Refugees' Experiences
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Research Centre on Identity and Migration Issues University of Oradea RCIMI Journal of Identity and Migration Studies University of Oradea Publishing House Volume 11, number 2, November 2017 JOURNAL OF IDENTITY AND MIGRATION STUDIES The Journal of Identity and Migration Studies (JIMS) is an online open-access review published semi- annually under the auspices of the Research Centre on Identity and Migration Issues – RCIMI, from the Department of Political Science and Communication Sciences, University of Oradea, Romania. Director Lia Pop, University of Oradea, Romania Editor-In-Chief Cristina Matiuta, University of Oradea, Romania Deputy Editor-In-Chief Marius I. Tatar, University of Oradea, Romania Editorial Board Gabriel Badescu, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania Bernardo Cardinale, University of Teramo, Italy Radu Cinpoes, Kingston University, London, UK Vasile Cucerescu, Institute of International Relations, Chisinau Ioan Horga, University of Oradea, Romania Alexandru Ilies, University of Oradea, Romania Zaiga Krisjane, University of Latvia, Latvia Jan Wendt, University of Gdansk, Poland Luca Zarrilli, University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy Assistant Editors Ioana Albu, University of Oradea, Romania Dan Apateanu, University of Oradea, Romania Alina Brihan, University of Oradea, Romania Gabriela Gaudenhooft, University of Oradea, Romania Ioan Laza, University of Oradea, Romania Irina Pop, University of Oradea, Romania The responsibility for the content of the contributions published in JIMS belongs exclusively to the authors. The views expressed in the articles and other contributions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of JIMS. JIMS - JOURNAL OF IDENTITY AND MIGRATION STUDIES Research Centre on Identity and Migration Issues - RCIMI Department of Political Science and Communication Science University of Oradea Address: Str. Traian Blajovici nr. 2 Oradea, 410238 Romania Tel./Fax: +40 259 408 167 E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Website: www.jims.e-migration.ro Copyright © JIMS, 2017. No parts of this publication can be reproduced without the written permission of the editors. ISSN 1843 – 5610 Journal of Identity and Migration Studies Volume 11, number 2, 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS THEMATIC ARTICLES: ASSESSMENTS OF IMMIGRATION POLICIES ............................. 2 Contact, Perceptions of Threat, and Assessment of Migration Policies in Malta, Karina KOROSTELINA and Lynette CAMILLERI ......................................................... 2 Cultural Interaction and Integration in the Context of Immigration: The Case Study of the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese in Adelaide, Paola TINÈ ........................ 23 RESEARCH ARTICLES .................................................................................................. 34 “Being a Muslim” in France: The Case of Turkish Immigrants, Hasan GULER and Emrullah ATASEVEN .............................................................................................. 34 Reintegration Experiences of Internal Return Migrants in the Wa Municipality, Ghana, Elijah YENDAW, Augustine TANLE and Stephen B. KENDIE....................... 47 Pattern and Determinants of Urban Male Out-Migrants from Bijnor District, Uttar Pradesh, Mashkoor AHMAD .................................................................................. 74 ‘Voluntary’ Repatriation of Rwandan Refugees in Uganda: Between Law and Practice-Views from Below, Ahimbisibwe FRANK ................................................. 98 FOCUS: REFUGEES' EXPERIENCES ............................................................................ 121 Underage Syrian Refugee Girls at an Impasse, Rachid ACIM .............................. 121 BOOK REVIEWS ........................................................................................................ 136 Luigi Moccia, Lia Pop (eds.), Migrants & Refugees Across Europe. How to Share the Challenge for a Shared World of Peace, Bochum: European University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-3-86515-249-7, review by Gabriela GOUDENHOOFT ................ 136 Oh, Joong-Hwan (2016) Immigration and Social Capital in the Age of Social Media: American Social Institutions and a Korean-American Women's Online Community, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, review by Lin HSIEN-MING .......... 143 Katia Pilati, Migrants’ Political Participation in Exclusionary Contexts: From Subcultures to Radicalization, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, ISBN 978– 1–349–71645–6, 123 pages, review by Marius Ioan TĂTAR ............................... 148 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ..................................................................................... 153 1 Journal of Identity and Migration Studies Volume 11, number 2, 2017 THEMATIC ARTICLES: ASSESMENTS OF IMMIGRATION POLICIES Contact, Perceptions of Threat, and Assessment of Migration Policies in Malta Karina KOROSTELINA and Lynette CAMILLERI Abstract. Numerous studies examine the effectiveness of the contact hypothesis in resolving conflict. While ample research has been conducted regarding the prevalence of xenophobia with the rise of the refugee crisis worldwide and increasing perceptions of threat towards immigrants, little has been written on relationships between contact and assessment of immigration policies. This study explores the impact of different forms of contact between the Maltese and the Sub-Saharan African migrants in Malta on perceptions of threat and immigration policies. More specifically, this study asks what are relationships between forms of contact, perceptions of threat, and assessment of migration policies and institutions. The authors posit that perception of threat arrives from different patterns of interaction between the number of immigrants and type of contacts. They also explore the impact of the form of contact and level of threat on general support for migration policies and analyze how different types of threat affect support for particular policies. The study compares the intergroup contact in two localities of Balzan and Marsa that are both home to Open Centers for migrants. Keywords: intergroup contact, immigrants, perceptions of threat, assessment of immigration policies Impact of contact on prejudice, perception of threat, and assessment of policies Since Allport first detailed his original “contact hypothesis” in the Nature of Prejudice, a wealth of social scientific scholarship has emerged reaffirming the notion that contact between different identity-based groups has the function of reducing prejudice (Pettigrew 1998; Pettigrew & Tropp 2006; Wagner, Christ, 2 Assessment of Migration Policies in Malta JIMS - Volume 11, number 2, 2017 Pettigrew, Stellmacher & Wolf 2006). The scholarship of many of these authors, which has developed and refined Allport’s original work, has transformed the contact hypothesis into a now well-established theory on intergroup contact (Pettigrew 1998, Pettigrew & Tropp 2006; Pettigrew et al 2011). While much has been written regarding the prevalence of xenophobia with the rise of the refugee crisis worldwide, little has been written in relation to contact hypothesis theory and its correlation to changes and debates on immigration policy. Although legislation cannot directly reduce personal prejudice, by controlling the “outward expression of intolerance,” it may have a ripple effect onto “inner habits of thought and feeling” (Mitchell 2005; 467-477). A change in social structure may lead to a transformation of a situation, which may in turn lead to a modification in behavior, resulting in a change in attitudes. Thus, the importance of policy must be underlined. Several studies on intergroup relations have pointed out the wider implications of the results on the policies that could be enacted at the site of intergroup clashes to reduce intergroup hostilities (Pettigrew,1986). In their more recent study on the contact hypothesis in relation to attitudes toward Latino populations and immigration policy in the United States, Ellison, Heeju, and Leal (2011) disaggregated the concept of friendship into two constituent parts: close friendship and acquaintance. The authors highlight that there is also a proximate association between this friendship and more positive, attitudes toward immigration policy concerning Hispanic communities. Other scholars advanced an argument of complementarity between context and contact: while contextual factors such as “level of immigration to the country” or immigrant group size serves to facilitate a heightened perception of threat, intergroup contact functions to “mediate” these contextual elements by assisting to diminish threat perceptions (Stein, Post, and Rindin 2000 & McLaren 2003). Similarly, the study conducted in New Zealand showed that individual differences in dangerous world beliefs interacted with a proportion of immigrants in the local community resulting in higher levels of prejudice (Sibley, Duckitt, Bergh, Osborne, Perry, Asbrock, Robertson, Armstrong, Wilson, & Barlow 2013). Moreover, McLaren importantly notes that the above examples of environmental factors do not serve to specifically influence “degrees of willingness to expel or include immigrants in society” (2003: 909). Stein, Post, and Rindin further suggest that context and contact variables are interactive, whereby together they both influence attitudes toward immigration 3 Karina KOROSTELINA and Lynette CAMILLERI JIMS - Volume 11, number 2, 2017 policy options (229). Pertinently, this scholarship is situated closely to emergent work on attitudes