Prof. Dr. Brian Van Wyck

Brian Van Wyck is a historian and assistant professor at the University of Maryland. He specializes in the history of migration from Turkey to West Germany. His current research focuses on how West Germans and Turks grappled with the permanent presence of Turkish guest workers, refugees, and their families in West Germany from the 1960s onward. In the summer term 2023, he is a junior fellow at the KFG in Munich, focussing his research on Islam and the Making of Turkish Difference in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1961-2006.

Research Project

Islam and the Making of Turkish Difference in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1961-2006

The project offers a history of the racialization of Turkish Muslims in the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1960s through the 2000s, focusing on the role of teachers and imams from Turkey who worked with what was the country's largest migrant group by 1973. Teachers offered language courses to the children of "guest workers" in German schools, whereas imams taught religious lessons and led prayers in mosques. In these capacities both provided information for audiences in two countries about Turks in the FRG, culture, Islam, and racialized difference. They did not just produce knowledge, but were called to act upon this knowledge, providing interventions based on what German or Turkish officials deemed to be the needs of the Turkish German population. This position at the intersection of producing and applying knowledge and of the interests of two states makes teachers and imams uniquely valuable subjects in a history of the transnational politics of knowledge about race and Islam. Tracing this history offers insights into the contested and contingent racialization of Islam in Western Europe, the entangling of Turkish and German secular regimes, and transnational attachments encouraged and fostered by sending and receiving states in concert.

Famous Last Words

"Especially as I was the first and only junior fellow this past term, I did have some concern before my arrival about being out of place among the notably accomplished senior fellows and organizers of the group. I'm glad to report that exactly the opposite was the case and the advice and support I received from the KFG will continue to shape my research program going forward. I found the KFG to be an exceptionally congenial and vibrant intellectual community, which is a credit to the work you all have done getting this exciting project off the ground".

Brian Van Wyck | Race and the Making of Turkish Difference: Turkish Teachers and Imams in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1961-2006 as video and podcast on Wissenschaftsportal L.I.S.A.