Migration

Transnational football

We now jump from the Mexican continent to the European one. Even European countries have the phenomenon of transmigration and of transnationalism. Particularly the big cities, the focus and preferred habitat of migrants, are locations of rapid change worldwide - triggered by the coming together of expectant and diverse population groups who are becoming more mobile. "Transnational Spaces" are formed in many places and are not easy to access or fence. However, they have enduring social structures that are represented in social networks - as we have already seen in Doña Rosa's family.

The anthropologist Philip Kohl shot a film in Mannheim, a small German town, during the 2010 football world cup. In the districts of Jungbusch and Filsbach there is a 60% majority of migrants.

He addressed the question of how a multicultural district experiences the victory "of their national team", even a team that really stands out for its internationality.

The midfielder Mesut Ozil has Turkish roots. In answer to the persistent question by the media as to whether he was now a Turk or German, he replied: "I have spent more time in my life in Spain than in Turkey – am I then a German-Turkish Spaniard or a Spanish-German Turk? Why do we always think in such limited terms? I want to be measured as a footballer - and football is international, that has nothing to do with the roots of the family."

Other stars of the German football team are Lukas Podolski with Polish roots, Sami Khedira with Tunisian roots and Cacau of Brazilian origin.

Task

Watch the trailer for the film as well as the report about it on a German TV channel.

Trailer:

Report on ZDF:

• What feeling does the trailer generate in you?
• How do you imagine the film to be?
• Do you believe the positive subtext of the film?