In 2010, there are about 25,000 Eritreans living in Germany. As of 2020, there are 75,735 Eritreans living in Germany. The first of them were political refugees fleeing from the impacts of the war of independence against Ethiopia, representing a solidly united community for a long time, which was connected by the aiming for a free nation of Eritrea. By now, the exile community largely consists of the following generation which grew up in Germany. These specific developments, but primarily the changes in the country of origin, seem to influence the community building of the people living in exile. In the meantime, despite Eritrea developed into a sovereign state, the political changes from an “African model state” celebrated in the first instance to a repressive single-party government lead to doubts and conflicting points of view among the expatriates.
In which way migrants ally to a community and how they act individually does not only depend on the social conditions of the country they immigrate to – a fact becoming apparent in the case of Eritreans in Germany. The present study shows that the dynamics and political situation of the migrants’ home country are also strong factors contributing to their specific organization structure and personal decisions.
Nina von Nolting studied Ethnology, Cultural Anthropology and African Studies in Marburg and Frankfurt on the Main. She received her doctor’s degree at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and was in the position of a research assistant there until 2009. Her focus of research is on escape and migration.
Review in Aethiopica 15 (2012)
Under these links you will find further empirical studies focusing on migration and the position of asylees in Germany and other societies, as well as descriptions of languages and cultures of Eritrea:
The aim of the work is to examine the different and complex problems of the country of origin, the refugees themselves and the reaction of the host country [...] The ten chapters [...] contain numerous sections dealing with fascinating, but complicated academic, social, religious, political, economic and psychological problems. Hence, it is a dexterous research work of several years based on written and oral sources. [...] The book is [...] rich in information, objective in analysis, well readable in style. Nina von Nolting has made an excellent contribution to Eritrean studies for which we should all be thankful.
Bairu Tafla in Aethiopica, 15/2012, 297-299
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