Spatial Exclusion of (Racialized) Young Adults via Policing Practices in Hamburg, Germany
Socio-material inequalities and the access to and the common use of public spaces are prominent motives of conflict at present, especially since the COVID-19 Pandemic. The police plays an important role as an actor in conflicts by shaping the spaces and controlling the interaction and is supposed to act by a locally and democratically gained mandate. However, “Security Sector Governance“ (SSG) marks a strong contrast to this vision in Germany. Police everyday life is marked by weak legitimation, authoritarian behavior, group related homophobia, lack of transparency and particularism. Police assaults are a result of these structures, exemplary on (racialized) teenagers and adolescents, who depend on public spaces for social participation and a self-chosen lifestyle. Such assaults on fundamental rights have entirely negative impacts on the society and social peace. If state organs ignore legal protection and the safety of people by claiming sovereignty and using coercive instruments and thus present a source of danger, it produces socio-political fragmentation, unbundling and horizontal division and shatters democratic-discursive integration und intra-societal confidence, mainly in marginalized localities and in subaltern communities.
Thus, police practices are a political issue which should consequently be examined scientifically and thoroughly and debated. Reports on systematic police misconduct and research projects dealing with it are, however, blocked by many of those responsible. That is why the interdisciplinary or rather undisciplined PARP (Participatory/Policing Action Research: Police) Framework investigates three complexes which are linked with each other independently since 2020:
- What are the socio-political functions of the police in Germany?
- Who profits from normative police practices – which and/or whose values, morale and claims to power are coded in it?
- How is it decided why, when and how the police works – which and/or whose attitudes and ideas as well as templates of discrimination are active?
Under these headline topics, the PARP Field Research Module 9148 will look into these specific questions:
- How do young adults experience a spatial exclusion by the police of Hamburg?
- How do young adults understand their police experience regarding socio-political relations, contexts and circumstances in Germany?
- How do young adults react on a spatial exclusion by the police of Hamburg?
In order to answer these questions, we will integrate (racialized) teenagers and young adults in a knowledge production in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, in order to be able to trace their perspectives. For detailed backgrounds and contacts see the project-website: https://parp-frame.org/9148
Student research group
- Hauke Brückner
- Laleh Rezaei
- Jessica Wulf
Mentor
- Prof. Dr. Nina Perkowski
- Dr. habil. Nils Zurawski