From Migration to Integration: Actual and Potential Role that Religion and Culture Play

Ashfaq SadiqEmail: ashfaq.sadiq@hotmail.comOctober 04, 2007Tromsø, Norway

Interaction ‘We meet them when we shop’ or ‘We

meet them when we go to job’.

‘We see them at streets’ or ‘We meet them when they come to work’.

Dialogue of the Deaf ‘We are we and they are they’

‘We are aliens, and will always be so’

‘They’ve no respect for what we believe in.’

Dialogue of the Deaf ‘They are violent and practice a

religion which has a violent character’

‘They have no respect for our values’

‘They don’t belong to us’

Inclusion and Exclusion

‘Inclusion: Whose?

Exclusion: By whom?

Religion and Culture

What is Religion? Belief system based on a divine law,

Divine commandments or highest truth,

System of thought considered to be supernatural,

Organization

Spirituality, Sacred,

The moral codes, Practices, Values, Institutions, Rituals

What is Culture? Norms and Value system

Accumulated habits, attitudes, Way of life

Beliefs that define peoples’ general behavior

Total set of learned activities of people

Language

Demonstration

Migration

Migration: Peeping through the past The long past

1. Early Christian migrations

2. Jewish expulsions from Arabia

3. Muslim expulsions from Spain

Migration: Peeping through the past… The near past

1. Jewish migrations from Germany or Post Soviet Jewish migrations to Israel.

2. Muslim migrations from India

3. Hindus and Sikhs being forced to migrate

A change in space leads to a change in scope Religious identity becomes the most persisting feature

immigrants and their descendants retain, even long after the role of language and other cultural aspects have diminished.

Returning to more religious life (a trend observed after family reunifications)

Immigrants become more concerned about their cultural roots

They can be deeply and violently alienated from the society in which they live, even if they have attained a good level of education and income.

Exclusion and marginalization

A retreat from society and a possibility of opting for militant ways of expressing their frustration and asserting their identity.

Implications for public security leading to other members of society feeling threatened by their presence.

The growth of disadvantaged and segregated migrant communities has a high social and financial cost.

Religion and culture, being central and persisting factors, have the potential to effect the integration process. How?

Religion and Norway Two processes:a) Global (A resurgence of political

religion)

b) Local (Strengthening identities along ethno- religious nationalism)

(Prayer calls issue)

Religion, Norway and State Pre 1884 debates on constitution framing excluded

notion of religious freedom.

Ethno-nationalists still believe Christianity being the main identity source for Norwegian nationalism

A short history in terms of migrant (non western) populations, leads to lacking insights about immigrants

State still lacks a vision as to what ‘kind’ of society they want

Poverty of clarity

Structural PoliticalCultural

Total Assimilation Integration

An Unhappy Marriage1. Historical links between the country of

emigration and that of immigration.

2. Temporary settlements often lead to permanent settlement.

3. Legislation and administration tend to share these expectations.

Divided they Stand, United they fall Larger tendencies of a harsh anti-

western attitude and vice versa leads to a forced policy of self-segregation.

Divisions along sectarian lines

Understand the misunderstood

A basic difference in concept of ‘house of worship’ in country of emigration and the country of immigration.

Change and Controlling Change

‘Change’ happens BUT controlling change process has its consequences (Flexibility in religion)

(Re)defining Integration

‘Other’ is not necessarily the ‘Other’

(Re)defining Integration…

Include the excluded (by a mutual commitment to respect and adapt to each other).

(Re)defining Integration…

A sense of common belonging amongst nationals and migrants alike.

(Re)defining Integration…

Transition from informal recognition to official acknowledgement the realities at the national level.

Recognition and accommodation of differences

(Re)defining Integration…

Positive and peaceful inter-actions(Encourage religious places to develop

cultural centers open for audiences other than their own)

Cut the root, not the branches

Educate religious clergy

Thank You