building better communities in areas of new migration dr deborah phillips universities of oxford and...
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Building Better Communities in
Areas of New Migration
Dr Deborah Phillips
Universities of Oxford and Leeds
Project aims
to explore the impact of new migration on community relations in ethnically diverse inner Bradford
to assess the effectiveness of community forums on local issues for building bridges between new and settled groups
Research team:Bal Athwal, Malcolm Harrison (University of Leeds) Nadia Bashir, David Robinson (Sheffield Hallam)Judith Atkinson (Incommunities, Bradford)
A8 migrant numbers
2010 805
2009 920
2005 3000
Workers Registration Statistics
A8 migration and settlement in Bradford
A8 migrant settlement coincides with areas of high deprivation and ‘Asian cultural spaces’
Structure of talk
Bridge building and social contact theory
Research project – approach to research
Findings
Wider implications
Bridge building and social contact theory
decade of projects implemented under the community cohesion agenda e.g. Amas & Crosland (2006); Commission on Integration and Cohesion (2007)
social contact hypothesis - originates in the socio-psychology and conflict reconciliation literature
cf. Allport 1954; Pettigrew and Tropp 2006; Hewstone et al. 2002; Ross 2000
key idea - under the right conditions, social contact can reduce prejudice and encourage positive social interactions between strangers
conditions: equal status between groups, structured settings, perception of common goals
Myles Hewstone (2009) reviews experimental data to argue that ‘social contact works’
Contact theory and neighbour relations – a critique
the results of bringing strangers together are unpredictable – differences may be reinforced
contact theory assumes that prejudice is rooted in ignorance, and that this can be overcome by contact
real or perceived social inequalities may hamper bridge building
casual encounters between groups may not have sustained effects
BUT…
there may be greater potential for bridge building through formal, structured encounters dialogue around issues of mutual concern (Fitzduff 1996; Ross 2000).
Reviewing the UK evidence at the neighbourhood scale
lack of rigorous project evaluation - hard to assess the impact of bridge building projects on
changing groups’ attitudes/prejudices towards other groups
interpersonal relations
‘circuit of knowledge’ - assumes good practice rather than evidence based
Project design
structured encounters through community forums mediated discussion around issues of local concern in 3 areas of Bradford
Community consultation
•170 residents across 14 community centres
•emerging shared concerns around:• drugs • crime • anti-social behaviour • safety • neighbourliness • housing affordability
Tensions in areas of new migration
What’s bad about where you live? West Bowling Relationships between existing communities and new migrants - disharmony - relating back to the Slovakians. New communities not understanding our ways of living…. Some residents live in fear.
Pakistani man, 26-30, 20 years in area People look at me badly…. We are not bad people. They swear at us and try to slap us.
Slovak man, 19, 5 years in area [There are] problems with Asians. You could just be walking and they want to fight you….
Czech man, 19, 2 months in area
Women’s discussion forums
14 - 18 participants
Source: West Bowling Youth Initiative, Bradford
Engaging young men
Forum evaluation - mechanisms for engagement?
contact and communication
learning about other groups
shared understanding and collaboration
Evaluation: an opportunity for communication and learning
all participants learned something about other groups, but settled groups learnt the most – challenged their misconceptions about newcomers
the exchange of knowledge had the potential to shift perceptions of the other groups - some settled residents became less hostile towards newcomers
Knowledge gained ~ some groups have parallel migration histories
‘they’re just like us, trying to earn a wage for their family’
depth of new migrants’ poverty and deprivation ‘other groups’ are generally friendly and want to mix fear and harassment underpins many community tensions
‘it was the first time I have been together at the table with Asian lads… we’ve never had the chance to talk with them’ (Slovak young man)
Acknowledging ‘fear’: Asian residents’ comments on their Eastern European neighbours
I was quite glad that I came to that meeting because now I know what they think of
us and what we think of them...what made them frightened of us.
They’re scared of us, really scared. It’s hard to believe.
I thought that they didn’t want to mix in with us, but they do want to mix in with us.
But they’re scared of us…, they’re scared of the young community.
Evaluation: building shared understandings?
There was some convergence…
some shared understanding of the nature of problems affecting the community and neighbourhood
a growing appreciation of other people’s points of view, e.g.
settled groups expressed some empathy for the new arrivals’ difficult circumstances
new migrants showed a greater appreciation of settled groups’ views on neighbourliness
BUT……… there were limits to shared understanding. This exposed
religious and cultural differences between groups
racist stereotypes and
perceived inequalities in power and influence
Why limits to shared understandings?
groups could agree on the nature of local problems, but not always on the causes and solutions of them
culture of blaming ‘others’ for neighbourhood problems
settled groups saw greater potential for improving community relations than the new arrivals
women with children generally saw greater potential for longer term collaboration than young men
Forums as a mechanism for community engagement
I want more of them.... I must admit it opened my eyes
Pakistani woman
It was good... I would do it again.... cause everyone could say what they think....
Slovak young man
Good, because we could get our point across. They could say what was on their mind …….. we were talking about the same issues. We didn’t have any argument. Everyone was calm.
Eastern European woman
Conclusions
community forums can help promote contact, communication and learning about other groups open up the possibility for recognising common interests around local issues
mediated discussions that confront differences can increase empathetic understanding between groups bring a new appreciation of cultural differences increase the potential for everyday civility and neighbourliness
BUT
The capacity for overcoming perceived disconnections appears to differ within and between groups, and areas
racism, discourses of ‘otherness’ and inequalities (real and perceived) can undermine attempts to improve community relations
the foundations of bridge building efforts may therefore be relatively
fragile.