Identity Negotiation, Pathways to Housing and “Place”: The Experience of Refugees in Glasgow

Abstract

The links between how individuals construct and negotiate identity as they navigate their way through the housing system and "place" have, to date, not been explicitly articulated. Yet, greater understanding of such links is important given the significance of location of housing in decision-making processes and the often close relationship between "who we are" and "where we are". The site of the current study is the city of Glasgow, one of the main sites in the UK for the government's policy of "no-choice" dispersal. Based on empirical data from individual interviews with 32 refugees and a sample of housing and other service providers, this paper explores the usefulness of the housing pathways approach to understanding the experiences of refugees in this city. It reveals that the housing pathways approach has much to offer as an analytical tool for illuminating the specific nature of refugees' contact with, and progression through, the housing system and their changing identity/identities. More explicit links with "place" within the framework as the site for negotiated identity are important for understanding whether or not refugees choose to stay in the city or move on, and their negotiation of identity in the longer term.

Refugee Onward Migration and the Changing Ethnic Geography of Scotland

“…But the only clear distinction between the two groups which emerged from interviews was the absence of employment experience among those in Glasgow; as asylum seekers, they had not been allowed to work. The majority of interviewees in both groups planned to settle where they were, a finding that echoes previous research in Glasgow (Charlaff et al 2004;Netto 2011;Mulvey 2013) and elsewhere (Robinson et al 2007). And there are perhaps several reasons for these decisions.…”

“…More recently, Netto (2011) found that just over two-thirds of her interviewees reported that they were 'very likely' to stay in Glasgow and she points to the 'connectedness to place' which many refugees felt after living in the city. Mulvey (2013) similarly found the majority of his research participants planning to stay in Glasgow, with those who planned to leave only doing so to obtain employment.…”

Staying Put! A Housing Pathway Analysis of Residential Stability in Belgium

“…Pathways at the bottom of the housing market, for instance, do not reflect the singular upward trajectory implied in the 'housing career' approach. The pathways approach therefore has proved to be useful to generate 'thick description' of the turbulent dynamics in and out of situations of homelessness (see Anderson & Tulloch, 2000;De Decker & Segers, 2013;Fitzpatrick, 2000;Fitzpatrick et al, 2013;Meert & Bourgeois, 2005;Wong, 1997), refugees' housing conditions (Netto, 2011), new immigrants (Robinson et al, 2007), middle-class families' choice for urban environments (Karsten, 2007) and camping ground residents (Severinsen, 2013). Second, the housing career approach does not take into account the way in which society constructs norms and expectations about 'changes in tenure or in location'.…”

Reflections on Migration, Community, and Place

“…A small number of studies have, however, directly confronted the question of how migration, community, and place intersect at the local scale (e.g. Cheong et al ., ; Robinson et al ., ; Phillips et al ., ; Kesten et al ., ; Netto, ; White, ; Hickman et al ., ). These studies tend to be dynamic in nature, charting migrant experiences through time, or adopt a comparative approach to reveal variability, contradiction, and ambiguity in the effects and consequences of new migration.…”