Session 4(b): Cultural Contructs
Session 4(b): Cultural Constructs
Chair: Ghan Shyam
Black, Muslim, Migrant: The Somali Diaspora of the UK
Natoschia Scruggs
University of California, Berkeley
Migration is one of the most contested social issues across Europe. Newspapers, television shows and radio broadcasts daily report the results of opinion polls and debates on everything from should immigrants be allowed to work, to who is responsible for what is perceived to be the failure of immigrants to integrate into the receiving society. Often these discussions reveal feelings of xenophobia, racial injustice and religious intolerance-as expressed by immigrants and native born citizens. A recent poll conducted in the UK by the General Synod, the Church of England’s Parliament, found that many UK-born Britons (and some immigrants to the UK) blame the British government for instituting a brand of multiculturalism that has created societal divisions and animosity rather than social cohesion. In addition, some believed that the large influx of non-Christian immigrants threatens the country’s Christian heritage.
Since the outbreak of civil war and the collapse of the Republic of Somalia in 1991, millions of Somalis have fled their homeland-many making their way to Canada, the United States, Europe and parts of the Middle East. It is estimated that there were two million people in the Somali global diaspora by 1999. By 2004, leading scholars put the total population at somewhere between 2.5 and three million. Official statistics estimate that the Somali population in Britain is currently between 95,000-250,000. Refugees arriving throughout the 1990s to the present joined a large pre-existing Somali diaspora that had communities scattered throughout the United Kingdom. However, unlike their earlier counterparts, contemporary Somali migrants openly complain of experiencing marginalization, violence, hostility and an inability to find employment. These complaints are not unfounded. Somalis have been targeted for violence and crime throughout the UK. Oftentimes the violence against Somalis is perpetuated by members of other ethnic minority groups who themselves feel marginalized within the receiving society.
The goal of this paper is to examine post resettlement life for Somalis in the UK. The primary research questions probed are: What is the reception Somalis experience in the host society? How has migrating impacted Somali families and the Somali community at large? And, what social and cultural integration do they experience in the UK? Special emphasis will be placed on understanding the public policies of the UK in regard to immigration, asylum and refugee resettlement to uncover how the UK government conceives of social and cultural integration, multiculturalism and citizenship. Answering the queries this paper addresses reveals just as much about the migrants in question as it does about the members and government of the host society.
My Red, Gold and Green Bindi: The Semiotics of Identity, Authenticity and Ownership in Multicultural Canada
Naki Osutei
Toronto, Canada
The title of this paper refers to the hybridization of symbols traditionally associated with Jamaican (red, green and gold) and Indian (bindi) cultures respectively, an act often construed as a consequence or celebration of multiculturalism. However, the political pre-text that lends itself to this interpretation is, at times, in conflict with the lived experience of multiculturalism. How then can notions of sharing and preserving culture, as suggested in Canada’s Multiculturalism policies, be reconciled?
Employing cultural and semiotic theories, and highlighting Toronto-based exemplars of this phenomenon, an argument is made for the disengagement of essentialist modes of culture, particularly those which construe skin as a determinant of cultural membership or ownership. The author proceeds to consider how the physical and social relocation of peoples affects how “authentically” culture can be re-produced and re-presented.
An understanding of these challenges will figure greatly into negotiations of sharing and preserving cultural symbols as well as the manner in which we construct Canadian-ness. Thus, not only is this study an important contribution to the multiculturalism discourse, it is critical to furthering our understanding of social cohesion.
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Diversity within Chinese Diaspora: “Old” versus “New” Huaqiao residents in South Korea
Young Ju Rhee
Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
This paper explores the distinctions between the ‘old’ huaqiao and ‘new’ huaqiao residents in South Korea, and how their presence and diversity challenges the conception of South Korean citizenship and sense of belonging. The ‘old’ huaqiao are primarily 2 or 3rd generation overseas Chinese and are a declining population of approximately 22,000 people, who originate from the Shandong region of mainland China. They have historically experienced discrimination due to ethnically-based notions of membership in South Korean society at both the policy and general public levels. Also, due to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 and the severing of ties between South Korea and PRC, the old huaqiao hold Taiwanese citizenship. Their origin and differing dialect, Taiwanese citizenship, along with overall economic weakness in the host society has set the ‘old’ huaqiao residents of South Korea apart from the rest of the Chinese diaspora in Asia and around the world. The ‘new’ huaqiao on the other hand are PRC citizens with ethnic Chinese origin, estimating around 90,000 people, and range from 3D labor migrants to young professionals who are able to take advantage of South Korea’s developed economy and immigration policy reforms since 1997. The comparative study of the ‘old’ and ‘new’ huaqiao residents in South Korea and the evolving policies toward this disapora group well represent the changing understanding of national belonging in South Korea and how the conception of citizenship as a relation between the individual and the state is being contested. .Moreover, through examining the ways huaqiao residents of South Korea maintain and recreate their ‘Chineseness’ within the host society, homeland, and Chinese diaspora, this study shows the practice of multiple belongings, including increasing number of those who seek to be maximal rights-based residents rather than full-fledged citizens, or dual citizenship.
CIS-Countries: Tendencies, Formation of Diasporas and Impact Development
Sergey Ryazantsev
Department of Social Demography, Social and Political Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Labour migration in the CIS has become a large-scale significant socio-economic phenomenon. According to our estimation, 8-11 million people or approximately 6-8% of economically active population of the region is involved in it.
There is large-scale labour migration from the CIS countries to many countries of Europe, including Russia. The most significant streams of labour migrants come from the Ukraine. The real figures which are given by the trustworthy researchers are 2-3 million Ukrainians, working abroad. Illegal Ukrainian migrants search for work in Russia, the countries of the Eastern Europe, Turkey and Germany. Their number definitely exceeds the number of Russian gastarbeiters. Another CIS country with scale labour migration is the Republic of Moldova. According to IOM, approximately 600-800 thousand Moldavians work abroad.
The labour migrants from the Transcaucasian countries are quite numerous. 700 thousand Armenian citizens, about 1-1.5 million citizens of Azerbaijan, 200-300 thousand citizens of Georgia are working abroad. In Russia the total of labour migrants from the Transcaucasian countries is 1.2-1.5 million.
Labour migration from the countries of Central Asia is also intensive. Tajikistan being the country with the lowest socio-economic indices in the CIS stands for the leader. The total of its citizens working abroad comes up to at least 500-600 thousand; 85% of them choose namely Russia. Presently there are about 600-700 thousand labour migrants in Uzbekistan. In Kirghizia the estimation varies within 600-700 thousand people; less than half of them goes to Russia.
The CIS countries in the ratio of the parameters of labour immigration and emigration are not homogeneous. Three CIS countries, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, applying mainly the methods of “shock therapy” are regarded as “the radicals”. From the point of the ration of labour migration they are not homogeneous: Russia and Kazakhstan accept migrants, and Kyrgyzstan “gives” them abroad. In Russia the legal entrance of labour migrants (immigrants) exceeds the departure (emigration) in 8 times, and in Kazakhstan – in 10 times.
The “Intermediate group” of the CIS countries carried out the reforms slower than “the radicals”, but faster than “the conservatives”. For example, for one labour migrant arriving to the Ukraine there are six migrants who left to work abroad. In Moldova and Tajikistan this ratio turns up to be 1:40 and 1:600 correspondently. The “conservative states” from the point of view of migration are obvious donors – Uzbekistan and Belarus. According to the official statistics (the FMS data), the number of legal labour migrants working in Russia had a tendency towards growth. For example, in 2005 there were 700 thousand people. Thus the share of gastarbeiters in the structure of the employed population of Russia remained scarce – about 1%.
The structure of foreign workers employment shows that the main spheres, attractive for gastarbeiters are building, industry and agriculture. Moreover, there is a kind of a “specialization” of gastarbeiters from different countries in definite spheres of employment. As some studies show, builders and repair men, industrial workers and transport workers come mostly from the Ukraine. Labour migrants from Azerbaijan, China and Vietnam are mainly attracted into the sphere of trade. Immigrants from China work in agriculture.
According to the state balance of payment, issued by the Bank of Russia, the amounts of the remittances of Russian labour migrants working abroad make about 700-800 million dollars. In absolute calculation it is much more than the CIS countries receive from the internal labour migrants, but in relative figures it is approximately 0.2% of GNP.
Labour migration has many positive aspects for Russia and the CIS countries. The economic sectors like trade, building, transport services, and agriculture are developing owing to migrants.
In the CIS labour migration generated a powerful flow of remittances. By approximate estimations, gastarbeiters transfer and take out from Russia up to 15 billion dollars annually. With absolute transparency, this money could give the country 4.5 billion of tax deductions (personal income tax for foreigners – 30%). The problem is in exposing these money resources.
Also there are some negative aspects: the stimulation of shadow economy growth, dumping of the wage level, formation of the ethnic enclaves, and the growth of interethnic tension.
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