Erotic apprehension in Syrian and German encounters

Abstract

The presence of new arrivals from the global South has provoked shifts in Stimmungen (collective moods) and a political backlash against social incorporation in Germany. This long-term study explores erotic apprehensions between Syrian refugees and Germans that inaugurate and form part of processes of incorporation after 2015. It focuses on thick forms of incorporation, based not on shared values or rights to membership but on forms of mutual belonging in which erotic dynamics arise and projections are open to modification. A sense of mutual belonging and long-term incorporation is unlikely without opportunities for encounters in which Germans feel desired and newcomers feel affirmed in their singularity.