Germany?

Potential Resources:

Treaty of Rome http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508886/Treaty-of-Rome

Intro to Globalization Chapter – use to introduce Globalization and the theories behind it. How this may relate to the creation of international treaties and regional organizations.

Humboldt university professors: Professors of Law – Prof. Phillip Dan, Katharina de la Durantaye, Sarah Elsuni, Also want to look into the European Ethnography Department

Age of Immigration – use to introduce immigration and the different theories surrounding it

Norton Identity Chapter – introduce identity, national identities and issues of competing identities