Strangers. Proximity. Homeland. Identification with and rejection of transcultural lifestyles on the background of the Mehmed Ali Pasha project. A position paper

Abstract

Phenomena such as migration, flight, integration, conversion and multilingualism play a major role in the multi-ethnic societies of Eurasia, whether in Germany and Austria or in Turkey and Tatarstan. In Germany, a model was developed on how to deal with these phenomena with young people in an emphatic, empowering and multilingual manner. This "Pasha method" ties in with the genealogy, language and religion of the participating children. The inspiration for the method came from Alabuga in Tatarstan in 2011 . This text attempts to discuss further possibilities of utilizing the Pasha method in the light of interreligious relations and comparative biographical analysis, since the biographies between the Ottoman Empire and Germany in the 19th century were often colorful and multifaceted, like those of the Ottoman Pasha named Mehmed Ali from Magdeburg.