Integrative Paradigms, Marginal Reality: Refugee Community Organisations and Dispersal in Britain

Abstract

In Britain, the dispersal system for asylum-seekers, introduced in April 2000, has been widely criticised for its negative impacts, upon both asylum-seekers and the regions to which they were dispersed. This article addresses the effects of dispersal on refugee community organisations (RCOs) through two principal aims, the first of which is to outline the effects of dispersal upon RCOs in selected fieldwork locations. Three themes are examined: the growth in refugee communities outside London, the constraints of funding regimes and the politics of community representation in the local policy environment. The second aim, developed through the presentation of our fieldwork material, is to establish a critical perspective on the role and function of RCOs. We question the assumed integrative role of RCOs as interpreted in the policy and academic literature, and we underline the importance to the integration process of informal networks in refugee communities. A central strand of our argument is that the analysis of RCOs needs to be firmly anchored within the broader context of migrant incorporation operating in Britain. We conclude that the dispersal arrangements serve as a model of inclusion and representation for RCOs which is heavily conditioned by the broader race relations and multicultural framework. Far from promoting the integration of refugees, this framework may rather perpetuate a condition of institutionalised marginality for refugee groups.

Refugees, Acculturation Strategies, Stress and Integration

“…They and others have outlined the positive role of migrant and refugee community organisations (MRCOs) in aiding the integration process (Home Office 2005; Phillimore & Goodson 2010;Gameledin-Adhami et al 2002;Griffiths et al 2006). Some policy emphasis has been placed upon seed corn funding migrant and refugee community organisations (MRCOs) to enable them to help facilitate refugee integration through the provision of advocacy, support and opportunities to celebrate cultural identity.…”

Forced migration and the city

“…Firstly, it is notable that these are not widespread areas of attention either within political geographies of forced migration or within urban studies on diversity and difference. This has meant that whilst some work has sought to critically challenge the exclusions of dispersal (Griffiths et al, 2006;Squire, 2009), and some has highlighted its potential to present opportunities for otherwise disadvantaged cities (Phillimore and Goodson, 2006;Zetter et al, 2005), the complexities of dispersal as an experience as much as a governmental process have been left largely unexplored. The outcome of this is that assumptions of dispersal as a 'sensible' response to asylum accommodation have often remained unchallenged (Hynes, 2009).…”

Refugees and Asylum Seekers

“…These investigators challenge the popular conception of refugee community organisations as mediators of the process of integration, arguing that their role has become largely short-term in an unsympathetic policy environment. Rather, they underline the importance to the integration process of informal networks in refugee communities (see also Griffiths et al, 2006).…”