Migration and Literature: London’s Turkish Immigrants

This paper examines the link between the monocultural British education system and the struggles of UK immigrants, with a focus on London’s Turkish community. Widespread hostility towards migrants and foreign culture in British society is concluded to stem from the assimilationist ideology originally at the heart of the education system and its policies. It is argued that monoculturalism itself is the mother of racism, and that Britain’s monocultural education system has been feeding racial tensions for decades. Similar concerns regarding the education system are covered, such as institutional racism. Multiculturalism and its promotion of tolerance if not respect towards cultural differences is proposed as a solution to replace monoculturalism. London’s Turkish community, it’s history and “self-sufficiency” is examined in detail, especially the causes behind widespread academic underachievement in younger generations. It has been advised that a middleman helps schools and parents communicate and cooperate, as lingual barriers and lack of parental involvement seem to be the biggest causes. On the literary side, the lack of new authors in the Turkish community is attributed to poor academic success and lack of cultural cultivation, while the paucity of translated material is attributed to public disinterest in foreign works, again caused by monoculturalism. Overall, it is concluded that the tendency of Turkish immigrants to rely on their network of countrymen to get things done, as well as lingual, racial, and social barriers have all contributed to an unintentional segregation of the Turkish immigrants from the rest of British society.

Göç ve Edebiyat: Londra’nın Türk Göçmenleri

Bu makale, özellikle Londra’daki Türk toplumuna odaklanarak, tek kültürlü İngiliz eğitim sistemi ile İngiltere’ye göç edenlerin çektiği sorunların arasındaki bağlantıyı incelemekte. İngiliz toplumunda göçmenlere ve yabancı kültüre yönelik yaygın düşmanlık aslında İngiliz eğitim sisteminin ve politikalarının eski temellerinde bulunan asimilasyonist ideolojiden kaynaklandığı tespit edilmektedir. Tek kültürlülüğün ırkçılığın anası olduğu ve İngiltere’nin tek kültürlü eğitim sisteminin yıllardır ırksal gerginlikleri beslediği iddia edilmektedir. Eğitim sistemiyle ilgili benzer endişeler, mesela kurumsal ırkçılık ile ilgili iddialar elden geçirilmiştir. Çok kültürlülük ve onun kültürel farklılıklara saygı olmasa da hoşgörünün teşvik etmesi, tek kültürlülüğün yerini alacak bir çözüm olarak önerilmektedir. Londra’daki Türk toplumu, geçmişi ve “kendi kendine yeterliliği” tahlil edilmekte, özellikle genç kuşaklarda yaygın akademik başarısızlığın ardındaki nedenler. Dil ile ilgili engeller ve ebeveyn katılımı eksikliği en büyük nedenleri gibi göründüğünden, okullar ve veliler arasında iletişim ve işbirliği sağlayabilecek aracı tavsiye edilmektedir. Edebi açıdan, Londra’daki Türk toplumunda yeni yazarların eksikliği akademik başarının zayıflığı ve kültürel tarım eksikliğine bağlanılıyor, ve çevrilen eserlerin azlığı yine tek kültürlülüğün sayesinde yabancı eserlere olan ilgisizliğine bağlanılıyor. Sonunda tespit edilmiştir ki, Türk göçmenlerin kendi işlerini halletmek için genellikle kendi yurttaşlarına başvurma eğilimleri, bir de onların dil, ırk ve sosyal anlamda yaşadığı engelleri, onların İngiliz toplumunun gerisinden istemeden ayrı ve uzak olmalarını sağlamıştır.

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