Hierarchies in Skin Color

If discrimination and racism still exist, freedom is a misleading or wrong notion. Ukrainian refugees being referred to as real war refugees and Syrian refugees as economy migrants or fraud. Reports about Ukrainian refugees given priority over Non-European refugees at public facilities or when crossing borders. These describe the occurring german public discourse since the beginning of the war in Ukraine which address a hierarchy in the treatment of different ethnic groups of refugees. The scientific paper, which was submitted as a Bachelor thesis, considers the two refugee situations in 2015, 2016 and 2022 in Germany. The focus is on the similarities and differences on a systemic and structural level in Germany and the EU for the two largest refugee groups, namely from Syria and Ukraine. It is compared based on the characterization of the respective refugee group, the reasons for their flight, the contexts of the two wars and their relationship to the German society. Moreover it is analyzed how the colonial legacy impacts todays institutions, legal regulations and the representation of ethnic minorities in the media and political discourse. The title Hierarchies in Skin Color refers to a superiority and inferiority of different Skin Colors among different ethnic refugee groups. During the processing of the topic the role of Skin Color and ethnicity as well as the White factor are considered, also by using postcolonial theories and studies by Edward Said and Homi Bhabha. Furthermore, the role of International Social Work as a Human rights profession within existing power structures and the reproduction of racism belong to the scope of work. Throughout history, different ethnic groups have been oppressed by using formulations of racial theories. One was formulated during the European colonialism on the basis of Skin Color which led to an ideology of racism up to the present. This is a call for the injustices in the world, in particular due to racism.

Tamara Mayer (24J), Akademikerin mit Abschluss B.A. im Studiengang Internationale Soziale Arbeit, lebt Themen wie soziale Gerechtigkeit und anti-patriarchale dekolonisierte intersektionale Gleichberechtigung. Mit ihrer bikulturellen filipina-deutschen Identität erkundet sie unterschiedliche kulturelle Identitäten in einem von Rassismus geprägten Machtgefüge in einer postkolonialen und -migrantischen Welt. <3