Differentiation and integration process of African migrants in globalization period: The case of Istanbul

The variety, volume and geographical scope of international migration have changed with globalization. This has undoubtedly affected Turkey as well. Especially in the 2000s, Turkey's migration flow began to change and moved from country of emigration to destination country position. In this process, Istanbul, whose cosmopolitanism increased even more, started to host immigrants from sub-Saharan African countries. Particularly, African immigrants who cannot hide their foreignness due to their skin colors, quickly take the positive and/or negative reactions cause of these identities in social life. The characterization of people as "different" and / or "other" also causes racist, othering and exclusionary practices. All these practices prevent migrants from living integrated with the local population. The aim of this study is to identify the exclusionary practices faced by African immigrants living in Istanbul and to investigate their differentiation and integration processes. Migration is a two-way phenomenon that affects immigrants and local people. The immigrants from sub-Saharan African countries and Turkish citizens who can represent the local people are included in the ethnographic field research. In-depth interviews were made with 22 African immigrants and 23 Turkish citizens selected using the snowball method and the qualitative data obtained were analyzed. Irregular immigrants living in the remote parts of Istanbul are struggling for their lives devoid of job and future security. In comparison, regular immigrants coming to Turkey for educational purposes have relatively better living conditions since they can benefit from facilities like dormitories and scholarship. This study finds that immigrants are, regardless of being regular or irregular, exposed to exclusionary practices from the local community. Exclusionary practices, glances and discourses can sometimes turn into racist actions as well. Also, regardless of their gender, bodies of migrants are perceived as hypersexual which causes Africans to be seen as sexual desire objects and leads to racial behavior as well. Stereotype thoughts such as Africans being "poor and filthy" are also another reason sustaining differentiation. To sum up, this study determines that all the differentiating behaviors African migrants are exposed to, prevents them from establishing healthy relations with the society and makes the integration process more difficult.