“Bridge Builders” in the Dispositif of Collaborative Inclusion. Enactments of Expertise in Cooperations between Local Administrations and Immigrant Associations

Abstract

Immigrant associations in Germany are increasingly approached as experts and included in administrative action. This article develops a heuristic informed by governmentality studies to analyse this cooperation practice. A document analysis shows that immigrant associations are addressed as “bridge builders” between public administration and migrants. Interviews with actors in a municipal cooperation setting in Berlin reveal the paradoxes of this interpellation as well as reflexive strategies of organisational self-positioning.

Keywords

• immigrant associations
• public administration
• governmentality
• expertise
• ethnicization