catalonia and the culture of welcome: grassroots approaches to refugee integration - methodology,...

CATALONIA AND THE "CULTURE OF WELCOME": GRASSROOTS APPROACHES TO REFUGEE INTEGRATION - METHODOLOGY, GIVING VOICE TO THOSE MOST CONCERNED

WILLIAM NETHERLAND

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

▸ Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

▸ Applied Anthropology▸ Flexibility

INTRODUCTION

THE REFUGEE CRISISImage 1: Regional Overview

Source: The UN Refugee Agency

INTRODUCTION

THE "CULTURE OF WELCOME"

Image 2: Refugiados Bienvenidos

Source: Facebook/Refugiados Bienvenidos

INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES▸ "Thick Description" (Geertz, 1994)▸ How do grassroots organizations in Catalonia define, perceive, conceptualize and

approach refugee integration?▸ Questions of Departure

▸ How have the perceptions of integration among grassroots operatives been influenced by their own experiences of integration?

▸ How has the unique, pluralistic context of Barcelona affected those approaches as well as the involvement of grassroots members themselves?

▸ Having developed in direct response to the refugee crisis, do those conceptualizations of integration apply only to refugees or to other immigrant profiles as well?

▸ What role do they play as mediators and how well do they represent the needs of those most concerned?

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

ETHNOGRAPHY▸ "Ethnographic fieldwork enables us to apprehend

emerging dynamics as they are being built and deployed.” (Arribas Lozano, 2014, p. 1)

▸ “From the scientific standpoint, the research project adds to studies that do not take the term of ‘integration’ as self-evident but problematise the concept by revealing the way it is used by different actors for different reasons.” (Kortmann, 2015, p. 1058)

“MY OBSERVATION OF THE ‘CULTURE OF WELCOME’ IN CATALONIA TRULY BEGAN AT THE MOMENT I AND MY WIFE DECIDED TO MOVE TO BARCELONA. FROM RESEARCHING AND APPLYING FOR SCHOOL ONLINE TO FULFILLING THE VISA REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAINING OUR RESIDENCY PERMITS, I HAVE BEEN ACTIVELY OBSERVING THE WELCOMING NATURE OF THIS PLACE AND THIS PEOPLE. THE FIRST NIGHT WE ARRIVED, WE DISEMBARKED FROM A BUS IN PLAÇA ESPANYA AND WERE QUICKLY ASKED, IN ENGLISH, WHERE WE WERE TRYING TO GO. THE WOMAN WHO HAD ASKED US GAVE US DIRECTIONS TO OUR DESTINATION AND LEFT US WITH THE WORDS, ‘WELCOME TO BARCELONA!’”

Field Notes

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

▸ Vienna, Austria▸ Idomeni, Greece▸ Barcelona,

Spain

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

OBJECTIVITY, COLLABORATION AND ACTIVISM▸ Investigator▸ Volunteer▸ Collaborator▸ Activist

“THUS, INTERNAL CRITICISM AND DEBATE, HORIZONTAL EXCHANGE AND LEARNING, AND VERTICAL COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH MORE POWERFUL PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS TOGETHER FORM A MUTUALLY SUSTAINING CYCLE OF PROCESSES.”

Appadurai, 2002, pp. 42-43

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

CULTURAL INTERPRETATION▸ “The purpose of ethnographic research is to

describe and interpret cultural behavior.” (Wolcott, 1987, p. 43)

▸ Organizational Culture (Wright, 1994)▸ Demographics▸ Image Portrayal▸ Attitudes, Values and Concepts

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

▸ How have their definitions of integration been socially and culturally acquired?

▸ Context▸ Mass Media▸ Family Histories▸ Personal Expectations

▸ How have their definitions of immigration been socially and culturally acquired?

▸ Conflict▸ History▸ Mass Media▸ Gender, Race and Class

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

THE REFUGEE VOICE▸ Multi-site Ethnography (Marcus, 1995)▸ Multivocality▸ Multilocality

▸ (Rodman, 1992)

▸ Methodology of Mediation

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

ANALYSIS

▸ Qualitative Data Analysis

▸ Grounded Theory▸ Inductive Reasoning▸ Redaction

CONCLUSIONS

“SOCIAL SCIENTISTS, PUBLIC OFFICIALS, AND THOSE INTERESTED IN THE WELFARE OF IMMIGRANTS CAN USE ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA TO ENDORSE A MORE COMPLEX COLLECTIVE ETHOS THAT IS ROOTED IN THE HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS AND IS THEREFORE LESS LIKELY TO BE MET WITH RESISTANCE BY HOST NATIONALS.”

Abraham, 2014, p. 118

CONCLUSIONS

THE METHODOLOGY OF MEDIATION

REFERENCES

Abraham, T. (2014). Using Ethnography to Inform Policy and Programs for the Integration of Immigrants: a Case Study in Andalusia, Spain. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 15(1), 117-134. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-013-0271-y

Appadurai, A. (2002). Deep democracy: urban governmentality and the horizon of politics. Environment and Urbanization, 13(2), 23-43. DOI: 10.1177/095624780101300203

Arribas Lozano, A. (2014). Lógicas emergentes de acción colectiva y prácticas colaborativas de investigación. Apuntes para una Antropología junto y con los movimientos sociales. Gazeta de Antropología, 30(1), artículo 07. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/10481/30775

Geertz, C. (1994). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In M. Martin & L. C. McIntyre (Eds.), Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (pp. 213-231). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Kortmann, M. (2015). Asking Those Concerned: How Muslim Migrant Organisations Define Integration. A German-Dutch Comparison. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 16(4), 1057-1080. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-014-0387-8

REFERENCES

Marcus, G. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24(1), 95-117. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523

Rodman, M. (1992). Empowering Place: Multilocality and Multivocality. In S. Low & D. Lawrence-Zúñiga (Eds.), The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture (pp. 204-223). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). (2016). Refugees/Migrants Emergency Response - Mediterranean, Regional Overview. Retrieved November 1, 2016 from UNHCR website: http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.php#_ga=1.97806239.1060609127.1478030093

Wolcott, H. (1987). On Ethnographic Intent. In G. Spindler & L. Spindler (Eds.), Interpretive Ethnography of Education: At Home and Abroad (pp. 37-56). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Wright, S. (1994). 'Culture' in anthropology and organizational studies. In S. Wright (Ed.), The Anthropology of Organizations (pp. 1-53). London & New York: Routledge.