Navigating simultaneous racisms: intersecting experiences of in/visibility and antiracist strategies among Turkey-originated communities in Germany

Racism is a pervasive part of migrant biographies, often assumed to work as a mobilizing force in antiracist struggles. However, drawing on the complex dynamics within Turkey-originated communities in Germany, this paper examines simultaneous racisms and diverse agentic responses shaped by deeply rooted power relations. Based on twenty in-depth interviews and two focus groups with minoritized individuals among migrant(icized) groups – such as Kurdish, Alevi, Yazidi, Armenian, Pontus-Greek, and Jewish – the analysis uncovers two co-occurrent manifestations of racism: imposed invisibility, rooted in violent continuity and intergenerational transmission and imposed visibility through hypervisibility and criminalization. The exploration of everyday strategies and repertoires of navigating simultaneous racisms, also reveals agentic aspirations of in/visibility, strategic outing, and the formation of transformative alliances. The paper argues that these positions unsettle homogenizing framings of migrant communities and inform broader debates on in/visibility, racism, and antiracism across transnational contexts.

doi: 10.1080/01419870.2025.2544374 ISSN: 0141-9870 Open Access