ABSTRACT
This study explores the fatherhood experiences of “imported grooms” who migrated to Hamburg through marriage. It aims to trace the effects of migration on fatherhood roles. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 fathers who were born in Türkiye, migrated to Hamburg through marriage, and have bilingual children. Employing a phenomenological design within qualitative research, the data were analyzed using content analysis with the MAXQDA 24 software. Findings reveal that during the migration process, fathers experienced a decline in social status, a weakening of domestic authority, and consequently a questioning of traditional masculinity roles. The most common factor underlying these shifts was the fathers’ limited language proficiency. Fathers who failed to acquire sufficient German competence were found to develop superficial emotional connections with their bilingual children and to participate only marginally in social life. Consequently, mothers - who were born and raised in Germany - became the primary agents shaping both familial and public-sphere relationships. In other words, Turkish fathers experienced ruptures in the fatherhood patterns inherited from their own fathers. Moreover, Germany’s strong policy focus on women and children has continued to widen these ruptures. Ultimately, fatherhood experiences that were traditionally defined in Türkiye have been forced to diverge from conventional roles through the combined influence of language barriers and host-country policies, steering migrant fathers toward more “involved fatherhood” practices.
