Abstract

The article argues that multiculturalism is not integrated into the city's cultural policy which promotes Berlin as an internationally open, high cultural metropolis, but not as culturally diverse. The responsibility for multiculturalism falls to the Commissioner for Foreigner Affairs whose main concern is social integration while countering discrimination on the basis of cultural differences. Recurrent political debates on national identity and «dominant» culture have sought to perpetuate ethnic- based citizenship and exclude migrants from it. The institutions themselves which foster a multicultural public sphere treat migrants as foreigners and their cultures as deriving from the country of origin rather than being «made in Berlin».