Finding your way into employment against all odds? Successful job search of refugees in Austria

Labour market entry poses enormous challenges for recently arrived refugees, ranging from language barriers, devaluation of human capital, unfamiliarity with customs of the job search process to outright discrimination. How can refugees overcome these challenges and quickly enter gainful employment? In this paper, we draw on interviews with 26 male and female refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, conducted in 2017 and 2018, who came to Austria in 2015 and 2014 and who have successfully entered employment. We depict refugees’ own perspectives on and strategies for fast job entry and integration. Personal agency and a proactive approach of seeking and seizing opportunities are key for overcoming initial barriers and entering upon positive integration pathways. At the same time, refugees’ personal agency is essential for establishing social ties to the host society, which also play a crucial role in early labour market integration. Finally, institutions of the Austrian labour market (the ‘apprenticeship’-system) interact with refugees’ agency in most intricate ways, both setting up nearly insurmountable barriers but also providing specific opportunities for refugees.     

Crossing borders: family migration strategies and routes from Burma to the US

Over the last 35 years, the US has been the top recipient country for refugee resettlement. Despite political ambivalence about refugee admittance and their integration into America’s sociocultural fabric, little is known in refugee literature about how receiving countries’ refugee and asylum policies structure refugee migratory processes and flows from countries of origin. Based on 21 in-depth interviews and group discussions with Chin-Burmese families, this paper traces migratory strategies and routes from Northern Burma to the US by examining the role of class, family dynamics, cross-border connections and social capital in migratory decision-making for irregular border-crossings and endurance as transit migrants. Additionally, I analyse the critical functions of intermediary social actors and institutions, particularly faith and community-based organisations, for gaining entry to destination countries. I show that examining Chin refugees’ agency and pre-migratory motives demonstrates the heterogeneity of the refugee population, justifying Chimamanda Adichie’s claim that ‘nobody is just a refugee’.     

In the Name of God and Nation: The Overlapping Influence of Separatism and Religion on Ethnic Conflict

Processes of migration, diaspora and exile offer diverse and complex environments for the renegotiation of social identities. Immigrants and refugees must not only adapt to the material circumstances of uprooting but must also confront, maintain or recreate a sense of self, often in contexts which are vastly different and fraught with constraints, in which they are removed from their familiar social networks and in which their previous identities may be of little meaning or relevance to the new society. In confronting an altered social status and radically different circumstances, individuals may be required to come to terms with a new or reconstructed sense of ethnic or national identity. This process is not only a personal one but involves affiliations with others who engage in similar interpretations and adaptive strategies and enmity toward those who do not' Field, 1994: 432 . Such a process can be seen as part of the phenomenon of transnationalism, the process by which immigrants forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement' Basch et al., 1994: 7 . One important aspect of transnationalism is the role that immigrants and refugees play in political activities in both their countries of origin and residence, and their political commitment often has important implications for their sense of self, particularly when those political activities are directed towards the creation of a new homeland for oppressed minorities. This paper examines the role played by diaspora intellectuals in promoting a nationalist discourse which calls for the creation of an independent state for the Oromo, who constitute one of the largest ethnic populations in Africa and the manner in which their participation in such discursive activities allow them to engage in a reconstruction of their own identities and in the shaping of national and personal senses of the self.     

Survival and integration: Kachin social networks and refugee management regimes in Kuala Lumpur and Los Angeles

How do refugees establish social networks and mobilise social capital in different contexts throughout a multi-stage migration process? Migrant social network literature explains how migrants accumulate social capital and mobilise resources in and between origin and destination but provides limited answers regarding how these processes unfold during refugee migrations involving protracted stays in intermediate locations and direct interaction with state agents. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork with Kachin refugees in Kuala Lumpur and Los Angeles, I address these gaps by comparing refugee social networks in two sites of a migration process. Distinguishing between networks of survival and networks of integration, I argue that differences in their form and functions stem from their interactions with local refugee management regimes, which are shaped by broader state regulatory contexts. In both locations, these networks and regimes feed off each other to manage the refugee migration process, with key roles played by hybrid institutions rooted in grassroots adaptation efforts yet linked to formal resettlement mechanisms. Considering the refugee migration process as a whole, I show that Kachin refugees demonstrate their possession of social capital gained during the informal social process of migration to advance through institutionalised political processes of resettlement in each context.     

Transnational contention,domestic integration: assimilating into the hostland polity through homeland activism

While scholars have studied the political incorporation of migrants and refugees through measures related to naturalisation and voting, others have investigated the ways by which participation in protests and other forms of activism foster assimilation. But how is transnational contention connected to domestic integration? Using archival research and life history interviews of Filipino migrant activists in the U.S. and the Netherlands and drawing from the literatures on immigrant assimilation and social movements, I show the processes and mechanisms that enable activists to become simultaneously involved in the movements for homeland regime change for migrant/minority rights in the hostland. Thus, they assimilate into the domestic polity while they participate in transnational politics. I argue that as activists perform the functions associated with homeland activism, they develop relations and networks that allow new forms of collective identities to emerge, often rooted in civil-society spaces in the hostland. This study contributes to the debate on transnationalism and assimilation, which has recently moved from contradiction to synergy.     

Adulteration of pure native blood by aliens? mixed race kapya in colonial and post-Colonial Myanmar

ABSTRACT

Colonization may be viewed not only as loss of sovereignty and territory but also of ‘purity’ of a native race to an alien power. After the British colonized Burma in the late nineteenth century, they brought in Chinese and Indians to the sparsely populated colony as labour for new administrative and economic activities. Intermarriage, mainly between native Burmese women and men of alien races – British, European, Chinese and Indian – was thus inevitable. Mixed-race peoples – kapya in Burmese – were then born out of these relationships, and their identities became a key political issue in colonial Burma. Importantly, all natives, foreigners, and kapya were British subjects at that time. Independent Burma from 1948 through 1962 was not expressly anti-foreigner/kapya; working to naturalize those who had overstayed or remained. However, the Ne Win government from 1962 through 1988 was openly against ex-foreigner and kapya citizens, passing a new citizenship act in 1982 to downgrade their citizenship to a second class tier. The Myanmar Citizenship Law (1982), which remains in force, has downgraded the legal, political and social stature of ex-foreigner and kapya citizens. A more problematic and racist term thway-nhaw or ‘adulterated’ race has come to the fore, being used in official law-like language in recent years and highlighting the racist roots of the Myanmar Citizenship Law.     

Inclusion,exclusion or indifference? Redefining migrant and refugee host state engagement options in Mediterranean ‘transit’ countries

What determines policies toward migrants and refugees in the transit-turned-host countries? Compared to the vast literature examining migration to Europe and North America, we know relatively little about why ‘newer’ host states pursue a liberal strategy with access to residency, employment and services on par with citizens, or what drives them to treat migrants and refugees with exclusion. This paper argues that there is a third choice: the idea of indifference-as-policy. Indifference refers to indirect action on the part of the host state, whereby a state defers to international organisations and civil society actors to provide basic services to migrants and refugees. The paper uses data collected over two years in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey to examine how this tripartite understanding of engagement maps onto empirical reality. Drawing on this analysis, the argument in this paper is two-fold. First, indifference is a strategic form of engagement utilised by host states, and that it creates a specific type of environment that allows for the de facto integration of migrants and refugees. Second, even when host states take steps toward a more liberal engagement strategy, examining policy outcomes, rather than outputs, demonstrates that indifference is still the dominant policy.     

‘No more Turkish music!’ The acculturation strategies of teachers and ethnic minority students in Flemish schools

ABSTRACT

While considerable research has focused on the process and factors affecting acculturation, there is little research that investigates how members of minority and majority groups define acculturation in educational settings. Ethnographic research and qualitative interviews in three secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium) show that teachers and ethnic minority students have different ideas and expectancies regarding the concept ‘integration’, which appears to affect student–teacher relationship. Berry et al.’s [1989. “Acculturation Attitudes in Plural Societies.” Applied Psychology: An International Review 3 (2): 185-206. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.1989.tb01208.x.] acculturation orientations are used as a theoretical template to analyse teachers’ and ethnic minority students’ discourses about acculturation. Analyses reveal that students of immigrant descent perceive acculturation mainly in terms of the establishment of intergroup contact. In contrast, teachers find it harder to disconnect cultural maintenance from contact and participation. By suggesting some form of cultural adoption, teachers hope to socialise their ethnic minority students into the culture of the dominant ethnic group and prepare them for their future. These distinct interpretations of ‘integration’ in everyday life (which actually refers to acculturation) often leads to misunderstandings between ethnic minority students and their teachers, even to conflict, as many students feel that their cultural background is disparaged and not fully valued in school.     

Making good citizens: local authorities’ integration measures navigate national policies and local realities

ABSTRACT

Using the case of Odense (Denmark), this article explores how, in the process of devising and implementing integration measures, local authorities mitigate between the demands of national-level integration policies and the local realities. It shows that Odense's local authorities combined local resources into a variety of horizontal governance structures geared towards supporting refugees’ integration, and engaged in vertical interactions responding to local priorities. The study finds that new governance structures emerging at sub-national create opportunities for refugees and help their integration. However, inequalities between national and sub-national levels may have negative consequences for refugees’ integration outcomes.     

Super-diversity vs. assimilation: how complex diversity in majority–minority cities challenges the assumptions of assimilation

International migration changed large West European cities dramatically. In only two generations’ time, their ethnic make-up is turned upside down. Cities like Amsterdam and Brussels now are majority–minority cities: the old majority group became a minority. This new reality asks for an up-to-date perspective on assimilation and integration. In this article, I will show why grand theories like segmented and new assimilation theory no longer suffice in tackling that new reality of large cities, and I will question critically whether using the perspective of super-diversity is more pertinent for our analyses. Children of immigrants nowadays no longer integrate into the majority group, but into a large amalgam of ethnic groups. Next to the diversification of ethnic groups, we see diversification within ethnic groups in the second and third generations. I will focus on intergenerational social mobility patterns given that they are key to existing grand theories of assimilation. I will argue that super-diversity theory can only partially show us the way. To further build an alternative theoretical perspective, we also need to borrow from the intersectional approach and the integration context theory.     

国家在场与湘西苗族文化的变迁——民国政府的文化同化策略在湘西苗族地区的实践

民国政府为了建立民族一国家,以汉族文化为标准对湘西苗族进行了文化同化策略.其内容包括:对湘西苗族进行风俗调查和开展新生活运动,改变苗族称呼,兴办国民教育等.但是文化同化的初衷却以失败而告终,其主要原因在于:西方民族-国家模式不适合中国国情;社会局势动荡不安;文化同化策略缺乏持终性且实施不力;国家政权力量较弱等.     

How political migrants' networks differ from those of economic migrants: ‘strategic anonymity’ among Iraqi refugees in Jordan

The study of migrant networks has led scholars to believe that political migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, utilise social networks in similar ways to economic migrants. This assumption is based on empirical investigations of South–North migration in which the Western receiving context is held constant. I argue that the utility of social networks is influenced by the reason for displacement and regional geopolitical frameworks. Like economic migrants, political migrants believe that they would benefit from networks; however, some political migrants must exercise caution in the face of potentially harmful new relationships in receiving countries. These political migrants practise strategic anonymity to navigate social networks. This refers to proactive acts of withholding personal information to maintain security for oneself and one's family. I rely on 30 interviews conducted between 2009 and 2010 with Iraqi refugees in Jordan displaced after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.     

Interpreting conflict and integration through the reciprocity lens: mobility and settlement in a historical perspective on the Sierra Leonean coast

ABSTRACT

In recent years, Sierra Leone has witnessed intense population movements. During the civil war (1991–2002), many populations fled the fighting zones of the interior to take refuge on the coast. Since the conflict ended, new populations have reached the coastal area with the hope of accessing economic opportunities in the fishing business. Mobility, along with changing sociopolitical and economic conditions, has generated conflict between immigrants and Sherbro populations, who consider themselves autochthonous and deny migrants the freedom to access political and land rights. The paper argues that present dynamics of conflicts are rooted in long-term patterns of settlement and relationships of reciprocity between groups. Relations between migrants and local populations are grounded in a sociocultural idiom that implies the institutionalization of practices of reciprocity between local inhabitants (hosts) and later settlers (strangers). The host/stranger reciprocity system is an emic model of cultural action embedded in historical and power relations between groups. It implies the progressive integration of strangers into the host society. This paper highlights how, in a situation of conflict, long-established social relationships between groups are reevaluated with reference to norms of integration and reciprocity. The paper draws on Sherbro oral traditions to show how social memories about interethnic relations are reframed with reference to values and expectations of reciprocity, in order to explain the recent conflict that opposes Sherbros to immigrants. Sherbros use oral traditions to interpret these tensions in a long-term perspective, thereby expressing their own view on settlement, conflict and integration.     

Explaining the refugee gap: a longitudinal study on labour market participation of refugees in the Netherlands

In this paper, we examine the existence and development of the ‘refugee gap’: the difference in labour market participation rates between refugees and other types of migrants. Using the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis, we studied whether the ‘refugee entry effect’ scars refugees for their working careers in the Netherlands. To do so, we used register data (Social Statistical Database), containing information on all refugees who received refugee status in the Netherlands between 1995 and 1999 (N?=?33,030). We compared their labour market participation over the 2000–2011 period with that of labour and family migrants in the same cohort (N?=?78,298). We conclude that the ‘refugee gap’ exists at the start of refugees working career in the Netherlands and that it diminishes over time.     

Young Moroccan-Dutch: Thinking in Dutch,Feeling Moroccan

Abstract

We examined to what extent Moroccan-Dutch (N?=?25) between 15 and 32 years of age are oriented towards the Dutch and Moroccan community when describing their identities. We used the Twenty Statements Test (developed by Kuhn and McPartland (1954). See, M. H. Kuhn and T. S. McPartland, “An Empirical Investigation of Self-attitudes”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 19, No. 1, 1954, p. 69. In this study, participants were asked to complete the sentence with ‘I am..’ 20 times to assess how they described themselves.) and in-depth interviews to understand their challenges on the acculturation path since many face disadvantage and exclusion in the Dutch community. Moroccan-Dutch were, compared to the reference groups of mainstream Dutch (N?=?20) and Moroccans (N?=?25), more proud of their ethnic identity and attached to Islam. Though their Dutch language was dominant, they felt more Moroccan. They praised the Dutch openness, but suffered from negative stereotyping. Their participation in the Dutch community was low. To enhance their position, social professionals working with Moroccan-Dutch could draw on the rich ethnic and faith traditions of this group to encourage their deeper engagement with the Dutch society.     

Education and national identity in a comparative context

A missing link in the voluminous chain of prior studies on Canadian versus American identity is a comparative analysis of the impact of social studies – especially civics – education on the construction of national identity in these two North American nation-states. This article analyzes curricular documents and secondary-level school textbooks to learn more about how social studies education contributes to constructing a sense of ‘being a Canadian’ versus ‘being an American’ north and south of the 49th parallel.     

Muslims’ social inclusion and exclusion in France,Québec,and Canada: does national context matter?*

This article compares the social experiences of Muslim minorities in three contexts – France, Québec, and English Canada – each reflecting a different approach to immigrant integration. France’s republican model emphasises cultural assimilation and the exclusion of religion from the public sphere; Canada’s multicultural model advocates official recognition of minority cultures; Québec shares Canada’s tradition of large-scale permanent immigration but embodies a unique intercultural discourse of integration, in some ways resembling France. We compare the social experiences of Muslim and non-Muslim minorities in these three settings using the French ‘Trajectories and Origins’ survey (2009) and the Canadian ‘Ethnic Diversity Survey’ (2002) data on reports of discrimination, friendship networks, social trust, voluntarism, and national identity. We find the Muslim/non-Muslim gap in social inclusion is significant in all three settings and results from ethnic, cultural, or racial differences, more than religion. In assessing immigrants’ social inclusion, we suggest consideration be given to: (i) the reality of ‘national models’ in the community, (ii) a tendency for minorities to locate in more accepting segments of mainstream society, and (iii) the limited impact of policies based on national models.     

Between transnationalism and assimilation: Polish parents’ upbringing approaches in Belfast,Northern Ireland

Drawing on one-year-long ethnographic study this paper deals with parenting strategies of Polish migrants in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It first provides a general overview of the context for migration in Northern Ireland. It then introduces the theoretical framework for this study, drawing on scholarly debates on acculturation and indicating the gaps in scholarship on Polish migration. Following this, upbringing strategies of Polish parents are examined with particular focus on questions of transnationalism and assimilation. Next, the dynamic and processual nature of these strategies is emphasized. Methods used in this paper are in-depth interviews and participant observation.     

文化圈理论之下的青海河湟汉族求子风俗探析——以湟中县为个案研究

河湟文化圈中汉族一直是文化的主角之一,汉族入迁河湟地区后,在文化的叠加中生活在一个相对封闭的空间里。河湟汉族在重血缘的观念之下求子(尤其求生男孩)风俗较多,除传统汉族的文化因素外还有地缘影响,此观念对河湟世居他族也发生了文化涵化。本文以湟中县汉族为个案研究当下河湟人生仪礼、节庆民俗活动等方面的求子风俗,通过对湟中县的祈嗣民俗事象描述,认识文化圈文化涵化理论在文化建设中的作用。     

From origins to destinations: acculturation trajectories in migrants’ attitudes towards homosexuality

Many immigrants in Western countries hail from countries where attitudes towards gender relations and sexual norms are considerably more conservative than in the host countries where they eventually settle. This paper assesses whether immigrants and their children acculturate in this dimension, and how migrants’ cultural practices and economic integration influence this process. Presenting a conceptual and methodological innovation, this paper treats acculturation as a process by which immigrants (and their children) shift from the attitude distribution in the origin country to the one of the host country. Using a cross-classified hierarchical regression model and data on attitudes towards homosexuality in 83 countries of origin and 23 destination countries, I model the relative influence of origin and destination contexts on the attitudes of 15,000 immigrants and children of immigrants in Europe. In line with previous work, I find considerable evidence for acculturation across and within generations, but also important variation: respondents who use the home-country language, who are religious, or who are economically marginalised, show less acculturation in attitudes, though these effects vary between immigrants and the second generation.