The Promised Land

THE PROMISED LAND

Intercultural Learning with Refugees and Migrants

This publication is distributed free of charge and follows the Creative Commons agreement Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND). You are free to reuse and share this publication or parts of it as long as you mention the original source. Performance rights for DON’T LET THEM TELL YOU STORIES are reserved.

This publication should be mentioned as follows:

E. Efeoglu, M.Walling (eds), THE PROMISED LAND - INTERCULTURAL LEARNING WITH REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS.

Link: https://www.bordercrossings.org.uk/programme/promised-land For further information please contact info@bordercrossings.org.uk

The publishers have made every effort to secure permission to reproduce pictures protected by copyright. Any omission brought to their attention will be solved in future editions of this publications.

Published by Border Crossings 2019

ISBN 10 - 1-904718-11-6

ISBN 13 - 978-1-904718-11-6

EAN - 9781904718116

Cover image: Esodi (Exoduses) group, “L’Eredità di Babele” (The Legacy of Babel, Teatro dell’Argine)

(Photo

© Lucio Summa)

THE PROMISED LAND

Intercultural learning with Refugees and Migrants

Coordinating Organisation - BORDER CROSSINGS (UK) www.bordercrossings.org.uk

Partner Organisations - ADANA ALPARSLAN TÜRKEŞ BİLİM VE TEKNOLOJİ

ÜNİVERSİTESİ (Turkey) - www.atu.edu.tr

- i2u-Consulting (France)

- STADT OLDENBURG (Germany) - www.oldenburg.de

- TEATRO DELL’ARGINE (Italy) - www.teatrodellargine.org

Associate Partners: France: AFPA, Association AKWAMU, Médecins sans Frontières. Germany: Stadt Oldenburg, Ausländerbüro, Jugendkulturarbeit e.V., Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Oldenburg, IBIS e.V., Migrationszentrum Oldenburg, inlingua Sprachschule Oldenburg, pro:connect e.V.. Italy: GVC ONLUS, Comune di San Lazzaro di Savena, Cooperativa Camelot, Opera Padre Marella, Istituto Aldrovandi-Rubbiani, ITC Teatro di San Lazzaro, CPIA Centro per l’Istruzione degli Adulti, Cantieri Meticci / MET, MAMbo Museo d’Arte Moderna Bologna, Biblioteca Salaborsa, Centro Interculturale M. Zonarelli. Turkey: Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants, Support to Life Association, Turkish Language Teaching Centre - Adana Alparslan Türkeş Science and Technology University UK: Borderlines, CARAS, Cavendish Primary School, Chickenshed Theatre, Clowns Without Borders, Migration Museum, Red Cross, Refugee Therapy Centre, Rich Mix Arts Centre, St Charles 6th Form College, Westway Trust.

E-book edited by Assoc. Prof. I. Efe Efeoglu Prof. Michael Walling

© All copyright remains with the authors.

This project is funded by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. However, European Commission and UK National Agency cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

<<On peut dire que la pensée postcoloniale est, à plusieurs égards, une pensée monde… Mais la critique postcoloniale est également une pensée du rêve: la rêve d’une nouvelle forme d’humanisme - un humanisme critique qui serait fondé avant tout sur le partage de ce qui nous différencie, en deçà des absolus. C’est le rêve d’une polis universelle parce que métisse.>>

(Achille Mbembe - Sortir de la grande nuit)

“It could be said that, in many respects, post-colonial thought is a conception of the world… But post-colonial thought is also a dream: the dream of a new form of humanism, a critical humanism founded above all on the divisions that, this side of the absolutes, differentiate us. It is the dream of a polis that is universal because ethnically diverse.”

(Achille Mbembe - Emerging from the Dark Night)

“Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.”

(John Milton - Paradise Lost)

FOREWORD AND INTRODUCTION

• Foreword by Bushra Ali

• Introduction: The Promised Land and the Parliament of Dreams

FOREWORD

by Bushra Ali

I still remember the war plane which flew over the horizon in my home town of Menbij in 1 July 2012, landing and throwing over the heads of the innocent, awakening everybody, marking the coming of the war. This war forced us to leave Menbij for the nearest safe place.

First my brother left Menbij for Europe (Norway), then my family - my father and mother and I - left for Turkey.

Turkey was our shelter and our refuge. It was very safe and its people were kindly: we felt we were not so far from our home. But as the months passed, life in Turkey was not so simple as we expected.

The first obstacle was Language. The smallest daily needs like how to buy our groceries, how to rent a house, how to continue our studies, how to find a job. My father had been a manager in many factories, but now he became an old man without the Turkish language. In Syria we had studied Arabic, English and French, but not Turkish.

In Syria I finished my first year in faculty of education in University, but now in Turkey I would have to start from scratch.

Some Turkish people seem to think the presence of Syrians in their country poses a threat to their jobs and study opportunities. This can make them quite aggressive towards us. To a degree they seem to forget why we came here in the first place.

Of course not all Turkish people are like that: many are really friendly, helpful and sympathetic.

Although the Turkish government requires schools and universities to integrate Syrian students, some teachers, professors and students don't accept it. They sometimes hurt the Syrian students' feelings with their glances which are enough to hurt their hearts. Even if we are refugees, we are still humans.

What we refugees need is for people to accept our temporary presence in their country, and to help us to overcome the difficulties that we face after we came here because of war.

I think the media can play a major role to reflect the Syrian misery and to explain to the Turkish people why we are here, and that we are ready to go back to Syria whenever the war ends.

I miss my town and its streets. I miss my house and my room. I pray to God to have peace in Syria so we can all go back to our home.

Menbij is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, 30 kilometers west of the Eu 1phrates. In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Menbij had a population of nearly 100,000.

THE PROMISED LAND AND THE PARLIAMENT OF DREAMS

by Michael Walling (Artistic Director - Border Crossings)

There was a Biblical echo when we named the project. But we didn’t call it THE PROMISED LAND because we wanted to privilege the worldview of a Judaeo-Christian or Islamic mind. Rather, we wanted our project to be about Hope. The forlorn figure that begged to be released from Pandora’s Box, after all the evils had been unleashed upon the world, Hope is the human quality to which we turn when there is nothing else to sustain us. It is Hope that enables people to crowd into tiny boats and set out across the Mediterranean, with no idea of what may lie beyond, or whether they will even survive the voyage. It is Hope that compels them to cram into the backs of lorries, to scale barbed wire, to hang on the underside of trains. Hope appears when everything seems hopeless. It is the last reserve of the human spirit. Faced with another person’s Hope, it becomes our moral obligation to proffer THE PROMISED LAND.

THE PROMISED LAND had its origins in the EU’s Voices of Culture programme – a regular process of consultation with the cultural sector. In June 2016, a group of us gathered in Brussels to discuss the role of culture in response to the recent waves of migrations into Europe: the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015. Micaela Casalboni, Nicole Deufel and I were all part of that group, and took an active role in preparing its report, which Rosanna Lewis of the British Council and I were subsequently asked to present to the OMC group, working on the same policy area. Our report and theirs converged in many ways, par 2 3ticularly around policy recommendations, but they also highlighted significant areas that required greater investigation and trans-national co-operation. Migration is clearly a European issue, and yet the response of most Member States has been inward- looking and self-serving in the most short-sighted way. Initiatives from Member States and at European level have tended to stress “integration” (or even “assimilation”), rather than the dynamic potential for cultural regeneration and revitalisation that new populations could and should represent. The onus has been laid on the migrants to adapt to host cultures, rather than on the opening of an equal dialogue; and this could be regarded as upholding and perpetuating neo-colonial relationships between cultures, rooted in histories of oppression and prejudice. At our meeting with the OMC group, the Dutch delegate Jan Jaap Knol highlighted their feeling that the real work of culture did not rest with the refugees and those working alongside them, but with recalcitrant host populations. For Micaela, Nicole and myself, the Voices of Culture consultation seemed to raise more questions than it solved. Our Strategic Partnership was set up in response. Micaela’s company, Teatro dell’Argine, parallels the work of Border Crossings in many respect s – not least in the way both organisations combine the intercultural outlook of their professional productions with direct grassroots work that places refugees and other cultural minorities in dialogue with host populations. Nicole’s work in the Civic Museums of Oldenburg is very different: here the cultural context is more established, so

https://www.bordercrossings.org.uk/sites/default/files/VoC_fullreportFINAL.pdf

https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4943e7fc-316e-11e7-9412-01aa75ed71a1/ 3 language-en/format-PDF/source-30942640

the process of institutional change required by the city’s rapidly shifting demographic is inevitably less nimble. For all the differences, the question of re-thinking our histories is at the heart of the project for all three organisations.

We realised that all three of us had quite similar standpoints, and that our voices came very specifically from the cultural sector. As we started to plan a funding bid for an Erasmus + Strategic Partnership, we began to consider the need for culture to resonate with and impact upon other sectors, the necessity of a networked approach not only to cultural, but to wider social and political initiatives. As a result, we approached Efe Efeoglu at Turkey’s Adana Science & Technology University, and Nicola Scicluna at i2u Consulting in France, both of whom could add new, broader perspectives to the work we were planning. Efe’s work is around Business Studies – and his institution sits in a city close to Turkey’s Syrian border, that has been transformed by the influx of new citizens since the civil war. Nicola, based in Toulouse, offers training approaches to teams in the workplace (for example at Airbus) as well as facilitating relevant policy conferences like the April 2019 Eurocities meeting. Our sense was that the addition of their organisations would give the Strategic Partnership a clear shape – starting from the educational and social initiatives which refugees and migrants may encounter on their first arrival in Europe, and proceeding through processes of cross-cultural encounter, dialogue and creativity towards a dynamic integration into a culturally open workspace. Such, at least, seemed to be our ideal model. This e-book charts the journey we have gone on together over the two years of the project, the learning that each partner has offered to the others, the approaches we have found to be most powerful and effective, and the policy recommendations we wish to offer in response.

The project developed through five “Training Weeks”, one hosted by each partner, starting in Turkey, and moving through Italy, the UK, Germany and finally France. In each country, we were able to explore the asylum system and its political context, the work of NGOs, educational and cultural institutions, and the processes through which migrants were able to enter the workforce (or not). We explored the processes and methodologies through which the different partners, operating in distinct but complementary sectors, were engaging in dialogues with new citizens – methodologies which are recorded and evaluated in this e-book. We attempted to frame the social, political and cultural changes we were witnessing within our established academic and vocational approaches – and constantly found them to be inadequate to the task. We found that the shifting populations of the new Europe demanded a total re-invention of our governing paradigms. It is perhaps this that is the real “crisis” with which we are faced.

This crisis of cultural adjustment was particularly manifest in two strands of our partnership’s work: pedagogy and cultural activism. Very early in the project, it became apparent that the accepted modalities of “training”, in which an existing knowledge, “owned” by a partner organisation or an expert individual, is imparted to others, was inadequate for the project’s needs. The cultural diversity within the participants themselves, and the cross-sectoral make-up of the partnership, meant that any methodology or theoretical framework required questioning, reflection and adaptation in order to be applied to the fluid and volatile current situation around migration. As a result, our training weeks, while continuing to offer examples of good practice and sharing our own approaches, increasingly became spaces of reflection and development, where the combined intelligence of participants was brought to bear on the cultural and educational practices placed before us. In preparing the week in London, I found myself deliberately

including one example of theatre around refugees that I actively disapproved of, with the clear intention of provoking debates around cultural and personal ownership of biographical materials. Nicole Deufel’s curation of the week in Oldenburg was similarly catalytic: she placed her own work in the context of a much wider global debate around the role of museums, and set it against a range of practices happening across the city in response to recent migrations. Those of us experiencing that week found ourselves having to imagine ways of bridging the apparent gaps between established museum practices and a rapidly shifting demographic. This was at once hugely challenging and highly empowering. Our developing reflective practice as a partnership has enabled new ideas to emerge for all the partner organisations, which would not have been possible without the dialogic processes the project has called out. We have been compelled to generate our own process of participatory and egalitarian pedagogy. This is paralleled by the most significant and inspiring practices we have encountered along the way – practices developed in our distinct sectors, but which I would group together under the label of cultural activism. Time and again through the two years of the project, we have caught glimpses of the dynamic and productive cultural exchanges that are possible when a “Third Space” is offered – a space in which hierarchies of power, 4 knowledge and culture are overturned in the pursuit of a genuinely participatory dialogue of equals. Teatro dell’Argine’s “Esodi” group is one clear example of this: a space where young people, migrants and non-migrants, work collaboratively to explore questions around identity, language and difference. The welcome we received from the Migrant Centre in Oldenburg, and from the refugee group IBIS, also demonstrated such processes in action: through dialogues, dances, planting flowers and eating together, these institutions enabled interactions on a basic human level that moved us beyond the labelling of otherness. In Turkey, Lucy Dunkerley and I were able to lead theatre workshops with groups of refugees at the NGO ASAM, and with students at the University –using drama as a way to open up the fiercely questioning intelligence of the young.

In the last example, the young people seemed genuinely shocked by the power of what they had created. Participatory theatre, based around the presence of the body in a shared space, had enabled them to see their society a little differently. The “other”, the “migrant”, the “refugee”, the potential “terrorist”, now became the neighbour in their midst. There was a clear and palpable human connection being made.

This seems to me to be the most powerful and significant finding of the project as a whole – the need for evolving third spaces in arts and culture, museums, education, the workplace and the polity: spaces where new citizens and established communities can and do meet on an egalitarian basis to work together on the challenge of jointly inhabiting a rapidly changing Europe. This is a huge challenge politically: but if we begin from education and culture, which is where all real progress begins, then we have a genuine opportunity for profound, necessary and lasting change. Not overnight, and not in the time of an electoral cycle: but in the longer term, as a vision of what Europe can and must become. We need to collaborate in articulating and building that vision jointly across our diverse communities, accepting and revelling in the complexities of cultural

This idea, first developed by Homi Bhaba, was introduced to the partnership by Simona Bodo in a talk she 4 gave to the partners in Bologna. It posits the need for a space for cultural exchange which is not owned by either the host or migrant community, but which allows for the possibility of real cultural shift and development, rather than the stultifying potential for entrenched positions of exclusivity and ghettoisation that could result from the perpetuation of first and second spaces.

diversity and the fierce, tender contradictions of democratic interaction. We need to eschew hierarchy and promote true equality, even at the cost of our own privilege. We need to meet the human in the other, to embrace them as our fellow travellers on the road to justice. A democratic culture of participation – a Parliament of Dreams.

It is deeply disturbing that, as we explored these real ways forward for our societies through participatory governance, much of Europe was heading in exactly the opposite direction. During our week in Germany, we spent an afternoon with an organisation running trans-European youth exchanges, and participated in some drama games with young people from Poland and Ukraine. Andrea Paolucci (from Teatro dell’Argine) was very disturbed when he played a word association game with them. The idea of “democracy” was associated with “corruption”, “self-interest” and “illusion”. The very idea of a participatory polity seemed alien to these young people. A few weeks later, Ukraine elected a comedian to be its next President.

At the same time, in Andrea’s home country of Italy, Matteo Salvini has been stoking the fires of racial hatred, strengthening his power base by “othering” migrants and ethnic minorities as convenient scapegoats on whom to blame the nation’s problems. Even in Germany, which in many ways is the most morally adjusted and politically astute of the countries we visited with regard to migration, there is a real threat from a resurgent right-wing populism, the Alternative für Deutschland. At IBIS, we heard about refugees having to be trained in strategies of resistance to right-wing extremism.

In my own country, the UK, the period of THE PROMISED LAND project was dominated by the farcical spectacle of Brexit. Aside from the absurd threat this posed to us even being able to complete the project , the political tensions in the UK threw into sharp relief the 5 very issues we were grappling with. The Voices of Culture process began in Brussels just ahead of the 2016 referendum, but already the warning signs were there. In their construction of an imperious European Union that would somehow foist millions of migrants onto a resistant, pure and superior English populace, the Brexiteers were deliberately and calculatedly employing the established strategies of the radical European right.

Nigel Farage’s poster, showing a column of refugees on the move and labelled ”Breaking Point”, was directly modelled on a similar depiction of Jewish people, which emanated from the propaganda ministry of Josef Goebbels . Farage unveiled the poster on the 6 very day that Jo Cox, a young MP who had done much to promote the acceptance of refugees in the UK, was murdered in the public street by a right-wing extremist. The fact that this rhetoric was able to prevail, and, three years later, continued to hold sway in spite of the appalling damage that Brexit would undoubtedly cause to both the UK and the EU, is a terrifying reminder of what happens when the public discourse is reduced to binary choices and to a process of “othering”. While the referendum may have had the appearance of a democratic exercise, it was nothing of the kind. True democracy depends on a deep engagement with the complexities of our place and time. That is why the participatory models we have found most beneficial to THE PROMISED LAND, both in

As an Erasmus + KA2 project with a UK co-ordinator, it appeared for a time in late 2018 and early 2019 that

THE PROMISED LAND could have ceased to be funded, had the UK left the EU with no deal.

See, for example, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking- 6 point-poster-queue-of-migrants

pedagogy and in cultural activism, are models that require deep and prolonged engagement from the participants. Democratic choices need to be reached through a genuine process of exchange between people who have been thoroughly informed and who know that their opinion is valued – that is why education and culture are so essential in preparing the way. The referendum’s reduction of a hugely complex subject to a binary Yes or No was a complete negation of democracy, not its realisation. The same is true of the populist exploitation of new media (often, as in the referendum, conducted illegally): you cannot reduce the generation of complex policy to 140 characters with hashtags.

The ease with which a populace that is under-educated, disengaged, disempowered and culturally deprived can be manipulated has the potential to turn apparently democratic states into neo-fascist tyrannies. Our week in Oldenburg saw much discussion of what is termed “memory culture” – the German awareness of how the Weimar Republic gave way to Nazism, and the horrific results. It is that memory culture, that ability to learn from history and to engage the majority of the population in a culture of openness, that has made Germany the most welcoming European state for refugees and migrants, and the one with the strongest policies to facilitate integration. Crime in Germany has actually dropped to a 30-year low, in spite of the AfD’s warnings of disorder in the face of Angela Merkel’s 2015 admission of the migrants. This presents a stark contrast with the reductive appeals to “the people” being made by political figures in other parts of the continent. Theresa May’s outrageous speech of March 20th 2019, in which she told “the people” that she was on their side against elected Members of Parliament, was matched only by the incendiary rhetoric of the Daily Mail, when on 4th November 2016 it pro 7claimed the judges who had asserted the rule of law and the right of a sovereign Parliament to ratify any treaty between the government and the EU “Enemies of the People” –a phrase first heard during the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution. May’s outrageous attempt at populism – galvanised by the deeply undemocratic instrument of the referendum – was akin to populist appeals made by many other political figures who seek to legitimise their actions in relation to an apparently wide constituency, so circumventing the due processes of democratic debate and the rule of law. It is no coincidence that such figures tend to silence artists, academics and journalists through censorship or persecution: Salvini, Orbán and Erdoğan have all been guilty of this.

If the EU wishes to avoid seeing Member States and partner countries spiralling into a populist chaos, echoing the horrors of the 1930s with the migrant populations as the principle victims, then it must make every effort to generate a wide-reaching culture of engaged and educated participatory governance, fuelled by a thriving and active cultural sector. As a first step, it has to become far more transparent in its own operations, being seen to encourage the positive interactions that it clearly values (as exemplified by the Voices of Culture consultation, and indeed the present project). The EU-Turkey deal, which is discussed in these pages and particularly in our Policy Recommendations, was not a deal done by the EU at all. It was made by Mark Rutte (because the Netherlands held the Presidency) and Angela Merkel (because nothing happens without the most powerful Member State), in a closed room with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Even the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, was not permitted to take part. Such an approach compounds the very image of a distant and uncaring elite, running

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3903436/Enemies-people-Fury-touch-judges-defied-17-4m-Brexit- 7 voters-trigger-constitutional-crisis.html

policy for their own ends, that fuels a dangerous populism. The EU has to be bold enough to follow the values on which it was established, and to shift its workings from a perceived leaders’ club towards a Europe of engaged, politically participating citizens. This is partly a matter of empowering the European Parliament, at the expense of the Council. It is also a matter of rolling out a stronger, more embedded Culture and Education Policy to encourage mass participation in cultural and political processes and governance across the continent. As Jean Monet famously said, if he was creating the EU again, he would not start with the economy, but with culture.

In March 2019, the European Commission proclaimed the “Refugee Crisis” to be over. It was, at the best, a convenient untruth; at the worst a manipulative lie. The refugee crisis is anything but over: it has barely begun. There are currently close to 4 million Syrian 8 refugees in Turkey, where their status is uncertain and their lives are both unstable and unsustainable. The EU may believe that the deal in the darkened room that led to the closing of the border between Turkey and Europe was somehow a solution to the problem – but it did not give the refugees the home they need and it did not give Turkey the means to provide this. It was not only funding that Rutte and Merkel offered to Davutoğlu in that closed meeting: there were undertakings around visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in Europe, and accession talks as well. Seven weeks later, Davutoğlu was no longer Prime Minister, President Erdoğan had announced new powers for himself in the wake of the apparent attempted coup, and such aspects of the deal were called off. But if the EU could unilaterally renege on the deal, so can Turkey. There is no reason to suppose that Turkey will act indefinitely as a holding space for migrants and refugees.

If the EU-Turkey deal presents ethical and practical concerns, then the arrangements made by Brussels and Rome with Libya’s precarious and volatile Government of National Accord are even worse. These approaches to containment are merely expedient, and lack any political vision or moral probity. They are at best short-term solutions, which in fact perpetuate the crisis mentality, as it is in the interest of the Libyan militias to keep the situation unstable, so as to ensure themselves continued funding from Europe.

Europe cannot be so naïve as to imagine it can, or even should, simply stop migration. While the Middle East remains unstable, there will be wars and refugees will have to flee them. While the economic and developmental inequalities in the world remain so extreme (a situation for which European countries are largely responsible), there will be Africans who are desperate to cross the Mediterranean so that they can provide for their families and themselves. When climate change really kicks in – and that will be very soon – then huge swathes of the global south will become uninhabitable. We will see entire populations on the move. Europe has to prepare for migration that is not perceived as a one-off, containable “crisis”, but that is an ongoing, normal state of affairs. We have to be ready for a completely new demography, and that means coming to a new understanding of what it means to be European. That is something we can only achieve through culture.

CHAPTER 1 - THE CONTEXTS

1.1 Together for a Common Future: Refugees and Migrants in Turkey

1.2 The Asylum System in the UK, and the Work of CARAS

1.3 Overview of Refugees’ Presence in Italy

1.4 Asylum in Germany

1.5 The French Migration Context in 2019

1.6 The Situation of Opera Padre Marella

CHAPTER 1 - THE CONTEXTS

TOGETHER FOR A COMMON FUTURE: REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS IN TURKEY

by İlke Şanlıer Yüksel, PhD (Director of Migration and Development Research CentreÇukurova University)

Turkey, besides its historical emigrant and more recent transit characteristic, is home to more than 5 million migrants; with a significant percentage coming from Syria, and given temporary protection status. In addition to a number of Afghan, Iranian or Iraqi asylum seekers, there are low skilled labour migrants coming from the Philippines, Uzbekistan and many other post-Soviet countries. Moreover, high skilled labour migrants and lifestyle migrants from various European countries settle mostly in metropolitan or coastal areas of Turkey. A relatively smaller number of tertiary level students is another migrant category in Turkey.

Turkey has for several decades been a major country of asylum, beginning with the 1979 regime change in Iran that led to an influx of asylum seekers. Additionally, the 1990-1991 Gulf War, as well as the US Invasion in Iraq and the subsequent chaos, has significantly contributed to the influx of refugees into Turkey. It is noteworthy that though Turkey is a signatory of the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 Additional Protocol on the status of refugees, which obligates member countries to offer asylum to asylum seekers, with geographical limitation, it only provides refugee status for those who are coming from Europe. Consequently, up until September 2018, the non-Europeans’ asylum applications to Turkey were processed by UNHCR for the purpose of resettling them in a safe third country. Since then, this process has been executed by the Directorate General of Migration Management, which is an institute created in 2014 to register and process international protection applications. The Turkish migration regime has also not developed frameworks to offer full protection to non-European asylum seekers except granting them “conditional refugee” status.

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Turkey has seen an influx of refugees, ranging from 5000-6000 individual asylum applications per year. From 2007, these inflows of asylum seekers have increased significantly every year, with the years from 2011 to 2017 witnessing a remarkable rise from 18,000- 112,000. Worsened by the Arab Spring in Northern Africa that saw thousands of people moving to Southern Europe, as well as the political upheavals and civil wars in Syria; Turkey (and also other neighbouring countries like Lebanon and Jordan) was faced with a serious refugee influx that forced the country’s leadership to declare an ‘open door’ policy in 2011, and hosted thousands of Syrian refugees in various refugee camps in the regions bordering Syria.

Due to the high prolonged inflows of refugees from Syria, the camps were soon stretched to their limits forcing refugees to disperse across the country, especially in the cities near the Syrian border, which eventually spread to the larger urban settings including Izmir and Istanbul, where the refugees sought jobs in order to make a living. Initially, the government of Turkey called these refugees ‘guests’ because of the lack of legal frameworks defining them besides the expectation that these refugees would temporarily stay in Turkey. However, their protracted stay led to advocacy for the admittance of their fundamental human rights such as compulsory access to basic needs. The

challenges of providing assistance (such as access to health and housing) to the refugees were further made difficult by the sudden increase in the Syrian population in Turkey, compounded by the political uncertainty in Syria and the politicisation of the migration issue in Turkey. As a result, the refugees’ status was turned to ‘temporary protection’ in October 2014.

Although the existence of both the temporary and conditional protection statuses in Turkey partially helped safeguard the asylum seekers and refugees’ ‘non-refoulement’ rights, this was limited in the sense that it cannot afford the refugees or asylum seekers permanent residency rights, which forced them to seek asylum outside the borders of Turkey. Consequently, by the summer of 2015, there was en masse movement of refugees and asylum seekers from Turkey to Europe due to Turkey’s inflated number of refugees, transit migrants and asylum seekers engendered by lack of legal frameworks to provide them with the permanent provision of protecting rights as well as the poor living conditions. This led to an agreement signed between the EU and Turkey on 18 March 2016 to address the irregular passing of migrants as well as the overwhelming flow of smuggled asylum seekers and migrants travelling from Turkey (across the Aegean Sea) to the Greek Islands. It was agreed that Greece be allowed to return to Turkey all the new irregular immigrants who arrive. However, this agreement has brought more harm than good for the refugees and asylum seekers who are left more deprived and vulnerable. Due to the foregone proof, it is clear that Turkey today has become an immigrant and transit country for the refugees and asylum seekers, demonstrated by higher number (3.61 million) of Syrian refugees in June 2019 , as well as the over 600, 9 000 irregular migrants (who are not Syrians) seeking residence in Turkey.

Eight years after they first began to arrive in Turkey, Syrian refugees live in severe conditions characterised by instability, precarity and lack of access to rights due to temporary nature of their status. Consequently, these conditions, and the protracted flow of migrants to Turkey as well as from Turkey to Europe, leave all humanitarian migrants vulnerable to human rights violations and increasing social tension as they become targets of discrimination and “other”isation. All of these issues need to be addressed in a range of aspects, including socio-cultural dimensions along with politico-legal and socioeconomic scopes.

As long as refugees lose their lives making an attempt to achieve a secure place and a decent standard of living, we must work collectively to raise a society that works together for the well-being of all its members, strives to reduce inequalities and avoids marginalisation. As members of the academic community and civil society, we will continue to build pathways to create a sense of belonging, participation, recognition and legitimacy for all, along with protecting the human rights of refugees inside and outside Turkey, working with partner countries and organisations. There are many areas in social life such as civil solidarity, commitment to neighbourhood life, cultural and communication practices where we can build the coherence between individuals and groups with different histories, cultures and identities. We can only benefit from the potential of social differences by respecting diversity. This can only be achieved by building long-term partnerships in cooperation with local authorities, local institutions and most importantly with those who had to leave their homeland to search for new homes.

Our work must continue.

https://www.goc.gov.tr/icerik6/gecici-koruma_363_378_4713_icerik

THE ASYLUM SYSTEM IN THE UK,

AND THE WORK OF CARAS

by Eleanor Brown (Managing Director - CARAS)

Refugees arrive in London from a diverse range of countries and with a whole host of experiences of forced migration behind them. Many have made exceptionally long and difficult journeys overland, forced into hiding and travelling by night, and at the mercy of traffickers and agents who control the routes.

Only a few come in via planned routes on resettlement schemes or for family reunion. The vast majority who we see at CARAS are young, alone and at the end of a long and traumatic journey which has seen them cross continents, conflict zones and dangerous seas, surviving to reach safety and begin the slow and often painful task of rebuilding a life. At CARAS, we support refugees and asylum seekers from conflicts in South Sudan, Syria, Kashmir and Palestine; people fleeing political and religious persecution in Eritrea or Iran; and children fleeing forced recruitment into militia including the Taliban in Afghanistan, forced marriage, or FGM.

On arrival in England, support is patchy and difficult to access. The type and level of support vary according to the age of the individual: adults receive very little support, currently limited to a weekly stipend, ‘no choice’ accommodation that could be anywhere in the country, and legal aid that covers 5 hours with a solicitor to make an asylum claim. Children arriving and making a claim alone have different provisions made for them. They are looked after under children’s law, rather than being viewed primarily as an asylum seeker. They will be allocated a social worker, and, depending on age, may be housed with a foster carer.

Support is very patchy: in London and the south east, and in the big cities, there are a patchwork of small community groups and charities who fill in the gaps in support. Whilst statutory support ensures that people have access to a bare minimum, there are still people who fall through the gaps. Homelessness and destitution are a common outcome for newly recognised refugees who are not given support to find employment or stable housing; English language lessons are not provided for asylum seekers; and, somewhat predictably, mental health care is not offered as part of a standard package of support. In a context of long-term austerity and the decimation of the public sector, coupled with long-running xenophobic narratives, the outcomes for asylum seekers could be desperate. The voluntary sector links together to counter this as best we can, offering things that help people feel fully human again. We aim to run holistic provision which supports people in their social opportunities, health and wellbeing, language and learning, and with support to understand and progress through the current challenges they face. We want to help build a thriving, outward looking, fully inclusive community which is able to welcome refugees and to see potential in everyone.

We aim to be a lively centre, full of warmth, welcome and an offer of belonging. We constantly learn from each other, and continue to develop positive responses that stand in contrast to the traumatic experiences of people in their countries of origin, on their journeys, and in the dehumanising and drawn out asylum process in the UK. We would like to have no need to exist, but whilst there are refugees facing isolation, exclusion and marginalisation in our local area we will be here.

CARAS seeks to show people who have sought refuge in the UK that they have value, and indeed enormous potential. We do not believe in acting on behalf of someone capable of independent action. To this end, all of our activities aim to support people’s ability to exercise assertiveness in individual and collective decision making, increase positive self-image and overcome stigma. This starts within CARAS: beneficiaries are involved in designing and improving projects and in our governance. CARAS is recognised by our partners for its best-practice model and inclusive approach to decision-making.

However, playing an active role within CARAS’ work will not achieve an integrated, healthy and harmonious society. We have to look outside into our community and across London to start to achieve this.

In a context of disempowerment and exclusion, the value of cultural initiatives is enormous. How can you be included in a society if you do not have access to the arts, to the sharing of cultures, to the development of enjoyment and learning? How do you be fully human if you cannot create, or be surprised, delighted and challenged by someone else’s creations? If you are an asylum seeker in London, your material needs are just about met, but there is no straightforward access to anything that goes beyond surviving, and no expectation that people need this.

We have been part of a wide range of cultural initiatives, sometimes working hard to secure access to places of high culture, and just often eagerly saying yes to thoughtful offers that come our way. CARAS has had the good fortune to be a contributing partner to an exhibition at the Museum of London, sharing our work on diversity and inclusion with thousands of people. In many ways more valuable though, are the smaller, more personal interactions and changes experienced by our beneficiaries when they are able to take part. We have had groups of women visit the V&A Museum as part of their English classes; young people interact with artefacts at the British Museum; and had aspirations projected onto the façade of the Royal Festival Hall as part of a giant art and poetry celebration. These have achieved more than we could within our own four walls: they have given outlets to people’s individual creativity, humanised them to the wider public, and given them access to experiences that any and every Londoner can (and should) have. We have also been part of much smaller scale projects, most recently working together with a youth arts organisation who have been bringing in a whole range of taster sessions related to the arts. One Monday morning saw staff return to an office where the windowsills were covered in small clay figurines made in a weekend youth group, showing beautiful representations of camels and humped cattle, bringing in a memory of home to our little corner of south west London, sparking conversation and serving as a bridge between people, places, and time.

All of these things, from the very small act of picking up a paintbrush, writing a few words, or making a clay model, all the way through to having work showcased at a national cultural institution change both how refugees see themselves and how they are seen. Dialogue and equal participation are fundamental to processes of integration. Partnership with Border Crossings has been one of our longest standing and most fruitful relationships. We have written multilingual plays that being in ideas from children, volunteers and parents; looked at identity and representation in photography; taken part in celebrations of indigenous arts; and explored intercultural, multi-disciplinary approaches to refugee inclusion across Europe. THE PROMISED LAND has given us the chance to step back from being immersed in refugee work and look carefully and

critically at expertise from other sectors, leaning on each other and challenging each other to think differently. It is rare that people who work in the voluntary sector have an opportunity to freely interact with such a range of other disciplines and over such a long timescale- two years of thoughtful challenge from academics, business people, public sector workers and artists.

AN OVERVIEW OF REFUGEE PRESENCE IN ITALY

by Angelo Pittaluga, Integration expert for UNHCR

In 2018, human rights violations, persecution, conflict, and violence continued to displace many, with some subsequently seeking international protection in Europe. Although arrivals were markedly down compared to the large numbers who reached Italy each year between 2014-2017, the journeys were as dangerous as ever. An estimated 2,275 people perished in the Mediterranean in 2018 – an average of six deaths every day. Furthermore, the Libyan Coast Guard stepped up its operations with the result that 85% of those rescued or intercepted in the newly established Libyan Search and Rescue Region (SRR) were disembarked in Libya, where they faced detention in appalling conditions (including limited access to food and outbreaks of disease at some facilities, along with several deaths).

Italy is at a complex juncture being a country of transit, a country of asylum and integration of refugees. By the end of 2018, UNHCR estimates that there were over 85,000 recognised refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection permanently living in Italy. At the end of the year, the arrival of some new 25,000 persons by sea and an additional 15,000 by land/air was registered. Integration prospects for beneficiaries of international protection in Italy continue to be seriously limited, as a consequence also of the economic crisis of the last few years and the cuts to the welfare system, and constitute therefore one of the most problematic areas of the Italian asylum system. As the research published by the Bank of Italy in 2017 shows, refugees have much more difficulties in finding a job than both Italians and migrants with a residence permit. One of the most evident and negative consequences is the rising number of beneficiaries of international protection, including persons with specific needs such as families with children, who live in destitute conditions in spontaneous settlements or occupied buildings. At the end of 2018, the adoption of a new Law on Immigration and Asylum (L. 132/2018) introduced significant changes in the national asylum system, with a reform of the reception system and restrictive measures with particular regard to administrative detention of asylum seekers, cancellation and termination of international protection, abrogation of the humanitarian protection and limitation in the residence registration for asylum seekers.

Data taken from the last UNHCR report “Desperate Journeys”, downloadable here:

https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/ 67712#_ga=2.231035286.801729727.1551108428-1379606552.1551108428 and from UNHCR web operational portal

https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5205

ASYLUM IN GERMANY

from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees

Who is a “refugee”?

The term “refugee” is often used in everyday language as a general synonym for people who have been displaced, but the law on asylum only understands it as covering recognised refugees in accordance with the Geneva Refugee Convention, that is individuals who are given refugee protection once their asylum proceedings have been completed. There are however three more forms of protection where a right to asylum can be granted, if they are applicable. As the authority responsible for implementing the law on asylum, the Federal Office distinguishes more precisely, that is between the following groups of individuals:

Asylum-seekers: individuals who intend to file an asylum application but have not yet been registered by the Federal Office as asylum applicants.

Asylum applicants: asylum applicants whose asylum proceedings are pending and whose case has not yet been decided on.

Persons entitled to protection and persons entitled to remain: individuals who receive an entitlement to asylum, refugee protection or subsidiary protection, or who may remain in Germany on the basis of a ban on deportation.

Asylum is a right that is protected by the Constitution in Germany. People who are displaced from other parts of the world, fleeing from violence, war and terror, are to find protection in our country.

When they arrive in Germany, displaced persons reach safe ground, frequently after been in danger for years. Having said that, they only have certainty as to whether they and their families may remain here permanently and work when their asylum application has been finally decided on.

The examination of asylum applications is one of the most important tasks performed by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. This is a responsible, demanding task, given that decisions are taken on people, in complex procedures, taking diverse competences and stringent legal frameworks into account.

In each individual case, highly-trained decision-makers from the Federal Office with considerable skills and experience decide whether an asylum application is justified, and whether one of the four grounds for protection enabling a person to remain in Germany applies.

This overview will provide you with the most important aspects of the asylum procedure, such as applicants’ personal interview, the steps taken in the decision-making process, recent activities to optimise procedures, as well as the place which the activities take up within a European context.

1: From arrival to the asylum procedure

All asylum-seekers arriving in Germany must report to a state organisation directly on arrival or immediately thereafter. They can do this as soon as they reach the border or later within the country. Anyone already reporting as seeking asylum on entry approaches the border authority. This authority then sends asylum-seekers on to the closest initial reception centre. Anyone who does not make a request for asylum until they are in Germany can report to a security authority (such as the police), an immigration authority, a reception facility or directly to an arrival centre or AnkER facility. Only then can the asylum procedure begin.

1.1: Arrival and registration

All individuals reporting as seeking asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany are registered. Personal data are recorded at this point. All applicants are photographed; the fingerprints are also taken of people aged over 14.

The recorded data are stored centrally in the “Central Register of Foreigners”. All public agencies which subsequently need them for their respective tasks have access to these data to the extent that they need them for their respective remits.

In a first step, the new data are compared with those already available in the Central Register of Foreigners, as well as with those of the Federal Criminal Police Office. It is examined amongst other things whether an initial application, a follow-up application or possibly a multiple application has been made. It is also investigated using a Europewide system (Eurodac) whether another European state might be responsible for carrying out the asylum procedure.

Asylum-seekers receive a proof of arrival (Ankunftsnachweis) at the reception facility or arrival centre which is responsible for them to prove that they have registered. As the first official document, the proof of arrival serves to document the entitlement to reside in Germany. And what is equally important is that it constitutes an entitlement to draw state benefits, such as accommodation, medical treatment and food.

1.2: Initial distribution and accommodation

First, all asylum-seekers are received in nearby reception facilities of the Federal Land in question. Such a facility may be responsible for temporary as well as longer-term accommodation.

Allocation to a specific reception facility is decided according to the specific branch office of the Federal Office processing the asylum-seeker’s respective country of origin: Asylum-seekers can be accommodated in reception facilities for up to six months, or until their application is decided on. They can however also be allocated to another facility during this period under certain circumstances, for instance for family reunification.

1.3 The competent reception facility

The competent reception facility is responsible for providing food and board for asylumseekers. They receive benefits in kind at subsistence level during their stay and a month -

ly amount of money to cover their everyday personal needs. The nature and amount of the benefits are regulated by the Asylum-Seekers’ Benefits Act (Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz). These include basic benefits for food, housing, heating, clothing, healthcare and personal hygiene, as well as household durables and consumables, benefits to cover personal daily requirements, benefits in case of sickness, pregnancy and birth, as well as individual benefits which depend on the particular case.

Benefits for asylum applicants are also provided in the follow-up accommodation (such as in collective accommodation or even a private apartment). More information is available from the responsible immigration authority.

1.4: Personal asylum applications

A personal application is filed with a branch office of the Federal Office (an arrival centre or an AnkER facility). An interpreter is available for this appointment. Applicants are informed of their rights and duties within the asylum procedure. They furthermore receive all the important information in writing in their native language.

The personal data are recorded during the application procedure, if this has not already taken place. Applicants are obliged to prove their identity if they are able to do so. Documents accepted include a national passport, as well as other personal documents such as birth certificates and driving licences. The Federal Office uses physical and technical document examination to assess the original documents.

The application is made in person as a rule. A written asylum application may only be filed in special cases, for instance if the individual in question is in a hospital or has not yet reached the age of maturity.

1.5: Residence obligation (Residenzpflicht)

Once their asylum application has been filed, applicants receive a certificate of their permission to reside (Aufenthaltsgestattung). This certificate serves as documentation vis-à-vis state agencies that they are asylum applicants, and proves that they are in Germany lawfully. Permission to reside is territorially restricted to the district (residence obligation) in which the responsible reception facility is located.

Persons with poor prospects to remain are obliged to live in the reception facilities until the decision is taken. If their asylum application is turned down as “manifestly unfounded” or “inadmissible”, this obligation for people to reside in a particular place then applies until they leave the country. They are not permitted to work during this period, and they may only temporarily leave the area designated in their permission to reside if they have permission from the Federal Office.

Persons with good prospects to remain may initially also only remain in the area designated in their permission to reside. They too need permission if they would like to temporarily leave this area. The residence obligation ceases to apply to them after three months. The residence area is then expanded to cover the entire country.

1.6: The personal interview

The personal interview is the applicant’s most important appointment within his/her asylum procedure. Organisations providing aid or charitable associations therefore offer advice when it comes to preparing for the interview. The Federal Office has also been implementing group information and individual counselling sessions on the asylum procedure at the AnkER facilities since August 2018.

It is the “decision-makers” at the Federal Office who are responsible for holding the interviews. They invite applicants to attend this appointment, where an interpreter will also be on hand.

Applicants absolutely must attend this appointment, or they must state in good time why they are unable to attend. If they do not do so, their asylum application can be turned down or the proceedings discontinued.

The interviews are not public, but they may be attended by an attorney or by a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and by a guardian in the case of unaccompanied minors. It is fundamentally possible for another person enjoying the applicant’s trust to attend as an advisor. This individual must be able to identify himself or herself, and may not personally be in the asylum procedure.

The objective of the interviews is to learn of the individual reasons for flight, to obtain more information and to resolve any contradictions. To this end, the decision-makers are familiar with the circumstances prevailing in the applicants’ countries of origin.

Applicants are afforded sufficient time during the interview to present their respective reasons for taking flight. They describe their biographies and situations, tell of their travel route and of the persecution which they have personally suffered. They also assess what would await them were they to return to their country of origin. They are obliged to state the truth at all times and to provide any evidence which they have been able to obtain. These may be photographs, documents from the police or other authorities, and possibly also medical reports.

The descriptions are interpreted and minutes are taken, and are then translated back for the applicants after the interview. This enables them to add to what they have said, or to make corrections. They are then presented with the minutes for them to approve them by signing them.

The Federal Office decides on the asylum application on the basis of the personal interview and of a detailed examination of documents and items of evidence.

The fate of the individual applicant is decisive. The decision is reasoned in writing, and is served on the applicant or the legal representative, as well as on the competent immigration authorities.

Safe third countries

Recognition of entitlement to asylum is ruled out if an individual enters via a safe third country. The German Asylum Act (Asylgesetz) defines the Member States of the European Union, as well as Norway and Switzerland, as safe third countries.

The right of asylum

In accordance with Article 16a of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz – GG) of the Federal Republic of Germany, persons persecuted on political grounds have the right of asylum. The right of asylum has constitutional status as a fundamental right in Germany. At its core, it serves to protect human dignity, but it also protects life, physical integrity, freedom and other fundamental human rights. It is the only fundamental right to which only foreigners are entitled.

Refugee protection

Refugee protection is more extensive than entitlement to asylum, and also applies to persecution by non-state players. On the basis of the Geneva Refugee Convention, people are regarded as refugees who, because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted by state or non-state players for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, are outside their country of origin and nationality, or as stateless individuals are outside of their country of habitual residence. These criteria also apply if they are unable or, because of a well-founded fear, are unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of their country of origin.

Subsidiary protection

People are entitled to subsidiary protection who put forward substantial grounds for the presumption that they are at risk of serious harm in their country of origin and that they cannot take up the protection of their country of origin or do not wish to take it up because of that threat. Serious harm can originate from both governmental and non-governmental players.

The following are regarded as constituting serious harm: the imposition or enforcement of the death penalty, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, a serious individual threat to the life or integrity of a civilian as a result of arbitrary force within an international or domestic armed conflict.

Reasons for not qualifying for protection

The three forms of protection mentioned above cannot be considered if reasons for not qualifying apply. These include: If an individual has committed a war crime or a serious non-political criminal offence outside Germany, has breached the goals and principles of the United Nations, is to be regarded as a risk to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany, or constitutes a danger to the public because he/she has been finally sentenced to imprisonment for a felony (Verbrechen) or a particularly serious misdemeanour (Vergehen).

National ban on deportation

A person who is seeking protection may not be returned if return to the destination country constitutes a breach of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), or a considerable concrete danger to life, limb or liberty exists in that country.

A considerable concrete danger can be considered to exist for health reasons if a return would cause life-threatening or serious diseases to become much worse. This is not contingent on the healthcare provided in the destination state being equivalent to that available in the Federal Republic of Germany. Adequate medical treatment is also deemed to be provided as a rule if this is only guaranteed in a part of the destination country.

If a national ban on deportation is issued, a person may not be returned to the country to which this ban on deportation applies. Those concerned are issued with a residence permit by the immigration authority.

A ban on deportation can however not be considered if the person concerned could depart for another country, and it is reasonable for them to be called on to do so, or if they have not complied with their obligations to cooperate.

Quoted from: The Stages of the German asylum procedure. An overview of the individual procedural steps and the legal basis

Valid as of: 2/2019; 2nd updated version

Published by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, D-90461 Nürnberg

Reference source: Publications office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees www.bamf.de/publikationen

The most actual information can be accessed at: http://www.bamf.de/DE/Fluechtlingsschutz/fluechtlingsschutz-node.html www.bamf.de

THE

FRENCH MIGRATION CONTEXT IN 2019

by Corinne Torre (Chef de Mission France, Médecins sans Frontières)

translated by Anne Kerisel

The first quarter of 2019 mirrors the migration policy of 2018 and furthers the actions already taken by the French Government: an increase in the number of police at the French borders, more controls across the country, a deterioration in the situation of homeless migrants, the dismantling of unofficial camps in order to prevent settlement, increased pressure on citizens trying to help, criminalisation of humanitarian organisations, and the implementation of a biometric file for unaccompanied minors.

These policies, based on deterrence and the externalisation of borders, have a direct impact on people's health (both migrants and carers), which is deteriorating as a result of the precarious living conditions and psychological pressures that they endure.

Despite the policy of deterrence, “123,625 asylum applications were received at OFPRA during the year 2018 (including first-time asylum applications, requests for file reviews and re-openings, and accompanying minors applications): an increase of 22.7% on the previous year. The rate of increase is rising compared to 2016 (+7.1%) and 2017 (+17.5%).” 10

The region Ile-de-France, where asylum applications are registered, saw a rise from 36% in 2017 to 46% in 2018. The increase in the number of applications partly explains the problems in the reception of migrants in Paris, and the continued existence of unofficial camps. However, lack of will from the Prefecture to anticipate these arrivals and to open reception structures leads to great instability and a feeling of "being invaded". Of 123,625 applicants, only 41,400 were granted asylum seeker status in 2018.11

Unaccompanied minors

In 2018, 742 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum (33% of them Afghans): an increase of 24.2% on 2017 (591) and of 100% on 2013 (367). If we compare these figures with the number of requests for protection made to ASE (the National Child Welfare Department) the numbers are extremely low. 40,000 minors arrived in France in 2018, and only 17,022 of them were granted protection by ASE. As of 15 March 2019, 5,692 minors were under the care of ASE.

In March 2019, several associations, including MSF, brought an action against the use of biometric file. It should be emphasised that its main aim is to stop the movement of minors to other Départements where they may not be recognised as minors, without calling into question the assessments. Any minor arriving in a Département must now first file fingerprints at the Prefecture before being evaluated. This is contrary to the law on protection of minors.

During that period of time, we (national associations) have set up an observation system in the evaluation centres and prefectures of all the French Départments, in order to gather testimonies on the use of biometric files and its consequences. This system requires the help of volunteers and the development of relationships between local associations. Only Paris and Seine Saint Denis have so far refused to use the biometric file.

Internal borders of the EU

On 19 March 2019, the European Court of Justice delivered an important judgment on the French authorities' practices at internal borders. The ECJ had received a request for a preliminary ruling in the case of a Moroccan national arrested at the Franco-Spanish border in June 2016 and taken into police custody.

The judgment had two important stipulations:

- It is not possible to consider an internal border as an external border, even if temporary controls are restored, as has been the case in France since 2015.

- The Return Directive is applicable at internal borders and people who are stopped at internal borders must therefore benefit from the guarantees ensured by this directive.

This judgment is extremely interesting for the case of France, which in 2015 re-established temporary controls (actually no longer temporary) leading to tens of thousands of refusals of entry, all illegal according to the ECJ. The Cimade report “Inside, outside, a Europe that is closing in” points to an increasingly impaired access to rights. Activists in the field, particularly on the Franco-Italian and Franco-Spanish borders, are closely monitoring the situation to see whether this judgment leads to changes in practices.

Hauts de France (Calais, Grande Synthe, Boulogne)

On 28th February the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France for inflicting “degrading treatment" on an unaccompanied minor from Afghanistan when he was in the country between 2015 and 2016. This child, who was eleven years old at the time, had not been taken into care by the authorities. He had lived for about six months in the slums of Calais, before moving to England, where he is now living. Too bad that the judgement came three years too late!

Refugees seeking to go to England live in very small camps in Calais (there are between 500 and 600 people, mainly from Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan). There are also refugees in Grande Synthe, where they live in an undersized gymnasium and in camps (between 500 and 600 people, mainly Iraqi and Kurds, and a larger number of minors). The figures can vary significantly.

Relationships with local government vary a great deal according to location:

- In Calais: while there is strong opposition and no dialogue with the City Council, there are regular contacts with the Prefecture (even if there are disagreements). After legal battles, the Prefecture is now providing water, access to toilets and showers, day centres and cold weather protection. The emergency in Calais is ongoing. Despite constant changes in the volunteer presence, there are advocacy and litigation actions supported by an cross-NGO collective (PSM).

- In Grande Synthe: there is ongoing contact with Mayor Damien Carême, but no contact with the State, which simply lets the welcoming (but financially limited) City Hall do its work. The good relationship with the mayor prevents the use of more confrontation litigation (as undertaken in Calais against an openly hostile City Council). There are active NGOs involved in advocacy and litigation.

In all the coastal areas, there is a huge police presence, violence and expulsions: between 2 to 5 expulsions per site per week. The watchword is “no settlement".

Menton- Ventimiglia

According to figures made public by the Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, the number of arrests in this French department has fallen by 40% over the past year. In 2018, 244 smugglers were brought to justice and 29,600 migrants were arrested at the French border. At the same time, 1,960 unaccompanied minors were taken into care by the reception services of the Département Council, after being arrested at the French border.

There are many different nationalities, and many people who have lived in Italy but who want to leave for various reasons: the expiry of their residence permit, the lack of employment, fear of new policies leading to tensions in Italy, etc. There are also many people arriving from the Balkan route (Pakistani, Iraqi, Afghan) but also people from the Maghreb and Eritrea who entered Europe after going through Egypt.

Young people who have just turned 18 in Italy go to Ventimiglia, as well as a large number of families (many of them Nigerian nationals, checked at the association offices in Nice) who can no longer renew their residence permit in Italy and/or are expelled from the SPRAR (System for Protection of Asylum seekers and Refugees) as consequences of Salvini’s new legislation.

Every day, migrants continue to be turned back at the French border , and there are 12 many violations of asylum rights, and the right to be protected as children. Some people are detained without taking into account any legal framework. Since February 2019, people have been able to keep a copy of any refusal of entry, and we can see that on many of these the statement that the holder “is considered a danger to public order, internal security, public health or the international relations of one or more Member States of the European Union" has been ticked by the French police as an expedient.

The observations organised by CAFI (Amnesty, Cimade, MDM, MSF, Secours Catholique) alongside voluntary networks continue, and allow legal proceedings to be initiated against the practices of the Prefecture. This process is developing at several levels: the monitoring and transmission of information, the organisation of collective actions for the purpose of litigation, communication and advocacy, support for local activists, and the implementation of shared analysis at national level, enabling the public to intervene more powerfully in favour of migrants at the Franco-Italian border. We would like to develop closer links with activists facing the same problems at other borders: links with the PSM association on the Franco-British coast, and on the Franco-Spanish border.

Briançon

Today, the people who arrive are mainly adults, while 40% of arrivals in 2018 were unaccompanied minors. Nationalities and profiles are changing due to the situation in Italy where migrants fear deportation. They arrive in France with the aim of settling, and stay several weeks in Briançon. This leads to housing problems and challenges for the local council.

The Franco-Spanish Border

From the summer of 2018 until December, there could be 40 to 100 arrivals per day in Bayonne (up to sometimes 140 daily arrivals during summer), while at the beginning of this year, it was closer to 100 arrivals per week. The permanent control point is the train station in Hendaye, where everyone without the right papers is sent directly back to Spain.

Police are also numerous at the entrance to Behobia (in France, the neighbouring town of Hendaye), a busy road crossing point when arriving from Irun. However, car checks are very light or non-existent, and the most popular migrant route is by car, from Irun Bilbao, or San Sebastian.

Regarding the practices of the border police, activists report discriminative checks, swift deportations, including of unaccompanied minors, sometimes with a refusal of entry. Migrants report verbal abuse by police officers, but no physical abuse.

These observations were made by the Kesha Niya association.

On the French side, the situation is slightly different. First of all, there is the question of the reception in Bayonne where people arrive every day. As in 2018, migrants leave the city by bus after a few days, but police officers check the buses on their arrival in cities like Bordeaux, Toulouse, Pau, etc. and sometimes expel them back to Spain (or take them to CRA, the French administrative retention centres).

Paris Ile de France

At the beginning of January 2019, more than 2,200 migrants were living in camps in the north of Paris and in the city of Saint-Denis (on Boulevard Wilson). People are pushed back to the Portes on the Paris ring road: Porte de la Chapelle, Porte de la Villette, Porte d'Aubervilliers and Porte de Clignancourt. This policy, based on keeping migrants invisible, works perfectly on the outskirts of the city.

The Paris City Hall and the Prefecture continue to place the responsibility for the provision of shelter on others, despite being called by NGOs to intervene urgently in order to respect the dignity of the migrants. There are no showers, no sanitary facilities, no access to healthcare and food distribution is problematic.

In the first quarter of 2019, there were 18 evacuations, involving 2224 people, 240 of whom (10.8%) were identified as vulnerable (e.g. women, children, people with critical health conditions). As in 2017, the city of Paris organised a night of solidarity: 3,622 people were counted living on the streets, an increase of 600 from the previous year, despite the evacuations and the places of shelter “created" as a consequence.

March 31st marks the end of the winter truce: there is a risk of increased numbers of people living on the streets. According to the Federation of the Actors for Solidarity (FAS) about 8,000 homeless people and 1,500 migrants were at risk of being put back on the streets. Of the 14,000 places opened under the winter plan, the French State announced that 6,000 would be offered over the long term.

Advocacy organisations

• CAFFI (Amnesty, Cimade, MDM, MSF, Secours Catholique) Organisation and preparation of a mobile team day at the Franco-Italian border, along with Tous Migrants + CAFFIM special day event on the situation at the border (15 and 16th March.) Joint press article drafting to denounce the criminalisation, unlike elsewhere in France, of the mobile teams at the FFI, https://www.lejdd.fr/Societe/tribune-sauverdes-vies-nest-pas-un-delit-dans-les-montagnes-comme-ailleurs-3870746

• MNA (Unicef, Secours Catholique, LDH, SAF, MDM, Gisti, la Cimade and MSF)

MSF and 18 other associations have decided to challenge the legality of the decree (made on 30 January 2019), which authorises the registration of unaccompanied minors, by referring the matter to the French Council of State. The purpose of the request is to have the decree annulled as it does not provide the necessary guarantees for young persons, and to establish the principle of the presumption of minority. Press release February 22, 2019. https://www.msf.fr/communiques-presse/fichage-des-mineurs-nonaccompagnes-19-associations-et-syndicats-saisissent-le-conseil-d-etat

• PARIS

Open letter in Libération newspaper to the President of the Red Cross denouncing the evaluations of the unaccompanied minors in Paris: https://www.msf.fr/actualites/ mineurs-isoles-etrangers-la-croix-rouge-doit-respecter-ses-propres-principes

THE SITUATION

OF OPERA PADRE MARELLA AFTER THE RECENT ITALIAN POLITICAL CHANGES

by Chiara De Carlo (Social Worker at Opera Padre Marella)

A few months after the new Italian government was installed, a change in policy became very clear to us. All the young asylum seekers were called, almost en masse, to appear in front of the local commission: this is the moment when a judge listens to the person’s story and decides whether to recognise their claim, and what status to give them. This even happened to people who had only recently arrived. This was very unusual - the waiting times tend to be much longer. The results were almost all refusals.

As a result, all the young asylum seekers are now in an appeals process. They still have temporary documents only, and these are useless for them for many purposes, for example applying for a job or working. Another recent change concerns Italian language courses: funding for this purpose has been severely cut, so many courses have had to be cancelled, especially those for beginners.

These policy changes have made it impossible for people to ask for the right of residency, and so be registered in the Municipal Registry Office. This in turn means that they are not able to apply for social services or to have an identity card.

Very recently, the Municipality of Bologna launched a court appeal against this policy and won, opening the possibility of rejecting this directive. It remains to be seen whether there will be further obstacles.

Moreover, the Salvini decree will de facto exclude many organisations dealing with the reception of migrants – our own included – because it imposes very strict limitations on which organisations are eligible to apply for the future management of reception centres. We, in Opera Padre Marella, won’t apply for these new calls, because we are unable to change our structure in order to comply with these new directives. As a result, all the people whom we are now hosting will be transferred to other institutions – even though there do not at present appear to be any such alternatives.

We are now trying to prolong the period of reception in our own institution for as long as possible, to allow time to find adequate solutions; but at the moment we have no certainty about when and how this all is going to happen.

For sure, we will try, with all our resources, to continue to operate; in order not to undo all the work that has been done over the last few years, and to continue to support our young guests, as long as the law and the authorities permit us.

[Note: Opera Padre Marella is an organisation working in the province of Bologna and in that of Ravenna through the management of reception centres, family homes and therapeutic communities that respond to the different types of social exclusion in the area.]

CHAPTER 2 - THE DISCIPLINES

2.1 Theatre, Migration and ‘Crisis’

2.2 From Commonplace Perceptions to a Place in Common: the Parable of Theatre in the Migration Years

2.3 Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and its Importance in Refugee Studies

2.4 A Manifesto for Germany: Museums in Post-Migrant Societies

2.5 Business Coaching in THE PROMISED LAND

CHAPTER 2 - THE DISCIPLINES

THEATRE, MIGRATION AND ‘CRISIS’

by Dr. Marilena Zaroulia (Senior Lecturer, Drama: Department of Performing Arts University of Winchester)13

Abstract

This talk aims to consider the meaning of the term ‘crisis’, particularly with reference to migration and the refugee crisis. I discuss some of the languages used when discussing the ‘refugee crisis’ and I pay particular attention to the purchase of such vocabularies and accompanying imagery in the context of Britain and the British mainstream press. That British press played a key role in the lead-up to the British referendum on the country’s membership in the European Union in June 2016, placing migration at the centre stage of the debate. The talk also draws on figures and reports published by the UN Refugee Agency, highlighting that the problem of forced displacement, and consequential debates about hospitality, integration and asylum for those women, men and children fleeing, persist; even if the ‘refugee crisis’ no longer dominates public attention as much as it did during 2015 and 2016. I then give some brief examples to consider the role of theatre in Britain, as a way of mediating and considering some of those thorny questions. The examples that feature in the following pages are works that do not involve refugees, yet attempt to engage with experiences of displacement from the point of view of those who welcome (or not) the migrants in their homes.

Part 1: Crisis and Vocabularies around Crisis

[copyright: Marilena Zaroulia]

Athens, January 2012. ‘Malakes, we are the refugees of Europe’ reads the writing on the wall of the Greek Academy of Arts and Letters; nearby, groups of undocumented migrants are seeking temporary refuge from the numerous racist attacks instigated by fascists. At the time this photograph was taken, Greece was entering the third year of severe austerity policies under the supervision of the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The consequences of the so-called ‘Eurozone crisis’ were deeply felt across the country, tearing apart the social fabric – as statistics revealed a meteoric rise in unemployment, poverty and suicide rates. In the General Election of May 2012, the fascist party Golden Dawn entered the Greek Parliament for the first time, as the third most popular political party. Meanwhile, against a backdrop of protests, riots, strikes and widespread discontent, international media often presented Greece as the potential contaminator of the entire European project.

The angry writing on the wall of the symbolic edifice of knowledge and culture, points at two interconnected phenomena that set the tone of sociopolitical and cultural debates in Greece at the time, and remain crucial for approaching any conversation about crisis and migration: the financial crisis, or more broadly the crisis of capitalism, and the rising number of asylum-seekers and migrants arriving from the Middle East and Africa are intertwined phenomena. The writing attacks the rising xenophobia and racist violence in the crisis-ridden country where migrants were blamed for all the plights that the Greeks were facing. At the same time, the words ironically refer to the status that the country had acquired since the eruption of the crisis: pariahs and pushed to a marginal position, the Greeks seemed to be requesting access to rights that other European countries enjoyed, constantly needing to prove that they were a legitimate member-state of the European Union (EU). The writing on the wall almost shouts at the passerby, putting forward a call of solidarity with those who are excluded and demonised, pointing at how austerity and militarisation are contributing factors to uneven development that triggers what has been called a ‘migrant’ or ‘refugee crisis’, which has in turn contributed to the rise of nationalism.

But what does “crisis” mean?

Let us review the etymology of the word: the word ‘krisis’ means ‘judgement’ but also ‘a process of judgement and decision-making through comparison and distinguishing’. In late Middle English, the term acquired meaning in a medical context, denoting the turning moment in a disease: crisis, in that context, is the moment before diagnosis and resolution (cure or death). Crisis signifies a decisive point, but, in its common use, it is associated with pathology. According to French philosopher Jacques Rancière, in the aftermath of the 2008 banking collapse and the subsequent financial problems across European countries, the term crisis signifies ‘the excessively pathological’ (Kakogianni and Rancière 2013, 19), obscuring the fact that the very system that the crisis threatens [i.e. capitalism] is pathological – in short, ‘the system is always in crisis’ (181).

There are other perspectives on crisis that may be useful to bring in here: Stuart Hall in conversation with Doreen Massey suggests that crisis is the moment between two conjunctures, ‘period[s] which the different social, political, economic and ideological contradictions that are at work in society come together to give it a specific and distinctive shape’ (2010:57). Hall’s understanding of crisis as ‘a break, a “ruptural fusion”’ frames it as what drives history forward. One can hear the echo of Walter Benjamin’s position on crisis and history:

Benjamin, writing in 1940, in the midst of another capitalist crisis when similar metaphors and discourses were thriving, invites us to look at crises from a quite different perspective: ‘[t]he tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the “state of emergency” in which we live is not the exception but the rule. (Zaroulia and Hager 2015: 2)

More recently, in the introduction to a special issue on “Asylum and Crisis”, Caroline Wake and Emma Cox note that:

The word ‘crisis’ appears twice in the 2008 Global Trends Report as opposed to 15 times in the 2016 one. Similarly, searching the Factiva database, which catalogues over 8000 news sources, with the phrase ‘refugee crisis’ produces 748 Englishlanguage articles from 2008 and 36,069 English-language articles from 2016.

(2018: 140)

Thus, crisis emerges as a concept that is largely constructed and fabricated; the constant references to ‘crisis’ (re)produce an image of emergency that needs to be dealt with and cured. Indeed, as pointed out by both theorists and activists, the state of emergency is provided as a rationale behind some rather problematic measures and policies that perpetuate Europe’s position as a ‘fortress’. Such policies are the reason why certain European countries have experienced the impact of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ more than others. What we are faced with is, to use the words of the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, ‘as much a refugee crisis as a crisis of European solidarity’ (Anonymous 2016). Of course, the fact that the crisis has been fabricated and, in many ways, intensified due to new technologies and the subsequent proliferation of images across various media, does not discredit the pain and suffering that men, women and children fleeing their countries experience. Nor does it alleviate their pain or excuse the harsh conditions in which they live during their desperate journeys or upon arrival to Europe. The UNHCR’s report ‘Desperate Journeys’ paints a bleak picture of the measures and practices that were introduced in 2017 and which further restrict access to territory and asylum claims.

[image capture from UNHCR’s Desperate Journeys]

For example, migrant vessels are being intercepted in the Black Sea as Syrian refugees attempt to cross into Bulgaria or Romania from Turkey. Also, the European Commission and Italy announced a series of measures to reduce migration via Libya, including additional support for the Libyan Coast Guard and other Libyan authorities. The report also condemns unlawful practices of push-backs or detention outside European borders (Libya) or inside; in places like Spain, where asylum-seekers are detained for the first 72 hours before starting the process of applying for asylum, or in Hungary, where asylum seekers are detained throughout the process of applying for asylum (UNHCR 2018a: 9-12). The UN Refugee Agency condemns the ways in which these countries violate international law and recommends ways in which EU member-states can honour their obligation for resettlement of women, children and men who arrive in South Europe and wish to connect with their families.

How do Vocabularies around Crisis perform in Britain?

Despite claims that the UK has received more asylum-seekers than other European countries, the data show a different picture. In 2017, the UK received 26,350 applications from main applicants, a 14% decrease from the previous year. This is considerably less than the number of applications received in many other countries, as the UK is fifth out of the EU's 28 member-states in terms of asylum applications. In the year ending March 2018, Germany received the highest number of applications (179,000), followed by Italy (121,400), and France (102,900) (UNHCR, 2018b). However, the language of crisis and particularly languages around ‘refugee/migrant crises’ were key in the shaping up of public opinion in the lead-up to the referendum on the country’s EU membership in June 2016. Immigration and the vilification of migrants and refugees were crucial factors that contributed to the Brexit vote and can be further appreciated when placing the debate in a longer-term context, paying attention to the role of the British press in shaping public attitudes towards the Other.

According to a report compiled for the UN Refugee Agency and published in 2016 by academics working at Cardiff University’s Journalism School, British press have been instrumental in shaping responses to the refugee crisis in Britain, with the researchers describing British press as ‘polarised and aggressive’ (Berry et als 2016). Researchers analysed press attitudes in five European countries (Sweden, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain) focusing on the different themes highlighted in the coverage, whether it is policy debates, humanitarian suffering or potential threats to national security, as well as the range of explanations offered for population flows and discussions of how the crisis could be resolved. Research showed that while the German (91.0%) and Swedish (75.3%) press mainly used the terms “refugee” or “asylum seeker”, in Spain the most widely (67.1%) used term was “immigrant”, and in Britain (54.2%) and Italy (35.8%) the word was “migrant”. In most countries, newspapers, whether left or right-wing, tended to report using the same sources. They also featured the same kinds of themes and provided similar explanations and solutions to the crisis.

But the British press was different. While ‘The Guardian’ and – to a lesser extent, ‘The Daily Mirror’ – featured a range of humanitarian themes and sources sympathetic to the plight of refugees, the right-wing press consistently endorsed a hardline anti-refugee and migrant, ‘Fortress Europe’ approach. This can be seen, for instance, in the low proportion of articles which featured humanitarian themes (Daily Mail 20.9%, The Sun 7.1%, EU average 38.3%) as well as the high percentage of articles which emphasised the

threat that refugees and migrants pose to the welfare and benefits system (Daily Telegraph 15.8%, Daily Mail 41.9%, The Sun 26.2%, EU average 8.9%). Such reporting contributed to the emergence of a sentiment akin to what Ghassan Hage (2000) has termed ‘paranoid nationalism’: a defensive desire to protect the homeland, which in fact derives from scarcity of hope in the interior (mainly due to capitalism and austerity) rather than an exterior threat. The culmination of that paranoid nationalism was the launch of the infamous ‘Breaking Point’ poster by then UKIP party leader Nigel Farage. That poster released on 16th June 2016, hours before Labour MP Jo Cox was assassinated by a fascist, was reported to the police for inciting hate and for breaching UK legislation on race relations. Nonetheless, in its aggressive framing of people who are protected by the Geneva Convention as potential threats for the nation, that image encapsulated the visual vocabularies as they are often employed by the British press, which perpetuate a state of emergency, in ways that are shameful, racist and ultimately dangerous. Former journalist Liz Gerard’s ‘The Chart of Shame’ shown at the Migration Museum in London as part of the ‘No Turning Back’ Exhibition (2018) presented a series of first pages of British newspapers throughout 2016, visualising that prevailing hostile, anti-migrant sentiment.

It is worth mentioning here an example from theatre that engaged with the representation of migration in the British press and its contribution to a culture of toxicity. In June 2016, a couple of Saturdays before the referendum on Britain’s EU membership, I attended a day-long festival commissioned by the Royal Court theatre and the London International Festival of Theatre. The ‘On the Move’ festival was set to respond ‘to one of

(Liz Gerard’s ‘The Chart of Shame’, detail Migration Museum, London, June 2018)

the greatest humanitarian issues of our time, […] featur[ing] artists from Germany, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Syria and the UK as they uncover the stories of people forced to leave their homes’ (LIFT 2016) During that day, I took an audio-walk listening to stories of exile and belonging; the journey lead me to the abandoned Syrian embassy (‘Another Place’); I watched plays about the impact of migration on the Greek islands (‘The Crossings Plays’); I spent some time at the theatre’s bar which has been transformed into a Lebanese museum of migrations commemorating the ways in which people make home while on the move; I had an intense and intimate encounter with a Palestinian refugee who left an indelible mark on my arm (‘As far as my fingertips take me’).

During the breaks between these various performances, I returned to the main stage of the theatre, where a durational performance devised and performed by Chris Thorpe was taking place. Borrowing its evocative title from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, ‘The Milk of Human Kindness’ mapped contemporary British media attitudes shaping ‘paranoid nationalism’. During the six hours that the piece lasted, Thorpe sat at a desk on the main stage of the Royal Court and relentlessly, in a deadpan, matter-of-fact, soft voice, read a text, which was ‘compiled from the comments sections of national newspaper articles on migration, published over the last year or so. […] Comments were selected according to 14 the user ratings given by the readers of each newspaper.’

Borrowing Sara Ahmed’s words from her landmark work on ‘The Cultural Politics of Emotion’, the excess of emotion that defines these articles, headlines and subsequent comments organises an affective economy of hate, repulsion, rage, loathing and fear masqueraded as a performance of excessive love: for the people whose voice Thorpe is mediating in ‘The Milk of Human Kindness’, it is ‘[b]ecause we love, we hate, and this hate is what brings us together’ (2004, 43, emphasis in original). Thorpe’s performance, as his voice was breaking because of exhaustion, laughter or despair in response to what he was reading, was a performance of ‘being beside oneself’ (in the ways that Judith Butler and Athena Athanasiou have approached the term in their ‘Dispossession: The Performative in the Political’). Programmed alongside pieces that engaged with the migrant through empathy, ‘The Milk of Human Kindness’ staged an attempt at engaging with those voices, who express no empathy and instead attack the purported excess of political correctness (often referred to as ‘political correctness gone mad’) for the ‘lenient’ policies towards migrants. These voices, excessive and extremely hostile, saturate and often set the tone of public debate: Thorpe’s sincere attempt at engaging with them involved a form of theatrical excess, which may be a necessary tool for approaching (or even understanding) that which we are not, that is forced displacement.15

Part 2: Theatre Responding to Crises of Migration

In her short and lucid book ‘Theatre & Migration’ (2014), Emma Cox offers a useful way of understanding what might constitute migration, and in turn of how theatre might represent that. She writes that migration is ‘at its heart, about encounters with foreignness –with foreign people, and with foreign places.’ The tropes of arrival and departure, nostalgia for home, adventures of journey are all common threads across different cultures’ stories of migration. This notion of foreignness is more obvious when theatre artists de -

The newspapers were The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Daily Express.

For a more detailed analysis of this case study as well as other performances that are marked by aesthet

ics of excess, see Zaroulia 2018.

cide to return to some of the old texts, myths to make sense of what often appears as a new iteration of an old story. For example, in October 2016, a new version of Aeschylus’s ‘The Suppliants’ was staged at the Lyceum theatre, Edinburgh; the production, a new collaboration between David Greig and Actors Touring Company (following their widely acclaimed 2013/14 production of ‘The Events’) subsequently toured in Britain and Ireland during 2017. The play tells the story of a chorus of African young women (performed by amateur actors, volunteers from the local community) who flee rape and forced marriage and seek asylum in Greece. Like numerous other adaptations or stagings of canonical texts, the production returned to an ancient text in order to make sense of the contemporary plight of migration; publicity material of the production note that the women ‘speak to us through the ages with startling resonance for our times’, emphasising the continuity of suffering across centuries. S.E. Wilmer notes the importance of the ancient Greek texts not only because ‘[they] depict uprooted and homeless persons seeking protection, they also demonstrate the importance of hospitality or ‘xenia’ and the ritual of supplication or ‘hiketeia’ as a moral practice in ancient Athens’ (2018: 11). In other words, those old texts about migration offer insight into the politics and ethics of welcoming (or not) those who were victims of violence and they constitute testaments of an advanced society that (according to the stories we are told) appeared to remain open to those in need. The paradox of hospitality, resting on the unequal relation between host and guest, remains a conundrum in conversations around asylum and it exemplified in the ancient Greek text particularly at the moment when the king of the city has to make a decision as to whether to accept the women- or not. He says: ‘to bar you brings horror, but welcome brings war. Fear grips me hard now. I have to be careful. Act or not to act, what can I do?’ (Greig, 2016: 22)

Some reviewers hailed the production as a ‘feminist protest song’, while others noted their unease or dissatisfaction with ‘this difficult piece of humanity’s ancient past’ (Haydon 2017). In her review of the November 2017 Young Vic production, Maddy Costa points at the problems that emerge when considering how we appropriate and rely on old myths to make sense of the complexity of the present:

I find myself wondering why it is that we must build cultural sympathy for the plight of modern refugees upon an ancient story about women threatened with rape, and what it means to generate empathy through that threat.

Indeed, the production was telling (again) a story of savage, powerless women who become agitated when they are subject to male violence – and that kind of story perpetuated categories of victim and perpetrator (but also benefactor) across centuries, drawing analogies between then and now, misinterpreting and misrepresenting contemporary politics. There is a significant question to raise about the need to return to old (patriarchal) texts in order to understand contemporary predicaments; is a reenactment of classical 5th century BC tragedy an appropriate device in order to make sense of forced displacement in the contemporary world, still marked by racist and colonialist strategies? In such moments of staging foreignness, one should ask what is the implication of relying on myths, or what Cox describes as an ‘echo chamber of archetypal, often heroic, narratives’, this ‘symbolic system by which we recognise (the Latin etymology is ‘know again’) migrants and migration’ and consequently read ‘the political present’ (Cox 2014: 9). This is not only about how we perceive the migrant, the Other – it is also about how

by representing the migrant, we understand ourselves, and continuities or discontinuities across culture and time.

I would argue that is more productive to work with a kind of theatre that acknowledges the foreignness of migration – not only in the people and places and languages – but also in the ways of understanding and conveying that foreign world as it resonates with the world we inhabit. We need a kind of theatre that acknowledges that we are all implicated in the ways that contemporary world works and how the way we live impact on others. We need a kind of theatre that connects the ‘here’ and the ‘elsewhere’. Sometimes, this happens in activist work that places emphasis on the absent body of the migrant: for instance, in works like ‘The Dead are Coming’ by collective Centre for Political Beauty, bodies of migrants who drowned while crossing the Mediterranean are purportedly exhumed and transferred to Berlin for a burial. The bodies return to haunt the symbolic centre of Fortress Europe in ways that are comparable to the ways that Greekborn, London-based visual artist Kalliopi Lemos blocked the entrance to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with ‘At Crossroads’, a public art, installation-sculpture made of the real boats-remains of the crossings of migrants in the Aegean (2009). In those occasions, the body that is not there but is so heavily inferred in metonymic or symbolic manners returns to irritate the centre of sovereign nation-states and, significantly, to disrupt spaces of leisure and tourism that maintain the distinctions between here and there.16

In his seminal work ‘Of Other Spaces’, Michel Foucault observed that

The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space. We are in the epoch of simultaneity: we are in the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near and far […][O]ur experience of the world is less that of a long life developing through time than that of a network that connects points.

The interconnection of the contemporary world is a theme that a lot of playwrights have used exploring the meaning of home and away, arrivals and departures. For example, Anders Lustgarten’s ‘Lampedusa’ (2015) tells two stories: the first taking place in the small island of Lampedusa, off the coast of Sicily, where numerous migrants from North Africa arrive; the second is taking place in Leeds, as a young woman of Asian background is trying to survive austerity. In both stories, the main characters (Stefano and Denise) discover something about themselves through their interaction with a migrant (Modibo and Carolina, respectively), as the play celebrates connections between characters who live at the margins, both here and elsewhere. In an interview, the playwright stressed the need for a kind of theatre that mediates hope as the only motivator for people to step out of this sense of helplessness and apathy in which our communities have dug themselves into. Our societies have long been lulled into this passivity as our politics is based on the narrative that there is no alternative to harsh neoliberalism where compassion and solidarity are tantamount to a threat to our economic prosperity and well-being. [Lustgarten quoted in Wilmer 2018: 64]

‘Lampedusa’ attempts to move past narratives of crisis and emergency, pointing instead at the systemic structures that perpetuate injustice and forced displacement: in doing so, the play aims to remind audiences that it is only through community and engage -

For more on these projects see Zaroulia (2015) and Cox and Zaroulia (2016).

ment with politics as it actually happens on the ground that things might begin to change. As Cox observes in the conclusion to her book: 17

In theatre and performance that concerns itself with […] migration, it is arguably even more vital that artists and audiences think through dwelling. And part of this is the extent to which dwelling is helped or hindered by hosts who are already home. (2014: 77-78)

Narratives of crisis and emergency frame displacement as a temporary situation that can be ‘tackled’ and contained; yet migration – triggered by so many factors that exceed the parameters of the Geneva Convention – has become a way of living, surviving and progressing for many people on this planet. Theatre has the potential to remind us of how movement is a constitutive feature of life; of how mobility is differentiated depending on degrees of privilege and, most importantly, of how borders are not only physical and political but that can operate (invisibly) in multiple ways that keep people excluded, a long time after their arrival. Theatre that engages with migration is theatre that asks profound questions about who we are, how we live and who we choose to live with.

Bibliography

Ahmed, Sara (2004) The Cultural Politics of Emotion Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP Anonymous (2016) ‘6 steps towards solving refugee situation in Europe’ UNHCR: UN Refugee Agency http:// www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press/2016/3/56d957db9/unhcr-6- steps-towards-solving-refugee-situation-europe.html [accessed 03 May 2019]

Berry, M, I Garcia-Blanco and K Moore (2016) ‘UK press is the most aggressive in reporting on Europe’s migrant crisis’ The Conversation 14 March http://theconversation.com/uk-press-is-the-most-aggressive-in-reporting-on-europes-migrant-crisis-56083 [accessed 03 May 2019]

Costa, M (2017) ‘The Suppliants at the Young Vic’ [accessed 06 May 2019] http://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/the-suppliant-women-at-the-young-vic/

Cox, E (2014) Theatre & Migration Basingstoke: Palgrave

Cox, E and M Zaroulia (2016) ‘Mare Nostrum, or on Water Matters’ Performance Research

Cox, E and C Wake (2018) ‘Editorial’ RiDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 28, 3: 137-47

Foucault, M (1967) ‘Of Other Spaces’ Diacritics

Greig, D (2016) Aeschylus The Suppliants London: Faber and Faber

Hall, S and D Massey (2010) ‘Interpreting the Crisis’ Soundings 44: 57-71

Kakogianni, M & J Ranciere (2013) ‘A Precarious Dialogue.’ Radical Philosophy 181 (September/October) 18-25

London International Festival of Theatre (2016) ‘On the Move’ https://www.liftfestival.com/events/on-themove/[accessed 06 May 2019]

UNHCR (2018a) ‘UNHCR Desperate Journeys report provides snapshot of changing refugee movements to Europe’ http://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press/2018/4/5acdc3e64/unhcr-desperate-journeys-report-providessnapshot-changing-refugee-movements.html [accessed 03 May 2019]

UNHCR (2018b) ‘Asylum in the UK’ http://www.unhcr.org/uk/asylum-in-the-uk.html [accessed 03 May 2019]

Wilmer, S.E. (2018) Performing Statelesness in Europe. London: Palgrave

Zaroulia, M (2018) ‘Performing that which exceeds us: aesthetics of sincerity and obscenity during the “refugee crisis”’ RiDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 23(2): 179-92.

Zaroulia, M (2015) ‘At the Gates of Europe: Sacred Objects, Other Spaces and Performances of Dispossession’ Performances of Capitalism, Crises and Resistance: Inside/Outside Europe London: Palgrave. 193-210.

Zaroulia, M and P Hager (2015) Performances of Capitalism, Crises and Resistance: Inside/Outside Europe

London: Palgrave

Other examples that interrogate this interplay of migration, action and hope is Jo Robertson and Jo

Murphy’s ‘The Jungle’ (2017) that emerged in the Good Chance Theatre in the refugee camp in Calais, and ‘Queens of Syria’ (2016), a piece that interweaved autobiographical stories of Syrian women who live in a refugee camp in Jordan with sections from Euripides’s ‘The Trojan Women’.

FROM

COMMONPLACE PERCEPTIONS TO A PLACE IN COMMON: THE PARABLE OF THEATRE IN THE MIGRATION YEARS

by Nicola Bonazzi (Joint Artistic Director: Teatro dell’Argine)

Theatre has always been misunderstood as a boring, aristocratic and elitist discipline (so anything but inclusive). Some types of innovative theatre, however, have been able to free themselves from this misunderstanding by breaking with those common place perceptions and expectations which have become stale and anachronistic, sustained, albeit less and less, by the reproduction of artificial naturalistic forms.

One of the major elements that sustained this break, was the discovery in the early 1980s of the pedagogical and experiential dimension of theatre, that is to say the perception of the theatre above all as an active experience. It offers a continuous learning process in which techniques and knowledge are not necessarily related to professional growth, but capable, in broader terms, of encouraging the development of people's relational skills, of their self-esteem, of general well- being in their intra and inter-personal relationships.

This theatrical model centres around the promotion of human well-being. It does not conflict with the more traditional self-referential model, which is routed in aesthetic forms and values. Rather it is able to temper it and find integration, offering new content and addressing new needs. This capacity, together with the explosion of new social contexts due to migratory events, has transformed what initially appeared to be just a fashionable phenomenon which theatres often welcomed mainly to receive some extra funding (always very much welcomed within a typically struggling theatre economy), into an unavoidable and urgent issue that is more important today than ever.

Practicing theatre with migrants, doing workshops with people who come from other countries and who are often in conditions of real discomfort (in many cases political refugees or asylum seekers), has become less of a superficial theatrical pose and more of an urgent opportunity, in which the theatre players themselves can experience the unsettling beauty of new languages and new bodies, the inescapable depth of fresh and innovative reflections, the short circuit that occurs when totally different lives meet and can find harmony thanks to the playful and inclusive dimension of theatrical practice.

I would here like to present some of the experiences and projects carried out in collaboration or independently by the Teatro dell’Argine theatre company, which has, since its birth, been active in the field of pedagogy and theatre practice, focusing on new citizenship and fragility. Its aim has been to encourage active participation for migrants in theatre workshops, and to identify within these experiences some recurrent and therefore significant key words or concepts.

These experiences are carried out over several years. The possibility of replicating the same process over time allows the artists and professionals to question both themselves and the activity they carry out, so that mistakes can be highlighted and improvements made.

The first example concerns the workshop called ‘Esodi’ (Exoduses): an annual theatre project designed for young people up to 25 years of age, Italians and foreigners, migrants and settlers, refugees and residents. In this case the activity, carried out directly

by Teatro dell'Argine,

has seen the support of Opera Padre Marella, a non-profit organisation engaged, among other things, in a project that receives migrants in Emilia and in particular in Bologna Metropolitan Area. The workshops draw on the possibility of interweaving perceptions, knowledge and practices from different geographical areas. Mixing and meeting offers the seeds for the growth of relationships, which can extend beyond the relatively short workshops themselves, stimulating the imagination and giving rise to the most theatrically unpredictable ideas.

The second example concerns a workshop that the theatre company has been conducting for many years at the Metropolitan CPIA (Centro per l’Istruzione degli Adulti - Centre for Adult Education) in Bologna. In this instance, the request for a theatre based project to support Italian language teaching came from the school. Although CPIAs are aimed at all adults lacking in complete school education, they are by far the most attended by foreign citizens who are looking to gain the equivalent of a standard Italian education. The origin of the participants varies greatly and the resulting theatre group becomes a sort of melting pot, with hardly any Italians. On the contrary, in the ‘Esodi’ (Exoduses) workshop, the Italians present are able to carry out an important mediatory function.

It should also be noted that, in the Bologna area, Teatro dell'Argine is one of the longestrunning companies to propose theatre projects with and for migrants. In 2005, two different companies were set up, the Refugees Company and the Multicultural Company (please excuse the “labelling” in the title – we needed to clearly communicate the purpose of this work). The titles were intended to correspond to the particular characteristics of each group: the first was aimed at migrants seeking asylum or already in possession of the refugee status, and was therefore carried out in close collaboration with the SPRAR (Sistema di Protezione per Richiedenti Asilo e Rifugiati - System for the Protection of Asylum Seekers and Refugees) of Bologna and with cooperatives that work for the reception of migrants; the second aimed to have a distinctly more professional role, and therefore consisted mostly of participants with some degree of theatrical training already undertaken in their countries of origin.

Both companies always envisaged the presence of Italians, with a role of mediation in the first case, and with their wealth of professional experiences to be shared in the second. When these two experiences had come to a close, the ‘Esodi’ (Exoduses) workshop was introduced for the young and very young. It aimed to harness the contagious energy deriving from an age which has not yet been restricted within the rigid superstructures of work and social conventions, in which people are more willing to meet, to play together, exchange ideas and experiences. Of course, adolescence is also synonymous with fragility. The focus of the workshop moves from the problems connected with the arrival in a new country and the suffering caused by abandoning home countries (often as a result of traumatic events), to the difficulty in managing experiences relating to growth and the transition to adulthood. This shift in focus is important because it generates an immediate common ground and therefore a willingness to meet each other, beginning with experiences that can be shared or that everyone already has in common.

The first meetings, which are always very crowded, are those in which the building blocks of shared awareness and reciprocal knowledge are laid. These guarantee the birth of solid and equal bonds. Migrants at the workshop rarely have any kind of previous theatrical experience. They have arrived in the host country a short, or very short time ago,

they are in the process of trying to learn a new language, adjust to different social customs and often have to deal with the evident mistrust of the host country’s citizens.

In short, the group gathers and shares knowledge and experiences which vary greatly, and it is the guides’ task to soften and smooth this asymmetry. If we see the idea of “play” as being central to the theatre (indeed in English and French the words “play” and “jouer” have meanings which are also synonymous with the theatre), then the game in theatre, with its unbridled dynamism and largely non-verbal modalities, its inclusive modality which is both impartial and welcoming, can immediately act as a binding agent for the group. By introducing small exercises and physical improvisations, using the body and voice, where everybody is engaged but where any possible reticence or shyness is also respected, the game creates a common space that welcomes everyone, together with both their individual weaknesses or abilities. In this way, the asymmetry is soon defeated. Some of the elements reported by the great French writer and sociologist Roger Caillois in his classic ‘Men, Play and Games’, are useful in highlighting the advantage that the practice of playing offers to a theatre workshop like this.

Playing is free, so no one can be forced to participate; it is non-productive because it does not create material or immaterial goods for anyone; (of course Caillois does not refer to professionally conducted games, for example sports); it is uncertain, in the sense that the outcome cannot be decided at the outset; it is regulated, in the sense that, during the game, the normal rules of life are suspended to make way for different rules, those required by the game (even in terms of just taking part).

Playing transforms the workshop into holiday time for the participants, interrupting everyday life through shared ritual or convention, offering an “other” space, where the usual social categories and consolidated points of view can be overturned, prejudices and mental attitudes undermined, and where opinions and preconceived convictions can be reversed. Common place perceptions, or recurring interpretations of facts and circumstances, are transformed into places in common for festive and recreational participation (in the etymological sense “vivify”, to “reanimate giving a second existence”): the theatre is transformed into a container for sharing people’s experiences, invigorating dialogue and exchange.

The energy that emanates from the game becomes contagious, contaminating all the members. The role of the guide is in no way protagonist, as the collective identity of the group takes the foreground, sustained by the idea of free and unconditional celebration which is strengthened by everyone’s youthful energy.

The decision to work on ‘Pinocchio’ in 2016 strengthened this momentum: ‘Pinocchio’ is a powerful depiction of those who do not want to be forced to compromise in life, of those who try to keep their own independent space, of those who try to emancipate themselves from visions that are too restrictive and narrow, which, in the original novel, are left to the adult world or to a limited and narrow pedagogy (that of the Talking Cricket). In the context of a group composed mostly of foreigners however, these elements immediately become ambiguous perceptions, concepts that are taken for granted, that rest on the placid acceptance of inflexible and unmovable certainties: commonplace clichés indeed.

Many participants, especially Africans, were of course not familiar with the novel of ‘Pinocchio’ and so the presence of the Italian mediators was of fundamental importance. They often used English or French which could be understood by the migrant members, without the risk of creating the asymmetry mentioned above thanks to their similar ages and roles within the workshop. Mediation was also carried out by those migrants who had decided to repeat the theatrical experience after having tried it the previous year. Their willingness to be an active part in the dialogue with the new members, who often suffered from the same disorientation which they had experienced themselves the year before, bears true witness to how the theatre can nurture and mature skills through “horizontal” dynamics that are not derived from imposed practice. The theatre is able, therefore, to develop knowledge generated by continuous processes of self- awareness, which can then be instinctively applied to others in a social context.

Once Pinocchio’s drive for freedom had been affirmed, it became a symbol of possible redemption from a condition of temporary discomfort, an opportunity for oneself and for others to change, to overturn common opinion.

This was a passage from the show that was recited by an Italian girl and a Gambian boy, each in their own language:

I do not want to stay here,

I want to go one step further.

I do not want to stay still.

I do not want to be in my wooden skin.

Iamnotinmyskin.

I am not in the things you say to me.

I am not here and not there either, if you tell me I have to be here or there.

I am where I want to be, and even when I’m there I want to move.

I do not want be with my back straight. I do not want to be with my back bent. I don’t even know how I want to be, because I want to change.

Always change, change clothes, change hair, change friends, change the time I have to get up and the time I have to go to bed, change my point of view on things, change other people’s points of view on things,

change things, the things of the world, change the world. That’s it, the world.

I don’t know why, but I want to change it.

And I don’t want anyone to change it except me.

The theatre projects at the Metropolitan CPIA take place within the context of Italian language teaching programs. The theatre workshop hours are therefore integrated within the normal school hours, and the guide knows his or her main role is in supporting another objective. However, the theatre can still act as a valid tool for knowledge and self-awareness in the same way as it does in the ‘Esodi’ (Exoduses) project. Here, the workshop guide has the difficult task of disrupting the asymmetric patterns of the school, and promoting the theatre activity as a recreational and playful moment, a space where the usual learning activities can be suspended. The workshop guide is the first mediator between the rigid school paradigm and a freer and more voluntary model, selfgoverned by the principles of personal well-being, even if governed, on a practical level, by the rules of coexistence that the theatre requires and that the workshop guide must enforce. Listening, a fundamental practice in theatre activities, must in this case be a vehicle for understanding each person’s needs, without sacrificing personal skills or ignoring possible individual weaknesses because of the pressure to gain an education: theatre remains theatre, a dynamic process for equals, which does not impose learning. There is not only one language to be taught, not just one culture to be administered: there are as many cultures as there are individuals, each bearing their own knowledge and their own mental representations; there are many cultures functioning within dialogues with one another, and the theatre provides a suitable setting for this to develop and be accessible to a third-party audience.

The decision to focus the project and its final outcome on the theme of childhood and memories, partly responded to the needs of school education (the school teacher assigned small written assignments relating to the memory of childhood and adolescence), and in part to the difficulty of developing a project within the institutional system of the school: it is easier to get involved when starting from what is known, from concrete and lived experiences, rather than first approaching the theatre through theatrical plays, unknown texts or topics.

Moreover, reactivating the memory of what has been lost, but that still exists (friends or family who are far away, school attended in the country of origin, sport practiced together with peers in adolescence) is a way of re-appropriating a part of one’s personal existence that has been made unattainable by the trauma of separation. It becomes a way of reaffirming individual identity, reconfiguring it in the country of arrival with new friends and acquaintances (in essence it means being able to say “I am this” or “I am also this”, “these are my roots”). In short, although the school-institution would at first appear to be an inappropriate space, we can see how the theatre can once again triumph even within an unconventional context, offering a space where the self can be reconquered, where individual experiences can be pooled, where a shared “feeling” can be expressed and communicated, thanks to the universal and collective nature of the theatre. As pre -

viously mentioned, all this depends on being able to break up the normal perception of the relationship between roles that necessarily exist within schools: in the open and free field of the theatre there are no more teachers and students, but only adventurous travellers looking for a new land, unexplored or only partially explored.

The final outcome of this last project was called ‘The Room of Games’ and used some short texts created by the participants during the Italian lessons. Here we have also quoted a sample to show to what extent autobiographical material can become a principle for sharing experiences and emotions if it is treated within the theatre in dramaturgical terms and not (or not only) from a therapeutic perspective (which can be an unexpected outcome, not a starting point for artists working in these contexts).

When I was a child and lived in Africa, I liked to ride a bike, I learned when I was a little child and I wasn’t afraid to go fast. I always went to school by bike, I went for some good rides and I was happy.

When I was a child I played in a soccer team in my country, I was good and I wanted to become a famous soccer player. My football team almost always won. I remember we used to play in a field near my house, we would play for hours and hours and time passed quickly. In the evening, tired and hungry, we all went to my house to eat. I remember the couscous my mother cooked, it was so good!

The mask, a fundamental element in the theatre, allows us to transform what at first would seem to be a private matter, into an artistic expressive act. Even when we talk about ourselves in the first person, we in fact offer a mask, a partial vision of what we are, linked to the function that the representation of the ego requires in that exact moment and in the context of a formalised construction, during the process or in the outcome. This “autobiographical mask”, so to speak, generates a dynamic of mutual knowledge, or rather knowledge through self-recognition.

Within this dynamic, we find the theme that society has challenged the theatre with in these years: the encounter with that which is judged as being different to us, according to inarticulate and rigid mental outlooks (once again clichés), offers the theatre the experience of an invigorating estrangement: to place oneself in the condition of feeling like a stranger, yet in dialogue with one another through the non-verbal language of emotion, while still establishing new ethical models, reveals new aesthetic possibilities. If the project process marks the meeting place between people from different countries and different existential walks of life, its outcome marks the encounter between a possible audience and an innovative theatre, where the pedagogical process gains value, and importance is given to those very differences that the project attempts to harmonise and unveil in all their bursting beauty. Because, at the end of the day, this should be the underlying tension that animates the theatre: the transformation of a jumble of commonplace perceptions, to a place where there is a willingness for exchange, for dialogue, where new visions and new cognitive paradigms can be put into play, allowing us to share rather than divide, to animate pluralistic perspectives instead of a solipsistic aversion to “mixed” thought. The theatre moves from commonplace perceptions to offering a place in common.

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE(CQ) AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN REFUGEE WORK

by Necmi Turgut (Youth Worker, AAT Science & Technology University) & I. Efe Efeoğlu (Assoc. Prof. of Management, AAT Science &Technology University)

Abstract

This article aims to show the connection between intercultural studies and the forced displacement crisis in the world and how the social workers and youth workers benefit from these studies. There are many reasons, which are further discussed in this article, for people to leave their home countries and move to a new one and it can be difficult to settle in a new country and adjust to its laws, customs and language especially after running away from traumas such as persecution, organised violence, loss of family members and friends etc. Social workers and youth workers play a key role in the process of normalising and social cohesion of refugees. There are sets of skills required from youth workers and social workers in order to provide services for refugees and one of the key skills to support social cohesion is the intercultural and cross-cultural communication which are directly related to the cultural intelligence(CQ).

Background

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) published its annual report of Global Trends, Forced Displacement in 2018. In this report, information about the refugee 18 numbers, forcefully displaced people (both domestic and international), numbers of people who either went back to their own countries, asylum-seekers, stateless people and other types of populations can be found. This data helps organisations, NGOs, other governmental or civic bodies to plan the structure of their social services in order to address the needs of their target group more accurately.

According to the Global Trends, Forced Displacement in 2018 Report, the total population of refugees and other displaced groups increased by 2.3 million people in 2018. At the end of 2018, around 70.8 million individuals were reported as ‘forcibly displaced worldwide’ due to different hardships such as persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. These reported numbers of the forcefully displaced people are still remaining at extremely high levels. It was also reported that 13.6 million people were newly joined these numbers because of different conflicts or persecutions that occurred in 2018 and the daily number of new additions was equivalent to an average of 37,000 people per day in 2018. For the last five years, Turkey again has the highest number of refugees worldwide, with 3.7 million people.19

As we can see from the UNHCR’s report, the number of people moving from one country to another is extremely high and it becomes more and more difficult for the social sector to provide the most beneficial and accurate services for the refugees and other populations who either recently landed or already living in the host country. Forced displacement is used as a terminology by the UNHCR in order to show the world that these people are not displacing voluntarily or willingly. Most of them are caught unprepared due to war or other kinds of conflict therefore their first destination of displacement is the neighbour countries. According to the UNHCR’s report, nearly eighty per cent of the refugees lived in neighbouring countries as they were the closest to flee in the beginning.

Global Trends, Forced Displacement in 2018, https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2018/

Global Trends, Forced Displacement in 2018 Report, June 2019, p. 2,3

These forced displacements also forced the social sector to provide social services for the people coming to the host countries. These services mostly focus on the urgent needs of the people such as food, shelter, clothes, health services, education etc. They also carry out cultural activities in order to increase the social cohesion and the cultural adaptation of the displaced communities. Despite all the attempts and effort of the social sector, the acceptance and the welcoming of the displaced people by general society of the host country are still questionable. Many NGOs and volunteer groups work on the information of the people about the refugee and migrant issues, aiming to increase awareness and create empathy by providing eye opening data about the recent developments in the forced displacement crisis in the world.

Culture and Its Effect on The Work of the Social Workers

People moving from one country to another, whether it is on purpose or forced, creates a multinational, multicultural environment in the host country. Most of the social sector actors focus on the urgent needs of their target group with the negligence of the multinationality in their work environment. As the youth workers and social workers start working the displaced people, they enter into the realm of a different culture and background therefore their understanding of culture, intercultural communication and other related terminology can contribute to the success of the services they provide.

Culture is a very complicated and conflicted area of research as it is very difficult to find or make a scholarly agreed definition of it. In 1952, Kroeber and Kluckhohn, made a literature review and listed more than 160 different definitions of culture. When it was 20 around 1990s, there was still no consensus among anthropologists about the fundamental characteristics of culture .21

One of the earliest definitions was made by Tyler in 1870s. He said in his book, Primitive Culture , “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, 22 law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” (Taylor, 1870, p.1)

Kroeber and Kluckhohn made their definition in 1952: “Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artefacts.” (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952, p.181)

Another definition of culture was made by Dr. Matsumoto in his book in 1996: “... The set 23 of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours shared by a group of people, but different for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next.” (Matsumoto, 1996, p.16)

In order to understand the cultural differences and to create a contrast between different cultures in a multinational and multicultural environment, we need to understand the different structures and models of culture. These comparisons are essential in terms of understanding the cultural sensitivities of different groups and their reactions to certain situations as well as understanding our own values and world views. This might help us to understand our differences and to create a bridge between different cultures.

Kroeber, A. L., & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture: A critical review of concepts and definitions. Papers. Pe

abody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University.

Apte M (1994). Language in sociocultural context. In R. E. Asher (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Language and 21 Linguistics, 4, 2000-2010. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Tylor, E. B. (1871). Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art,

and custom (Vol. 2). J. Murray.

Matsumoto, D. R. (1996). Culture and Psychology. CA, Brooks.

Geert Hofstede’s Culture Model

Geert Hofstede, a very famous Dutch researcher, has defined culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." (Hofstede, 2010, p.6).24

Hofstede believes that culture is learned, not comes from birth. It is related to the social environment we live in rather than our genetic construction. Therefore, when culture is being studied, human nature and an individual’s personality should be distinguished. Human nature is the common construct that all humans have: the ability to have emotions, feel fear, love, anger, joy, sorrow, sadness, shame, guilt, the need to interact and socialise with others and make observations about their environment and share it with other humans are all part of this level of cognitive coding or programming. However, when humans start managing these feelings, emotions and needs and how they choose to express them is modified by culture. (Hofstede, 2010)

In the figure, first there layers are classified under another term; practices. Their most typical characteristic is that they are observable by other people although they might have an invisible cultural meaning, such as a religious outfit, texts, national and traditional music, instruments, songs etc. On the other hand, the very center of culture according to this model is determined by values. Hofstede defined values as the “broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others. Values are feelings with an added arrow indicating a plus and a minus side.” (Hofstede, 2010, p.8)

The onion model of culture can be a great tool for social workers who work with displaced people such as refugees and migrants. They can draw two fundamental conclusions from this model. First conclusion is that the practice part of the culture model is the visible part and they can be learned throughout our new experiences. In other words, they can change, develop or be replaced in time especially after living in a different country for long durations. However, the values layer, which is usually developed during our childhood, is the invisible part that we all carry within ourselves and it can represent our personal values, beliefs and worldviews. As a result, the inner layer is either very difficult to change or might take a long time for someone to change them as they bring stability and feelings of security as they shape the very core of the society and its members. The centre and the deepest level of the culture model hold very firm

Figure: The “Onion Model of Culture”: Layers of Culture at Different Levels of Depth25

Geert H. Hofstede & Hofstede, Gert Jan & Minkov, Michael (2010). Cultures and organizations software of

the mind : intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival (3rd ed). New York McGraw-Hill

just like the deep roots of a tree connecting it to the soil very strongly and collecting all the life energy for the tree to survive. Therefore one must be very careful if they decide to change or replace their core values as it can be very destructive in the long run.

Second conclusion from this model for the social workers can be that they can visualise the onion layers as a target board. When they face conflict with someone from another culture or experience resistance within their target group against a certain activity or exercise they plan, this might relate to the group’s cultural sensitivities. For example; when an NGO organises an education program in a mixed gender classroom for a Syrian group, if the attendance is low at the beginning, this might be because of the different value and belief systems of the group. Depending on the situation and the group, the level of the conflict and resistance might increase. In other words, the resistance and the conflict depend on the layer targeted by the actions or words we use. Mixed gender classroom structure might be a common practice in the host country (outer layers) however for the displaced group this might an issue of core values(bullseye). Social workers should also consider this conclusion in the other direction. The actions or words of their target group might target their own layers and create an inner frustration and resistance to learn about and show respect to the culture of the group. Therefore, the selfawareness of the personal values for a social worker is essential in the management of cross-cultural communication and interactions.

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) as a Tool for Social Workers

One of the most important global issues in the world today is the forced displacement and millions of people are leaving their home countries and try to find a new home. Regardless of the trauma and all the hardships they experience, people bring their own cultural identities and create a multicultural environment within their new host society and this situation creates other important constructs such as cultural judgement, cultural adjustment, social cohesion etc. These constructs are important both for the displaced people and the people who are welcoming these new visitors in their own countries.

As we discussed in the previous section, conflicts can easily occur in a multinational and multicultural environment due to the lack of cross-cultural management skills of all the actors involved in the situation. In the circumstances of an NGO working with the displaced groups such as refugees, it is easier for them to prepare their social workers before their work in the field. The question is; is there any systematic way of understanding cross-cultural management and a tool which can make it easier for the social workers to develop their cross-cultural competences? The answer is yes. Cultural Intelligence (CQ) studies can provide a systematic way of training the social workers and developing their intercultural and cross-cultural competences. In other words, NGOs can invest in training “Culturally Intelligent” social workers and youth workers.

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Studies

The concept of cultural intelligence (CQ) is initially introduced in the business management studies and has been popular in business sector and the organisational research and practice since the early 2000’s. The world is becoming more and more globalised and the cross-cultural interactions are increasing rapidly, therefore the importance of the CQ is also increasing.

CQ Definitions

Earley and Ang (2003) were one of the earliest researchers who introduced the term Cultural Intelligence (CQ). They developed the term CQ based on the Nature Intelligence theory defined by Sternberg and Detterman (1986). They described CQ as “a person’s capability to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts” (Earley and Ang, 2003, p. 59). In

2011 David Livermore defined CQ as “the capability to function effectively across a variety of cultural contexts, such as ethnic, generational, and organisational cultures” (Livermore, 2011, p.3). Another definition was made by David C. Thomas as “CQ meant to reflect the capability to deal effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds". (Thomas, 2006, p. 78). Brooks Peterson defined CQ in his book as “the ability to engage in a set of behaviours that uses skills (i.e., language or interpersonal skills) and qualities (e.g., tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility) that are tuned appropriately to the culture-based values and attitudes of the people with whom one interacts.” (Peterson, 2004; p. 89)

Cultural Intelligence Structure

Cultural Intelligence has been considered as a multidimensional human competence instead of a single ability or skills approach in contrast to the social and emotional intelligence. They were studied with the basic assumption of multiculturality did not exist in the context while CQ provided a holistic approach of different abilities leading individuals effectively in new cultures.

There are there main streams of models on CQ structure. The first model is the Earley and Ang’s concept of CQ, which introduces metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioural CQ. The second model is David C. Thomas’s concept of CQ which involves knowledge, mindfulness, and skills. The last approach is based on the concept of multiple intelligences and developed by Peterson. In this article the first and one of the earliest models which was introduced by Christopher Earley and Soon Ang in 2003 will be reviewed and discussed as a tool for social workers who are to work with the refugees and migrants. Cultural Intelligence was initially introduced for the business sector in order to increase their team’s capacities to function more efficiently and effectively in the multinational and multicultural settings. Transformation from business sector to cultural and civic sector could be very beneficial and CQ could contribute to the success of the actors who actively involved in the services provided for the refugees and migrants.

Earley and Ang (2003) suggested that the CQ is based on three elements (metacognitive CQ was later considered by other researchers who applied this CQ structure):

• Metacognitive/cognitive CQ,

• Motivational CQ

• Behavioural CQ

Metacognitive CQ: is considered as an important starting point for developing an ability to construct a new paradigm and create new mental patterns in a new cultural setting (Earley and Ang, 2003; Earley and Peterson, 2004). Metacognitive CQ is a higher-level of cognitive and mental process that helps individuals to develop strategies to better understand and use their cultural information (Earley and Peterson, 2004; Lin et al., 2012). Metacognition was defined as “knowledge and cognition about cognitive phenomena” (Flavell, 1979, p. 906) and as “thinking about thinking” (Earley and Ang, 2003, p. 100). David Livermore (2011) also defined metacognitive CQ as a strategical approach that determined the accuracy of an individual’s judgment about their own cognitive state and process, thus representing the ability to make connections between one’s personal culturally diverse experiences.

Earley and Ang (2003) introduced three basic questions to understand people in a new culture:

1. What are the ways that I can determine what I am like and what might someone else be like?

2. What is this person like and why are they this way?

3. What can people be like and why?

In order to comprehend these three questions and have a clear picture in mind, people need higher-level cognitive processing and flexibility in order to understand and integrate their new knowledge and the data they collect. (Earley and Ang, 2003)

As metacognitive CQ is the preparing stage for individuals before they encounter a multicultural context, it is important for a social worker to prepare beforehand by asking and answering the three fundamental questions. The most important step in metacognition for a social worker who is to work with the refugees and migrants is to be aware of their current mental state and awareness about their own culture and values and also how they are reflecting and reacting in a multicultural context. As the researchers suggested that CQ development is affected directly by personal international experiences even for short durations, social workers with international mobility program experiences might be more suitable for the job. Metacognitive CQ can help social workers overcome their prejudices and stereotypes about the international group which they will provide services to improve their social cohesion in their new country.

Cognitive CQ is defined as the people’s cognitive knowledge or their reflection of the environment which is referred to as “schemas” in which they make connections between their perceptions and ideas. Earley and Ang (2003) explained three types of knowledge:

• Declarative knowledge

• Procedural knowledge

• Conditional knowledge

Declarative knowledge, is basically knowing information. This declarative knowledge is mostly collected through asking their peers general questions about the new cultural construct. Procedural knowledge is related how to operate things. This usually can be gained through observation of the people in the new cultural setting and copying or mimicking them. Conditional knowledge is related to knowing the causality of things. The accuracy and success of this would depend on the person’s ability to apply declarative and procedural knowledge at the right time and the right place. (Earley and Ang, 2003).

Earley and Ang (2003) suggested that to be able to generate effective and accurate representations of different cultures, one will need two types of cognitive information processing:

• Intrapersonal Cognitive Processing: knowing the reasons and timings of things.

• Metacognitive Processing: the accuracy of judgment of learning. These intellectual data processes help individuals comprehend their own personal and specific cultural norms and practices, as well as the ability to generate knowledge about cultural differences. In other words, individuals with high cognitive CQ and metacognitive CQ are more likely to be successful in multicultural settings than individuals who have lower cognitive CQ and metacognitive CQ.

Social workers could develop their cognitive CQ level by frequently questioning and reasoning the culturally different settings. They could interact with the refugees and migrants by asking them questions about their behaviours, thinking patterns and reactions in certain situations as well as questioning their own judgements and selection of responses in these situations. Cognitively flexible individuals might be more successful in their first encounter with the culturally different individuals. No matter how accurate we think we prepare ourselves, make research about the group and try to receive data, every individual has specific characteristics and social workers may need to readjust their thinking patterns depending on the groups or the individuals they are working with.

Motivational CQ is defined as the desire, need or the driving force of the individuals to adjust to new cultures with the mentality of continuing learning and interaction in new environments and cultures. (Ang et al., 2006). The topic of motivation is hardly mentioned in cross cultural concepts. However, Earley and Ang (2003) mentioned that single cognitive processing does not bring the motivational outcomes such as willingness to learn and apply the new cultural information or encouragement to show and express their understanding of new cultures. To successfully manage and function in new cultural settings, individuals need to have basic level of motivation or need. Although need is an important factor that encourages an action, it is not easy for anyone to behave comfortably in new cultures without their self-confidence and trust in their personal ability to interact successfully (Earley and Ang, 2003).

There are 2 main constructs of Motivational CQ:

• Self-efficacy: what people expect to succeed in specific situations.

• Goal setting: it is expected that individual behaviours are motivated and guided by goals and objectives. Goal setting provides a clear path or direction, commitment to cause, and a reference point to check the results of the pursuit of the goals.

In a multicultural context, self-efficacy and clear direction enhance positive adjustment. People with high motivational CQ would value cross cultural interactions and consider multicultural and multinational assignments as motivating and challenging tasks compared to their counterparts who have lower motivational CQ. These individuals with high motivation find that learning, development and achievement in new cultures is a reward that encourages them to continue growing and functioning in different cultural settings.

Social workers with high levels of motivational CQ would have a bigger chance in gaining trust of the refugee or migrant group that they will work with and they would find it easier to integrate in that group. Motivational CQ can encourage the social workers to learn more about the culture and the values of the target group they work with, instead of trying to impose their own culture and values to the new comers. As integration and assimilation is a big conflict area in the field work of the NGOs with the refugees and migrants, high motivational CQ levels might result in the respecting the current culture of the group and trying to engage in social interactions in order to learn more about them.

Behavioural CQ refers to intentional behaviours in different cultural environments. Earley and Ang (2003) narrowed down these behaviours to include only visible or observable behaviours, both verbal and nonverbal. In other words, they considered behavioural CQ as what people said or did. Visible or open behaviours can be noticed during interpersonal communication and the language that is used, while hidden or closed behaviours are made out of different types of invisible aspects of behaviour. These invisible behaviours, such as thinking and motivation have already been discussed in first three elements of Cultural Intelligence (Earley and Ang, 2003).

Behavioural CQ only deals with the behaviours that impact the social environment in different cultural contexts, not just within a single culture. Culturally intelligent behaviours are the very results of the successful and high level metacognitive, cognitive, and motivational components of CQ. These behaviours, therefore, must be strategic, purposeful, well-thought and motivational-oriented.

Social workers need to be very careful about their Behavioural CQ levels as this is the action part of all four CQ constructs. The behaviours and actions of the social workers in the field will directly have an impact on the success of the social services which they provide to the displaced communities such refugees, migrant, asylum seekers etc. Consciousness and mindfulness are very important factors in presenting themselves in a

cross-cultural environment. Social workers should aim to present themselves in a favourable manner by behaving effectively and suitably. When they achieve this result, they can easily observe the appreciation, compliments, recognition and more importantly they can gain the trust and respect of their target group.

Conclusion

As we discussed in this article, the forced displacement is a global crisis and it comes with a lot of ambiguities and inner-conflicts. While a lot of NGOs, social and civil organisations, volunteer groups are trying to help and support the victims of this issue, the mainstream society can be more inclined to reject hosting displaced people and what’s more, some countries take legal action to stop this so called invasion of hostiles instead of considering this as an act of kindness and humanity. Another aspect is that the reason behind these mass movement of people varies depending on the situation such as poverty, war, persecution etc. Therefore, the characteristics and the fundamental needs of the people might change and the NGOs should consider these differences when they create their plan of action and the type of services they need to provide.

One of the main reasons which makes the situation more ambiguous is that the level of traumas that each individual has can be different depending on the conflict and hardships they experienced as well as their personal characteristics and endurance levels. Therefore, it is not easy to make preparations before the actual interaction starts with the target group. In most cases, NGOs take action and learn many things on the way. Despite all the unknowns and possible surprises working with a new and foreign target group, NGOs can prepare their own stuff by providing training courses and professional support. One clear indication is that forced displacements create a cross-cultural setting in the work of all the NGOs and one of the most widely used and recognised system of cross-cultural management trait is the Cultural Intelligence (CQ). NGOs can aim to increase the CQ levels of the social workers and the youth workers before they get into action in the field with their target groups. On the other hand, Cultural Intelligence (CQ) can provide a recruitment strategy and scale for the NGOs when they need to hire new team members or when they need to establish teams with proper values, code of conduct and so on.

REFERENCES

Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., And TAN, M. L. (2011) Cultural Intelligence. Cambridge Handbook On Intelligence

Earley, P. C., And ANG, S. (2003) Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures. Stanford University Press.

EARLEY, P. C., and PETERSON, R. S. (2004) The elusive cultural chameleon: Cultural intelligence as a new approach to intercultural training for the global manager. Academy of Management Learning and Education

EARLEY, P. C., ANG, S., and TAN, J. S. (2006) CQ: Developing cultural intelligence at work. Stanford University Press.

GARDNER, H. (1983) Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

GARDNER, H. (1995) "Multiple intelligences" as a catalyst. English Journal

LIVERMORE, D. (2011) The Cultural Intelligence Difference Special Ebook Edition: Master the One Skill You Can't Do Without in Today's Global Economy. AMACOM American Management Association.

PETERSON, B. (2004) Cultural intelligence: A guide to working with people from other cultures. Boston, MA: Intercultural Press.

THOMAS, D. C. (2006) Domain and development of cultural intelligence the importance of mindfulness. Group and Organization Management

THOMAS, D. C., and INKSON, K. (2004) Cultural intelligence: People skills for global business. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

THOMAS, D. C., and INKSON, K. C. (2009) Cultural intelligence: Living and working globally. San Francisoco: Berrett-Koehler.

THORNDIKE, R. L. (1936) Factor analysis of social and abstract intelligence. Journal of Educational Psychology

Hofstede, G. (2009). Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions.

Hofstede, G. (1984). Cultural dimensions in management and planning. Asia Pacific journal of management, 1(2), 81-99

Geert H. Hofstede & Hofstede, Gert Jan & Minkov, Michael (2010). Cultures and organizations software of the mind : intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival (3rd ed). New York McGraw-Hill

Kroeber, A. L., & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture: A critical review of concepts and definitions. Papers. Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University.

Apte M (1994). Language in sociocultural context. In R. E. Asher (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 4, 2000-2010. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Tylor, E. B. (1871). Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom (Vol. 2). J. Murray.

Matsumoto, D. R. (1996). Culture and Psychology. CA, Brooks.

A MANIFESTO FOR GERMANY: MUSEUMS IN POST-MIGRANT SOCIETIES

by Dr. Nicole Deufel (Head of Museums, Galleries and Collections, City of Oldenburg)

In Germany, there are still those who consider museums part of ‘high culture’. This is a powerful discourse that shapes and determines what museums, their makers and their audiences can acceptably be. Museums as high culture are temples of special knowledge and refined taste. They are encoded spaces to which one gains access through a certain type of sanctioned understanding. Working at, or visiting the high culture museum is as much about the sharing and gaining of knowledge as it is about expressing a certain identity : it is a statement of distinction and a deliberate disassociation from ‘the Other’ 26 and the masses. The philosophy of the museum as high culture consequently rejects and derides practices that are aimed at accessibility and inclusion. As Gregor Jansen, director of the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf claimed at the art KARLSRUHE convention in 2018, such practices ‘infantilise’ audiences and force (art) museums to do less than their best . In 27 other words, in the discourse of the museum as high culture, inclusion and accessibility are thought to lower the quality of the museum’s work. The implication, although rarely owned, is obvious: those audiences that might benefit from accessible and inclusive practices are ultimately not welcome. In order for these audiences to become acceptable, they must first acquire the knowledge, tastes and understanding necessary to decode the museum as is. In this fashion, the museum becomes the enclave of a specific and select group in society and, by extension, serves to maintain that group’s cultural hegemony. Museums as high culture therefore are prone to preserve the status quo rather than make possible (social) change.

In contrast, the German state and German civic society have, particularly since the socalled ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe of 2015, increased efforts to support the integration of 28 new arrivals into German society. This we were able to see for ourselves during The Promised Land training week in Oldenburg. In a presentation on the German asylum system, we learnt that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) defines the aim of integration as including into German society all people who live in Germany longterm and legally . Specifically, immigrants are to have comprehensive and equal rights 29 to participate in all aspects of society. BAMF therefore sponsors German language and orientation courses for asylum applicants who have good prospects to remain . We vis 30ited IBIS e.V., an association that was founded in 1994 to promote a peaceful society of diverse groups. In 2015, several service clubs joined to establish another association we got to know, pro:connect, which provides language courses and support in finding work

See also Bourdieu, P., 1987 (2018). Die feinen Unterschiede. 26th edition. Frankfurt am Main: suhrkamp

SWR2, Messetalk auf der art KARLSRUHE, Gregor Jansen, Juror Hans-Platschek-Preis 2018. Available online:

https://www.swr.de/swr2/kunst-und-ausstellung/swr2-messetalk-auf-der-art-karlsruhe-gregor-jansen-jurorhans-platschek-preis-2018/-/id=20993154/did=21222646/nid=20993154/sgv3gn/index.html (Accessed: 20.6.2019)

‘Integration’ may be understood here in the same sense as ‘inclusion’ in English. In current usage, Inklu

sion, or ‘inclusion’ in German is still often used with regard to the inclusion of people with disabilities. Integration therefore is often used to denote the inclusion of all other groups.

BAMF, 2019. Glossar: Integration. Available online: https://www.bamf.de/DE/Service/Left/Glossary/_func

tion/glossar.html?lv3=1504494 (Accessed: 21.06.2019)

BAMF, 2017. Integration courses for asylum applicants. Available online: http://www.bamf.de/EN/Willkom

men/DeutschLernen/IntegrationskurseAsylbewerber/integrationskurseasylbewerber-node.html (Accessed: 20.6.2019)

for new arrivals. What these initiatives, and their political framework, have in common is the desire to promote inclusion of refugees and migrants into mainstream German society.

Museums (especially, but not solely those that are publicly funded) have a duty to participate in this effort . As the current definition of a museum by the International Council of 31 Museums states, a museum is an institution ‘in the service of society and its development’ . This implies the whole of society, not merely a part. It means that in order to re 32main relevant to any given society, a museum must respond to the developments that affect any such society, for example demographic changes through migration. As US American museum bloggers in a joint statement after the 2014 shooting of a black man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri wrote, such engagement with current events must not and cannot be limited by a museum’s (existing) collection . It is not 33 enough to claim that a museum doesn’t have the collections to tell a certain story. This is to ignore the very political act of collecting itself. Many African American stories, for example, have never been comprehensively collected by mainstream American museums, most likely because they were not considered sufficiently important to the American story as a whole. This is why the opening in 2016 of the National Museum of African American History and Culture was such an important step in acknowledging and recognising the contribution of the African American community to the United States . To move be 34yond thinking solely in terms of collections, the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2016 launched a project with the vision of the Museum as Site for Social Action – the MASS project . At the heart of this project and the related toolkit are practices that serve to

promote equity and inclusion in museums outside of the limited scope of working with collections. The museum thus is seen as needing to become a social actor and a place where current topics relevant to a community and society can be openly and safely debated.

A museum as social actor in the way that the MASS project envisions can also not content itself, as some museums do, with using its collections to look primarily into the past. While history can of course provide examples and serve as a case study for certain topics, it cannot make up for engagement with the present day. Questions of relevance and imposed interpretations arise. Can the Roman invasion of Anglo-Saxon Britain really serve as an example of “successful immigration” and thus make a meaningful contribution to the (toxic) debate about immigration in modern-day Britain, as was suggested in

While the focus here is on the inclusion of refugees and migrants, it should be noted that the argument

must be extended to other groups which are excluded from or marginalised in museums, whatever the reasons may be.

ICOM, 2007. Museum Definition. Available online: https://icom.museum/en/activities/standards-guidelines/

museum-definition/ (Accessed: 22.06.2019). Please note that this definition is currently under review, with a new definition intended to be agreed in autumn of 2019.

Jennings, G. et al, 2014. Joint Statement from Museum Bloggers and Colleagues on Ferguson and Related 33 Events. Available online: http://www.museumcommons.com/2014/12/joint-statement-museum-bloggers-colleagues-ferguson-related-events.html (Accessed: 29.08.2015)

NMAAHC, no date. About the museum. Available online: https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/museum (Accessed: 34 22.06.2019)

Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2017. Toolkit. Available online: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58

fa685dff7c50f78be5f2b2/t/59dcdd27e5dd5b5a1b51d9d8/1507646780650/TOOLKIT_10_2017.pdf (Accessed: 31.3.2018)

an editorial in the British Museum Association’s Museum Journal during the EU refer 36endum campaign? Were the immigrants from the Low Countries who came to Norwich in the 16th century and whom the locals called ‘The Strangers’ really as accepted into Norfolk society as the exhibition curators of ‘Norfolk 2000’ suggested ? Or doesn’t the very 37 name – the Strangers – rather suggest that they were viewed as ‘the Other’, and thus regarded with at least some suspicion? Are either of these examples, in the way they are presented, really relevant to current debates?

This issue of the presentation of collections is also inherent in the MASS project’s aim of equity and inclusion in museums, born from the engagement by museum professionals with the profound questions raised in the aftermath of the Ferguson shooting and the strengthening of the Black Lives Matter movement. These developments demanded that sociocultural representations are re-examined, and their impacts on people’s realities taken seriously and, more importantly, changed. In line with the dominant cultural hegemony, however, very often the way that museum collections are presented lacks the required sensitivity and transparency. Sometimes, presentations are even one-sided. This is often the case for example with collections originating from colonial contexts, where their very existence in Western museums is evidence of a far less savoury story

The director of the art museum, Dr Jutta Moster-Hoos, gives a guided tour of the exhibition to a class of German language learners. Providers of language courses increasingly look for additional cultural experiences as part of the courses, which museums are perfectly situated to provide.

Stephens, S., 2015. ‘Editorial’. In: Museum Journal. April 2015, p. 4.

See comment by Emma Reeve, April 15, 2015, on blog post by Nicole Deufel, ‘Migration and Museums, Or:

The Past is safe, but irrelevant.’ On: nicoledeufel.com. Available online: https://nicoledeufel.com/2015/04/12/ migration-and-museums-or-the-past-is-safe-but-irrelevant/ (Accessed: 22.06.2019)

of oppression and exploitation than the benevolent narrative of collections of ‘the 38 world’s cultures’ suggests. How differently the formerly colonised view these colonial 39 histories became powerfully apparent in the speech at the Oxford Union by Indian MP Shashi Tharoor in 2015 , where he suggested the United Kingdom should pay repara 40tion for the damage inflicted. This underlines the political and discursive nature of the presentation of collections in museums. Far from being neutral, museums have a measurable impact on representations and social structures. It is crucial, therefore, that museum presentations avoid merely reproducing the dominant views to the detriment of those that are currently marginalised and often silenced.

None of the above is to suggest that initiatives and projects do not already exist that have responded to the issues raised. Not all museum professionals and their audiences in Germany view museums as ‘high culture’. Decolonisation of collections and restitution to origin societies is a topic in the German museum sector today also , albeit one that is 41 hotly debated. Projects such as ‘Multaka’ by four museums in Berlin include refugees in 42 providing guided exhibition tours to others, an initiative that is certainly a laudable first step, despite criticism on the extent to which the refugees’ critical questions are allowed to inform the presentation of the collection . The German Museum Association issued 43 guidance for museum practice on migration and diversity, and stressed that migration is the norm and even a necessity in modern industrial nations44

However, through THE PROMISED LAND project, and in comparing museum practice in Germany and elsewhere particularly to the theatre practice of our project partners from Italy and the United Kingdom, it has become clear that museums must and can do much more to provide inclusive spaces for all. The notion of the museum as ‘high culture’ is still too pervasive to allow a similar success to develop as that which has been enjoyed by our partners, and to make such practices more broadly accepted as good museum practice. Museums in Germany must actively reject the separation between ‘high culture’ and low culture, or Soziokultur, for it undermines the importance of inclusion and inclusive practices. We are said to live in an age of migrations . Successful immigrant, or 45 post-migrant societies are those that are inclusive. To achieve this inclusion, as was out -

McQuade, J., 2017. ‘Colonialism was a disaster and the facts prove it.’ The Conversation blog, September 17,

2017. Available online: https://theconversation.com/colonialism-was-a-disaster-and-the-facts-prove-it-84496 (Accessed: 22.06.2019)

British Museum, 2017. History of the collection. Available online: https://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/ 39 the_museums_story/general_history/the_collection.aspx (Accessed: 22.06.2019)

Tharoor, 2015. Speech at the Oxford Union. Available online: https://www.news18.com/news/india/read- 40 shashi-tharoors-full-speech-asking-uk-to-pay-india-for-200-years-of-its-colonial-rule-1024821.html (Accessed: 22.06.2019)

Deutscher Museumsbund, 2018. Leitfaden zum Umgang mit Sammlungsgut aus kolonialen Kontexten.

41 Available online: https://www.museumsbund.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/dmb-leitfaden-kolonialismus.pdf (Accessed: 22.06.2019)

Multaka project, no date. Project. Available online: https://multaka.de/en/project-2/ (Accessed: 22.06.2019) 42

See for example El-Tayeb, F., 2016. Undeutsch. Die Konstruktion des Anderen in der Postmigrantischen 43 Gesellschaft. Bielefeld: Transcript, p. 71

Deutscher Museumsbund, 2015. Museen, Migration und kulturelle Vielfalt. Handreichungen fuer die Mu

seumsarbeit. Berlin.

MeLa Project, 2015. MeLa Final Brochure. Available online: http://www.mela-project.polimi.it/upl/cms/at 45tach/20150916/164249296_8862.pdf (Accessed: 6.6.2016)

lined above, is the goal of the German state. Museums as centres of the nation’s culture and development are at the heart of this. Here, new arrivals can find orientation about their new home. In museum spaces, ‘native’ populations and new arrivals can meet and engage with each other’s perspectives on history, art and culture. In museums, heritage work can be undertaken, that is, heritage is performed and reinforced, but new her 46itage is also negotiated and created. This important function of museums can only be realised if museums actively strive to become open and inclusive spaces. This requires more of museums than a selective and isolated offer of inclusive projects that are not intrinsically embedded in the museum’s work. To become inclusive spaces, museums must make inclusion a core element of their entire work, from collecting to presentation to staffing. It requires opening up narratives and providing opportunities throughout for people – newcomers and natives alike – to enter into a constructive dialogue. Museums, like the theatre practice we were able to witness during THE PROMISED LAND project, must become more process-oriented than is currently the case. While collections will undoubtedly remain important in museum work, museums must recognise that they

BUSINESS COACHING IN THE PROMISED LAND

by Nicola Scicluna (Proprietor: I2u-Consulting)

“Only connect!” exhorted English novelist E.M. Forster to the divided classes of Britain in 1910 “Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die”.47

Forster’s epigram well describes the ‘systems movement’ sweeping through many disciplines including business coaching for teams, pairs, individuals and whole organisations; trans and intra-national conflict resolution; coaching and psychotherapy for couples, individuals and families; business management; and many more.

These disciplines can rely on a common tool-set because they are based on the following principles:

• Everything that is alive and can grow is a ‘system’, whether a flower, a sea creature, a marriage, a family business, the shop floor or ‘C’ suite of a company or an entire United Kingdom

• Rather than focus on individuals or entities, the focus is on the relationships between them. And relationships evolve

• Every voice in a family, team or organisation (ergo ‘system’) is important and needs to be even if some have more power than others

• Voices in a system cannot be ‘silenced’ by removing individuals. The same voice will express itself through another individual

• When people understand that they are all voices in a system, they are free to ‘speak up’

• Systems can become corrupted or ‘toxic’ and these toxins can be identified and de-activated

• Everyone is right – only partially

• ‘Reality’ is not linear, but exists on three levels (essence, dreaming and consensus reality)

• Conflict is a sign that something new is trying to happen

• Unresolved events from the past continue to have a direct effect on the present

• We don’t have to agree or be the same. What counts is getting aligned on specific goals

• Relationships are creative and have a purpose to fulfil, whether that is an enterprise, a baby or a cheese sandwich

• Change is inevitable usually scary

• A ‘third entity’ is different from, and greater than, the sum of the parts (e.g. ‘The Beatles’ was the third entity of George, Ringo, John and Paul)

• Awareness is all: once a ‘system’ becomes aware of itself, it will evolve into the next iteration

Systems work is not new, neither is it Western. In looking for a systemic training, the coaches in the Toulouse training chose Organisation and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) founded on Systems Theory, Process Work, Family Systems Therapy, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Quantum Physics, Co-Active Coaching and Relationship Systems Intelligence48

HOWARDS END is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of con 47duct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. HOWARDS END is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece.

ORSC – Organisation and Relationship Systems Coaching – was the first accredited training to offer 48 coaching for groups, teams and organisations https://www.crrglobal.com/orsc.html

What relevance do systems tools have for the project’s cultural and political context and for refugees?

It is no coincidence that systems tools are becoming widely used at a time when the connectedness of all things is becoming all too apparent (e.g. climate change, which stubbornly refuses to respect the boundaries made by man).

This is no less the migration ‘system’, often seen by populist movements as ‘unfair’ and ‘trouble caused by opportunist migrants’, rather than the inevitable result of political processes triggered in European countries. Seeing phenomena through a systems perspective helps us to see the bigger picture and to unite on the things that matter, whilst respecting our differences.

Systems tools offer the big ‘how’ of social change

Systems tools are dynamic, profound, trans-cultural and easily understood at an intuitive human level. They are fire-proofed for work with difference, creativity and conflict. They are fun and work everywhere from the classroom to the boardroom. The concept of ‘third entity’ can be electric in freeing creative thinking and going into the unknown together. They normalise change, ‘out’ power dynamics, promote equity and insist on listening to all voices, even if the voice is ‘silent’. And surely, our work with refugees is nothing if not hearing the muted voices of the powerless.

Systems tools really need to be experienced to be understood. We go on to outline some key features in the ‘tools’ section of this e-book. Please note that the tools are powerful and should only be used by a professional coach within a coaching contract as described by a professional coaching organisation such as IFC . We cannot stress this 49 enough as migrants can be vulnerable people.

Business & inclusion

At i2u-Consulting, we have worked mainly with transnational corporate teams, collaborating with leaders and their team members to improve their relationships, work methods and productivity. We have used systems tools and principles very effectively towards these aims.

Business is often seen as a ‘bad thing’ by those concerned with social change, and it is certainly the case that development, greed and inequality go hand-in-hand. However, in an increasingly complicated, interconnected world, there is no way we can move forward without business, as we all work and participate in products and services, indeed ‘business is us’.

Our Airbus case study

I2u-Consulting has been one of the many coaches and consultants supporting managers and their teams at Airbus, one of the world’s two leading aerospace companies based in Toulouse, France. Worldwide corporations now compete in an increasingly fast-moving global environment and the people who work in them increasingly live in one which is

‘VUCA’ - that is - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous . The days when employ 50ees could recline in the same or a similar job throughout a long career are over. Modern business culture requires that individuals adapt to change, grow, see the big picture, and in short, develop emotional, relational and collective intelligence.

Collective Intelligence

There has been much discussion of the different kinds of intelligence in recent years. Relationship Systems intelligence (RSI - a concept pioneered by ORSC), starts with an understanding of oneself (Emotional Intelligence), moves on to include an understanding of others’ emotional experience (Social Intelligence), and culminates with the ability to identify with and collaborate with groups, teams, communities and other social systems.

It is this final evolution which has the transformative potential for groups, teams and indeed whole systems or nations to make conceptual leaps beyond the personal to a powerfully creative and inclusive new group identity. It is the how of how a shift in mind-set (what historical materialists called ‘praxis’) can be made.

Systems tools have been developed because the demands of the modern world are more complex and more subtle and more interdependent than ever before. For citizens as well as employees in companies, a bigger view is increasingly essential.

As corporations become more powerful, there is also an opportunity. Corporate responsibility is a burgeoning sector, diversity is recognised as a prerequisite to innovation; there is a huge amount of intelligence and know-how in business about people, cooperation, getting things done; there are business leaders who want an intact planet not ravaged by wars and the grim reaper. And in our trainings (Italy and Germany) we have met many young refugees who want very much to be part of the world’s business. Systems tools belong in THE PROMISED LAND, and business should be regarded as another area of creative human activity, just like theatre or art, and alliances need to be made.

We were lucky to have Remi Dumas, responsible for ‘Collective Intelligence’ at Airbus, present to us in our Toulouse training in a personal capacity. Remi, who has masterminded the highly successful culture change programme at Airbus over the last 10 years, spoke about diversity and inclusion: “Diversity and inclusion are a paradox. Diversity programmes which encourage more boxing (putting people in boxes). Inclusion is the way to go. We want to have projects, to do something in common with all of this diversity”.

As a systems coach and a migrant descended from refugees, my high dream is for humanity to spend the next century getting aligned on the project of treating the world as one system, in interdependence and equality.

I would very much to thank my colleagues Ann Salsbury, Anne Kerisel, Alain Pottier, Vanessa C. Stone, Lesley Vacquero and Karuna Yoganathan for being part of my system over this last two years. Without their careful collaboration this project would not have been possible. Also a big warm thank you to the contributors to our Toulouse Training: Alain POTTIER; Corinne Torrre, Philippe Coustel; Léo Molinié; Remi Dumas and Kouamé.

VUCA is an acronym – first used in 1987, drawing on the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt

Nanus – to describe or to reflect on the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situations;[1][2] The U.S. Army War College introduced the concept of VUCA to describe the more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous multilateral world perceived as resulting from the end of the Cold War. More frequent use and discussion of the term "VUCA" began from 2002 and derives from this acronym from military education.[3][need quotation to verify] It has subsequently taken root in emerging ideas in strategic leadership that apply in a wide range of organisations, from for-profit corporations[4] [need quotation to verify] to education[5] [6] (definition of VUCA taken from Wikipedia)

CHAPTER 3 - THE TOOLS

Editorial Introduction & Ethical Considerations

3.1. Intercultural competencies for work with refugees and migrants. Adana, Turkey

3.2 Cultural work in response to the refugee crisis. San Lazzaro & Bologna, Italy

3.3 Educational use of theatre with refugees and migrants. London, UK

3.4 Museums as meeting points for work with refugees and migrants. Oldenburg, Germany

3.5 Application of intercultural competencies and awareness of refugee and migrant issues to business contexts. Toulouse, France

CHAPTER 3 - THE TOOLS

The toolbox represents the methods and practices which were developed and implemented during the 2 year period of THE PROMISED LAND project. These practical methods of teaching participation and citizenship for new arrivals in Europe are based on a commonly developed and tested evaluation grid which was filled in by both the facilitators and the participants.

The toolbox aims to create a collection of educational materials which were already practiced by the participants of the project. These tools are developed in the context of both the theatre practices and the non-formal education teaching and training materials. The tools are easily adaptable and new adjustments can be made depending on the needs of the training course and the profile of the participants. Methods and exercises which were introduced during the staff training course weeks within this project, were quite interactive and fun as well as eye-opening and educational. Although the overall age level of the participants were high compared to the most of the non-formal education training courses especially in the youth field, the methods and exercises were appreciated by the participants and their level participation was high. Overall evaluation showed that most of these tools were fun and interactive to use and that participants enjoyed and learned a lot from those experiences.

The processes and reflections generated and exchanged during THE PROMISED LAND project have been of great interest and help, and have contributed to increase skills and awareness of all those who participated in them, that we all feel they must be shared.

We hope that the practices, methodologies, discoveries – as well as the critical issues that emerged – can be helpful and of guidance to professionals operating in similar contexts, while at the same time we are aware that standardised methods and defined action protocols do not exist and neither would they be desirable. Because we are dealing with human nature, as human beings.

We are also aware that all these tools need to be learned and applied to the different contexts through processes of experiential learning and by people having specific skills. Nonetheless, we believe they can be incredible incentives for everybody to increase awareness and to help building a counter narrative of what contemporary migrations are, of how rich the encounter with people having different origins and background is, of how many ways we have towards new diverse and more equal societies.

- Efe Efeoglu & Micaela Casalboni

Some Ethical Considerations

In working with refugees, migrants, and other potentially vulnerable groups of people, ethics must be viewed as a process, rather than as a one-off occasion of “gaining consent.” Ongoing dialogue between participants, staff members, partners and funders about how best to design and implement an ethically responsible project is key to ethical practice. This includes the development of: project goals and objectives, recruitment and preparation strategies, privacy guidelines, strategies to ensure emotional support for during and following workshops, and distribution strategies.

Jacques Derrida, the French philosopher, has argued that the foundation of ethics is hospitality, the readiness and the inclination to welcome the Other into one's home. Ethics, he claims, is hospitality, acceptance of the Other as different but of equal standing. In a project based around the arrival of new citizens in our home countries, this would seem to be a useful framing consideration.

Participant Wellbeing

Participants’ physical, emotional, and social wellbeing should be at the centre of all work with refugees. Facilitators must have expertise in group facilitation and must be committed to an approach that views the process of creation or learning as being equally important as the end product. Facilitators should be attentive to how culture and power can impact on relationships; and so should work from a stance of cultural humility. Facilitators needs to be particularly respectful of language differences, and to recognise the power structures contained within language and the knowledge of language. As the poet Adrienne Rich famously said: “This is the oppressor’s language, yet I need it to talk to you.”

Facilitators need to maintain appropriate boundaries at all times while remaining open to processes of listening and understanding. Precisely because of its potency, the physical, face-to-face encounter is the most crucial area where the ethical bonds of humanity become manifest.

Strategies to ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable participants are particularly important: personal storytelling is generally not appropriate for individuals currently experiencing strong symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (and this includes many new arrivals from conflict zones). It is not appropriate to elicit personal stories of conflict or trauma, although these can certainly be included if they are offered. Facilitators should support participants who are sharing stories about painful life experiences in approaching these narratives from a position of strength rather than from a vantage point that reinforces victimhood, and mechanisms for post-workshop debriefing should be in place, where necessary.

Consent

Participants must have the knowledge and support they need to make informed choices about workshop participation and the content, production, and use of their work. Facilitators must be equipped to offer guidance in these decision-making processes in a way that protects the dignity and safety of participants. Consent should be viewed as a process, not as a one-time activity.

Knowledge Production and Ownership

Participants have the right to freedom of expression in representing themselves within the parameters or thematic concerns of the project and without being coerced or censored. Facilitators should be able to assist participants in determining whether or not it is safe for them to attach their names to their work and whether images of themselves or others should be blurred to protect their privacy and maintain their safety. Parti -

cipants and facilitators should agree to maintain confidentiality about information and materials that are revealed in a workshop, and should agree on what materials may subsequently be circulated in the public domain. Where possible, facilitators should engage participants in outlining context and discussion points for their work and in determining where, why, and how their work will be publicly distributed.

Distribution strategies must be rooted first and foremost in the needs of, and designed to benefit, participants and their communities, rather than primarily serving the agendas of distant viewers or funders.

A position of humility

Cultural humility is a lifelong process of self-reflection and self-critique. The starting point for such an approach is not an examination of someone else’s belief system, but rather a process of giving careful consideration to one’s own assumptions and beliefs, which are embedded in one’s own understandings and life experiences.

Cultural difference means that people see, hear and perceive the world in different ways. As a result, the forms and approaches they take to drama, telling stories and heritage work are also very different. There is no formula for making art – no prescription or template. Providing a map, illuminating the possibilities, outlining a framework – these are better metaphors for how the methods outlined in this section of the e-book can assist people in expressing their experiences, cultures and identities.

Being seen and heard meets a deep-seated human need for connection. The simple yet critically important act of being acknowledged, being watched and listened to, can change everything. It can change the participants, the facilitators, the audience and the social, political and cultural space.

We should recognise that THE PROMISED LAND is not only using cultural production as a means to represent the world, but emphatically to change it, adopting an ethical agenda. We should understand that this ethical position embraces the linguistic, social and cultural marginality of our target groups, and should celebrate that marginality for its potential to offer new perspectives and positive interventions.

As bell hooks writes:

Silenced. We fear those who speak about us, who do not speak to us and with us. We know what it is like to be silenced. We know that the forces that silence us, because they never want us to speak, differ from the forces that say speak, tell me your story. Only do not speak in a voice of resistance. Only speak from that space in the margin that is a sign of deprivation, a wound, and unfulfilled longing. Only speak your pain.

This is an intervention. A message from that space in the margin that is a site of creativity and power, that inclusive space where we recover ourselves, where me move in solidarity…. Marginality as site of resistance. Enter that space. Let us meet there. Enter that space. We greet you as liberators.51

- Michael Walling52

hooks, bell: Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness - from Yearning: Race, Gender and Cul

tural Politics, 1989

I am indebted to the Guidelines issued by Storycenter at the University of California for some of these

ethical ideas and frameworks.

Training around intercultural competencies for work with refugees and migrants

15-19 January 2018, Adana, Turkey

About The Training Course

According to the United Nations recent reports, 65.3 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 21.3 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. Nearly 34,000 people are forcibly displaced every day as a result of conflict or persecution.

It can be difficult to settle in a new country and adjust to its laws, customs and language especially after running away from traumas such as persecution, organised violence, loss of family members and friends etc. Social workers and youth workers play an important role in the process of normalising and social cohesion of refugees. There are sets of skills required from youth workers in order to provide services for refugees and one of the key skills to support social cohesion is the intercultural and crosscultural communication which are directly related to the cultural intelligence(CQ).

Main Aim & Objectives Of The Training Course

The aim of this training course was to help participants develop their cultural intelligence and thus manage the culturally diverse work and study environment . The training included three days of work around the 4 dimensions of the CQ aimed at the staff from the visiting partner organisations, in preparation for the intercultural methodology of the project as a whole. This was followed by two days of more practical work, meeting with the refugee young people who are getting education in the university and discovering the living conditions of the refugees and their urgent needs as war victims. Main objectives and the expected learning outcomes of this training course:

-Increasing the general knowledge on Cultural Intelligence.

-Creating space for the participants to discover more about themselves in terms of self values, identity and culture.

-Developing the cultural intelligence of participants through different workshops which are designed with non-formal learning methods.

-Understanding the connection between cultural intelligence and the social cohesion of the refugees.

-Learning more about the social support systems for refugees in the region by visiting different organisations which are actively working with refugees.

Non-Formal Education Tools and Methods Used in This Training Course

TOPIC Getting to Know Each Other

-To help people learn each other’s names.

-To encourage people to see each other as “people” not subjects

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To allow everyone to see who is in the room and to put everyone on an equal basis

-To break ice and create a warm atmosphere

-To create curiosity among the participants

-To create space for everyone to say something about themselves

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 45 Minutes

MATERIALS No materials needed for this exercise

The session started with the 1st round of introducing names. Participants were invited to say their names, the country they were from and the organization they were representing.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

After the formal introduction of the group, an interactive name game were used in order to help the participants to learn and remember each other’s names in a fun and creative way. Each participant introduces themselves using their name and an adjective which has the same first letter. E.g “Nice Necmi”, “Ironic Ida”, “Naughty Nicola”.

-It can be difficult if there is no common language.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Might be expanded to let participants choose adjectives from their own languages, which other participants can then learn: this may increase the sense of being accepted and welcomed.

To measure its effectiveness; another version can be done at end of session, when people name one another - to see whether people remember the names

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To enhance Self-esteem and team spirit

-To increase confidence with a new place and among new people and with each participant’s capacity of coping with them; finding ways to communicate; enjoy in discovering a new unfamiliar context

-To create space for participants to be able to get in touch with a new city and its citizens in a funny, active and interactive way, and in a group, thus enhancing the individual contribution and the teamwork

GROUP SIZE Around 20

MATERIALS Flipchart Paper, A4 paper, Projector

DURATION 150 minutes

Participants were given a list of tasks to be carried out in the city and needed to be accomplished all together as a team within a certain time and then expected return to the training room to present their proofs of tasks.

The list of the tasks:

-Everyone in the group needs to try a traditional Turkish food for lunch and take a picture of it (Selfie/Group Selfie/etc).

-Find 3 most common Turkish names and try to find real people with these names and ask the story of their names.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

-Find 5 different hand gestures in Turkey and compare their meanings with your own countries’.

-Take a group selfie in front of the hotel.

-Find Şinasi Efendi street, Municipality Theatre Center, and take a picture in front of it.

-Find the Train Station and the square in front of it, tell us about its story and what they are famous for.

-Find 5 most common Turkish words that are used daily. Also Teach Them to Us in the languages of the group.

-Find 5 different Turkish phrases that are very polite to use in daily life.

-Learn 5 sensitive things that might offend Turkish People.

-Find out about the Adana Football Derby : ) Teams and Their Tags!

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-It could be one of the ways to help individuals or groups getting familiar with their new contexts and socialize with locals. Questions and tasks could be adapted to different people/cultures and also to different levels/situations (people who have just arrived may need more help/mediation than people being there since a longer time)

-Communications difficulties that make frustrating what was supposed to be funny; language issues that create misunderstandings; need to check the will and readiness of a newcomer to challenge him/ herself with this task (could be too much)

- Maybe a visit in the local museum/ library/ theatre, with the same methodology applied to compared literature or arts issue

TOPIC The Values Exercise

-To open up a sense of cultural relativity, and demonstrate that values are not absolute.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To be able to reveal areas of differences between people, and also the unexpected common ground

-To increase the cultural intelligence, and the understanding between participants from different cultural backgrounds.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

MATERIALS A4 paper Print outs Pen/pencil

DURATION 90 Mİnutes

In this exercise participants are invited to choose a set of values from a list of values on a print-out given to them and order them by personal preference. A partner then challenges them on preferences between two values, so as to discover their “real” values. At the end of the pair work, they look at the final result and discover the most important values for themselves.

-The exercise is best conducted in culturally mixed groups.

-There is perhaps a danger of people responding as they feel they should rather than as they really feel. It can compound stereotypes if not applied with nuance.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Participants can understand their own (and others’) future work better through an awareness of the values that underlie it.

-Participants can discuss their self-awareness through the exercise. There should be a higher degree of mutual understanding. This can be measured in terms of the “feeling” – not quantifiable but measurable.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

TOPIC

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Evaluation work in small groups

-To be able to create space for participants to feel free to speak in the room therefore more reflections can come out of the common work; positive and negative reflections can be shared in the group.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

MATERIALS Flip Chart Papers A4 Papers

DURATION 90 Minutes

Markers, colourful pens, crayons ..etc.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Participants were divided into 4 groups. Each group were asked to share the highlights from their experiences visiting the NGOs in Adana. Then each group were given a flipchart paper and a question on it and they were asked to reflect their opinions related to these questions about their learning experiences from the Syrian Refugee work in the NGOs visited. After they finished their reflections, each group were asked to move to the next question and check the previous group’s input and add more if they see necessary.

-It makes it easier for everyone to speak than in larger groups; you can rely on other perspectives and answers before or while you are giving yours; it is a way of realizing what you think through discussion with other people

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-The activity can be perceived as boring or too abstract/difficult by individuals who are not used to it (if other methods than talking and writing are included the risk lowers)

-Take into account all suggestions/ comments for the next activity/ project

-It can be a more effective method to measure effectiveness of an activity/project involving refugees and migrants, than the simple interviews or questionnaire or discussion in larger groups; use of images/ emoji/ drawing/ collage if the language is a barrier

Training around cultural work in response to the refugee crisis

24-28 April 2018, San Lazzaro & Bologna, Italy

Local background and needs

Teatro dell’Argine’s work focuses strongly on its whole local community and is made through workshops, interviews, performances, conferences and other artistic actions realised not only in theatre venues, but in schools, hospitals, prisons, reception centres for migrants and refugees, youth centres, libraries, museums…

Given the specific issue of THE PROMISED LAND project, this training focused on the characteristics and needs of Bologna Metropolitan Area as a welcoming place for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from all over the world, coming especially along the Mediterranean and the Balkan routes.

In the last few years, the number of the so-called “unaccompanied minors” has significantly increased. In the Bolognese area, there are several reception centres: some of them are for minors only, others host families, others men only; some are organised like communities, others host small groups of people (3-4) in flats. Over the years, the Bolognese population has changed a lot, including an increasing number of migrants, and the urban context is also changing, especially in some suburban city districts.

Training Content, Aims and Objectives, Methodologies

TdA’s specific work on theatre and interculturality started in the early 2000s and developed through practices, methodologies and experiences that were partly developed in the company’s previous years of work with the community; partly learnt from international and intercultural exchanges and projects; partly built thanks to a large network of individuals, institutions and organisations from the cultural, educational and social fields, giving contribution to one another and taking advantage from all these different perspectives.

The training process mirrored these three directions by:

• Sharing practices, methodologies, experiences, success cases and failures of the past 24 years;

• Telling about local and international projects on art and interculture (Lampedusa Mirrors, Acting Together #WithRefugees, Esodi);

• Meeting local partners and collaborators from the cultural, educational and social fields, to get an insight about the Italian laws on immigration, the role of NGOs and other organisations working with migrants and refugees, the situation of children and young with a migration background in local schools, examples of cultural inclusion in local museums, libraries and intercultural associations;

• Meeting young and adults working with TdA in the different projects, among which were migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

Aims and objectives:

• Enhancing awareness and knowledge about the importance of an integrated (transdisciplinary, transcultural, transgenerational) approach to issues of social and cultural inclusion, intercultural dialogue and active citizenship;

• Increasing participants’ skills and knowledge about theatre exercises, practices, models and methodologies that can be applied while working with intercultural groups with the aim of breaking stereotypes and prejudices about “the other”, avoid invasive or traumatising behaviour on the part of the artist/workshop leader, foster

mutual respect and understanding, learn to collaborate and share, give effective means of free expression and communication, help to rebuild self-esteem and social and emotional links that have been broken. On the other hand, and at the same time, this work has the aim of exploring ways and tools that make it possible (and challenges that make it difficult) to create high quality art working in such contexts;

• Increasing participants’ skills and knowledge about exercises, practices, models and methodologies that can be implemented by cultural institutions (theatres, museums, libraries) as well as in the educational field (schools, universities) as tools for active citizenship, audience engagement, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue;

• Increasing participants’ knowledge about the Italian immigration context.

In order to accomplish these aims and objectives, and to facilitate an active and interactive attitude by all the participants, the training programme continuously alternated practical and theoretical approaches (speeches, exercises, video, pictures, writing), explored different contexts and venues (theatre venues, reception centres for migrants, museum, library…), and organised meetings with experts from different fields as well as with workshops and projects participants.

Non-Formal Education Tools and Methods Used in This Training Course

TOPIC

Theatrical tools for Team Building

-To Use of theatrical tools to know the group and stimulate everyone’s contribution

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To create a joyful, playful, relaxed setting, in which language is not the main issue and everyone is in the same position of giving and gaining.

-To allow the guides to see people’s attitudes and skills, characters and limits, will or fear to cooperate.

-To create mutual trust and openness from the individuals and the group to work together.

-To enhance Creativity and inspiration

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS Space available in the training room in order to move freely.

Participants were gathered together in a training room with lots of space available to move around and do the theatre exercises. Some of the examples of the theatre exercises which were used in this session are below:

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

-Walking in space trying to fill it up in a homogeneous way;

-Walking in space, changing rhythm, direction, responding to other “commands” given by the guide;

-Walking in space and gathering in small groups suddenly (groups of 3 or of 5 or of 10);

-One participant walks in space, all the others imitate his/her way of walking

-Just take care and realize who you’re working with (kids? Adults? Theatre beginners or experts?...) and propose not impose.

-Not everyone is ready to expose him/herself at once. Be delicate: what is easy and funny to me, is not necessarily easy and funny to everybody.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-It requires a certain level of openness and comfort with theatre and performance. For other groups this may first require more introduction of the technique, which might make it less effective.

-Developments are almost infinite: from very simple basic exercises to the construction of texts and scenes and dialogues... And from the individual work to the work in small groups, and then to the work with the whole group.

-Effectiveness of the tool can be measured by asking the participants to write small texts to describe their first and their last day of work; ask them to take videos, or pictures that can help them tell the experience. Again individual interviews or group discussions are useful.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To allow a group activity with an individual outlook.

-To enable people to express their imaginations, including in their own language.

-To give autonomy to people to take things in a direction they lead, and with which they are comfortable.

-To allow people to reveal something of themselves, and help even a very diverse group to be cohesive. It is also a good start to write a scene for a play.

-To Increase in confidence.

-To build a stronger group cohesion.

-To enhance the sense of individual imaginative empowerment.

-To allow each individual to have their moment.

-To support participants to discover their inner sight.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS -A Frame shape Object

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

All participants are united in a group and move together as if they were one person. One participant is the leader, holds a window (or any object acting like a frame) in his/her hands, tells what s/he sees looking through this window, moves in the space while talking; the others follow him/her, trying to see what s/he sees and reacting.

-The Exercise can be useful to encourage group identification.

-It helps people to articulate things that they imagine or have experienced, but which they would not share in everyday conversation, so developing self-confidence and articulacy.

-Some people might find it difficult to subsume themselves in the group.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-It could go become uncomfortable for some participants if it drew off ideas or experiences they do not feel ready to explore.

-It is important that it is a “safe” exercise that is NOT filmed or regarded as something for an audience.

- The group needs to be fairly comfortable with each other already, as they get close physically. In some cultures, that does not come easy to people.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The Ideal Identity Card Exercise

-To free participants from the constraints of bureaucracy, and to allow them to treat these with humour.

-To encourage participants to say what they really feel about themselves / identity issues more widely.

-To encourage participants to be honest about themselves and to open up to the group.

-To enable participants to self-reflect and to articulate how they understand their position in the world.

-To encourage organisations to re-think their approaches to date gathering.

-To enable participants start to think “outside the box”, recognising the complexities of identity questions, which are too often reduced to box-ticking.

-To overcome stereotypes or first impressions/judgments in a fun way.

-To enable participants get to know each other in a humorous fashion.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS A4 papers, pencils and colours

Paper, pencils and colours are given to the participants. Then an I.D. is taken, with all the information required, that are the starting point for the participants:

Name… Surname…

Date of birth… Place of birth…

Citizenship… Address…

Civil state (normally this means married or single)...

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Job… Distinguishing marks…

Picture… Signature…

Each participant has to fill in these spaces (in words, or drawings…) answering what they feel not necessarily the “real thing”. For example: Citizenship: The Moon; or Civil State: My business. Etc. After this, the results can become the starting point for exercises of creation or image or devised theatre, individual, or in small groups, or altogether.

-This can be used across a wide range of cultural and educational setting.

-Facilitators need to be wary of identities that are complex.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Refugees and others can often find it oppressive to be faced with identity questions, even when this is done in a relaxed atmosphere. They can be very suspicious of anything that resembles bureaucracy.

-Many refugees cannot write, so there may be a need for support here, or for a spoken version of the exercise to be used.

-Facilitators should observe how participants grow in self-confidence and articulacy. Whether there is any organisational shift in terms of data collection or categorisation of identities.

TOPIC

A Short Script To Tell Everything Exercise (introduction exercises using names)

-To allow knowing the participants as individuals, -To stimulate laughter and a playful attitude,

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To enforce memory, imagination, creativity, it involves the body language more than the verbal.

-To allow free expression and a playful way of knowing each other quickly.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Exercise where each participant has to tell his/her name, age, country of origin and “why I am here” in one sentence; this short introduction becomes then a sort of script to be told with different emotions/intentions (I’m in a hurry, I’m laughing, I’m scared, I’m flirting…);

-Ice breaks very quickly, no need to be an actor or have specific skills to do it. Very easy, very effective. A perfect first-step exercise.

-You can adapt the things you ask (place you live instead of country, sport you like instead of age, etc.) according to the people you’re working with, their age, status, experience, theatre skills...

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-On the second working day, you can add elements to the list of things to say, the verbal part could be larger. On the third day, you can ask to add a short telling (how was your day yesterday?). When the group gets used to the exercise, you can ask the participants to play their script without words...

-To evaluate the success of the exercise, see the level of participation and commitment during the exercise, and ask some simple questions at the end of the session.

TOPIC The Suitcase Exercise

LEARNING OBJECTIVES -To increase the empathy of the participants regarding the refugee situation

GROUP SIZE Around 20

MATERIALS A4 Paper, print out, pen

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

DURATION 90 Minutes

Each participant is given a piece of paper on which is printed a template suitcase. They choose ONE of each of the following which they would take with them on a refugee journey:

• A book

• A song

• A person

• A meal

• A place

Other categories can be added as desired.

The exercise in this form is potentially traumatic for refugees, and

Training around educational use of theatre with refugees and migrants

18-22 June 2018, London, UK

The week was built on the work already undertaken by the project partners in Adana and Bologna, with a view to developing theatre-based methodologies that allowed participants to generate creative and productive responses to the challenges faced both by refugees and by host communities at the current moment. Theatre was explored as a social, cultural and political space of dialogue, with the aim of generating empathy, exchange and understanding, such as would lead to positive policy outcomes.

The first two days offered a framing narrative and a toolkit for theatrical exploration. Dr Marilena Zaroulia gave an initial talk (reprinted in Chapter 2). Zoe Lafferty discussed her highly significant production QUEENS OF SYRIA. Eleanor Brown and Egle Banelyte of CARAS led a training session on the protocols of work with refugee communities. Michael Walling (Artistic Director) and Lucy Dunkerley (Associate Director) led a series of dramatic exercises, drawing on participants’ own knowledge and creativity to develop an appropriate tool kit for working with and around refugees. Brian Woolland (playwright and director) facilitated reflective responses to the work.

On Wednesday and Thursday, participants divided into small, diverse groups to undertake a series of visits to other organisations working in this field. These included: Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (local authority), Westway Trust (community organisation), CARAS (refugee organisation, particularly the women’s group), Cavendish School, St Charles Sixth Form College, Refugee Therapy Centre, Red Cross, Counterpoints Arts (talk at V&A Museum), Clowns without Borders, Borderlines (refugee theatre group). There were also visits to a number of performances on the Thursday evening, and the whole group visited the Museum of Migration.

On Friday, each group was invited to present a short theatrical piece, made using the tools explored early in the week, and responding to what they had discovered during their field visits. These performances led to further reflection and discussion around the key issues raised by the week’s work.

Non-Formal Education Tools and Methods Used in This Training Course

TOPIC Give & Gain

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To initiate a good way of starting a project involving everybody (participants, guides, experts, beginners) on an equality level, and asking about expectations instead of treating them passively.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

MATERIALS

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

DURATION 90 Minutes

2 coloured paper arrows per participant, plus circle of coloured paper Pens, markers

This Exercise is done at the beginning of a workshop or training period. Each participant has two coloured paper arrows. The red arrow shows what they hope to “give” to the group during the process. They should write on it something about their skills, experience or personal qualities that will allow them to contribute meaningfully to the process. The yellow arrow shows what they would like to “gain” from the experience, and again they write this. There is a card circle in the centre which is divided into four areas of concern for the project (e.g. refugees, theatre, education, policy - or museums, engagement, economics, sustainability). Each person presents their Give and Gain to the group, and they are placed in what are felt to the the most appropriate categories. The finished installation looks like a sun or a flower.

-Everybody feels more active and in charge of giving a contribution.

-A hosting organization can easily know what is expected by its guests, and openly declare what is available.

-Everyone can check at the end if results met the expectations.

-Allowing diverse expressive possibilities to the exercises: not only written words or sentences, but also drawings, or collage of pictures or emoji etc., in order to overcome language issues.

-Not everyone might feel able to express freely what they feel they can give or gain, e.g. due to lack of confidence, or peer pressure.

- In the case of a process in many steps, all the G&G sessions could build up a sort of “storify” of skills, expectations, lessons learned.

TOPIC Agree / Disagree game

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To encourage a playful attitude, even when proposing deep arguments.

-To create space for a playful way of getting to know something about the participants.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

Room is divided in half with chair(s) or similar in middle. One side of the room is the “agree side” side, the other the “disagree side” and the middle is “don’t know/ don’t care/ ambivalent unsure” area. Participants are invited to take a position in the space, depending about how they feel about a series of statements that are read out by the facilitator. The further someone stands from the centre means the more strongly they feel about the statement. First statement should be something very simple, e.g. peas are better than carrot, then move on to more political or provocative statements.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Examples we used included:

“I feel judged by how I look and what I wear.”

“Migrants should be made to learn the language of the country they come to.”

“There is a key set of European values to which new arrivals should conform.”

“These games are silly and pointless.”

“Theatre cannot change anything.”

People could be invited to comment on why they have chosen to stand where they have/ or simple just observe where others are standing in relation to themselves.

The guides need to choose the proper statements, but the exercise can be proposed to kids, teens, adults of very different kinds, and even used as ice-breaker before or during conferences with people having no theatre experience at all.

Concerning statements, they should take into account who are the people in the room, if they speak the local language or not, if they’ve had traumatising experiences (and so if it is better not to talk about specific issues)

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

There may be linguistic barriers, a different understanding of something in a different culture, or lack of previous engagement with an issue, which means that people will either make false statements, or feel pressured and judged, and misunderstandings can arise. I’ve had this experience myself when I first went to study in the US and it has scarred me for life.

With a discussion, if the aim is to explore issues; if the aim is “let’s play an exercise as ice-breakers) and the statements are lighter, then it could bring in a story.

TOPIC Ice Breakers with some Drama Exercises

-To create harmony and a feeling of equality among people in the room also because they get to work without the linguistic barrier.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- To help relaxing and feeling comfortable

-To create a good atmosphere to start with.

-To develop group dynamics and warm up the group both to the training ground and to each other.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

Non verbal warm-up

DURATION 90 Minutes

The facilitator gestures (without using words) to bring the group into a circle. They then gesture the group to watch and copy them. The facilitator leads a physical warm-up, exercising the whole body.

1) Starting with the fingers wiggle them, then shake hand, wrists, elbows, building to large circular arm movements, which get bigger with each circle, then decrease till small and back to fingers.

2) One foot at a time, starting with toes, building to ankles, knees and hips and going back to small again.

3) Scrunch the body up into a tight ball, including face muscles, and then open the body and face really wide.

4) The facilitator demonstrates walking round the room, nice and tall, with heads up, looking where you are going! The facilitator indicates that everyone should move. Once the group has walked around, the facilitator puts a hand out to stop the movement. A further gesture re-starts the movement: this time the facilitator leads the group to shake hands, pull funny faces, adopt poses etc..

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Non verbal breath exercise

The facilitator gestures (without using words) to bring the group into a circle. They take a large breathe and pass it to the next person, encouraging them to breathe it in and pass it round the circle. When the breath has gone full circle, the facilitator repeats, using more emotion e.g anger, hate. The emotions can be passed randomly to other people across the circle. The breath should be like an energy and could evolve into mimed “objects” that are passed around.

Pass the Smile

The facilitator gestures (without using words) to bring the group into a circle. They smile at the person next to them, and encourage them to pass the smile around to the next person and so on. When the smile comes back to them they take the smile and change it into another emotion, feeling or expression, such as excitement, anger, shyness, flirtation, pleading etc. The interactions should get longer and people should be encouraged to respond and react to the person and then pass it on.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

Keep doing it and add small commands or exercises including relating with each other, saying just one word (like Hallo), walking on different rhythms altogether, alternating commands quickly…

Be careful that it may be considered as childish in some other groups.

TOPIC 2-line starters

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To engage the participants’ imagination, focus, capacity of seeing the whole behind the two lines.

-To create theatre pieces in a participated way.

-To allow working in small groups help each participant to give his/her own contribution and strengthen the group spirit.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

The facilitator pre-selects two lines of dialogue, allocated to characters A & B. The lines can be taken from an existing play, or made up especially. Each pair of lines is printed on a slip of paper.

e.g.

A: He forgot everything, even his language.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

B: It’s as if nothing happened.

Working in pairs (or threes or fours) participants create and perform a six-line play, which includes these two lines. They can come at the beginning, in the middle or at the end. They must remain together. The short pieces are performed to the whole group, who have to decide which two lines they think were the starter.

-Participants are trained in giving active contribution to the common work.

They can see their result very quickly. The double active/passive task is very good to experiment in one session. Group spirit and knowledge strengthened.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-It can be very challenging: I wouldn’t propose this exercise in the first sessions to absolute theatre beginners, or I would add some theatre people in the group. Very difficult for those who are not very good in the local language.

-This exercise can allow participants to discover spontaneity and a love of performing. As a writing exercise, it is less “spontaneous” than many improvisation games, and it does not require everyone involved to perform. You can discuss and write without being a performer.

-You can add characters or notes on their behaviours, give the first and the last line of a play, to be written together, assign roles (you are the director/s, you are the actor/s, you are the playwright/s...)

TOPIC The refugee’s box

-This can be a very important exercises for non-refugee people, so that they can put themselves in the refugee’s shoes.

-To increase the level of empathy.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To increase the capacity of listening.

-To create space for participants to learn about themselves, the time to do things and reflect on their own past and current lives.

-To foster deeper understanding of each other.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS Plain boxes. Pens, paints etc.

This Exercise is derived from a theatre practice based on objects. It takes on board the fact that refugees often have no material possessions or objects from their original home.

Each participant is given a small box (cardboard self-assembled works fine) and a set of pens, paints etc.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

They decorate the box so that it expresses what they want to carry with them in life. This can be objects or people - it can also be culture and values.

Each person shows their box to the whole group, and explains what is “in it”.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-We would not suggest to do this exercise with every possible participants with a refugee or migrant background: not everybody is ready to share delicate painful bits of their lives in a group. But, if somebody is ready to do so, then the impact of their stories on people who don’t have such a background will be the most powerful and useful.

-Could cause re-traumatisation processes with fragile participants.

-All stories gathered could be designed and constructed to give live to a final performance.

TOPIC

Developing Drama from the Refugee’s Box.

-To allow transforming words and tellings into “embodied” stories, i.e. theatre.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To foster the bodily and musical and spatial expression next to the verbal expression

-To encourage collaboration in the working group.

-To allow space for creating a piece of participatory theatre.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS Varied objects, paints, musical instruments

The group as a whole chooses four boxes to work from. One box is placed in each corner of the room.

The group is divided into four teams. One team goes to each box. Each team is allocated one of the following approaches:

Dialogue Movement Space / design Music

(there should be objects, paints and musical instruments available)

Each team responds to the box they have been allocated, using their formal approach to create a brief performance. So the dialogue team create a short spoken scene, the movement team create a short physical sequence etc.

Each team presents its work to the others. The teams then move round the room to the next box, ADDING to the work already created, so as to layer the presentation. e.g. the movement team works with the box previously used by the dialogue team, and builds on what they have already done.

By the end of the session, each box will have four performance elements attached to it, making a fully realised piece of theatre.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Those who are not very familiar with the local language can express themselves through music or their body.

-Absolute beginners can experiment the satisfaction of seeing a quick beautiful result of a work made by a collectivity, with their own contribution. Team spirit enhanced.

-This kind of complex theatre work needs to be adapted according to the group you are working with: for example, absolute theatre beginners could find it too difficult or not immediate, and could need the help from the guide or the facilitator or from a group member who is a little more aware of theatre processes. If the group includes people with refugee background who are not familiar with the local language, they would need a help with the text part.

-It can be definitely too complex for absolute beginners or people who don’t speak the local language: they could feel frustrated if no help comes or if the exercise is not properly adapted to them. When working in small groups, people who are more shy end up being silent if people with a dominant personality come up and decide in a very resolute (stubborn) way. The guide should be aware of this possibility and facilitate this process.

-A whole show could be created using this method! Even involving the audience!

-Can be very difficult to evaluate the success of the session, like every cultural creation… We cannot just use a quantitative parameter, we need to find qualitative measurements; we cannot just look at the final output, we need to look into the whole process to really understand

TOPIC Clown exercises

-To generate a playful attitude.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To generate team spirit, fun, a light mood, a good atmosphere and rhythm

-To create space for participants to get to know the other participants by the way they play.

-To break ice with a fun and interactive way.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Clown exercise - Worms go home

The participants lie in a circle on their stomachs with a fist held to the centre. The index finger of their free hand becomes a “worm”. For each round, one person withdraws their fist, and gives instructions to the others as to what to do with their worms:

e.g

“Worms on noses”

“Worms scratch heads”

When the instruction “Worms go home” is given, participants put their “worms” into one another’s fists. The person who does not manage to send their worm home becomes the leader in the next round.

Clown exercise – finding by clapping

One participant is sent out of the room. The others decide what they will require that person to do in the room when they return. (e.g. turn off the light, pour some water, open a cupboard).

When the person returns, the rest of the group can communicate with them only by clapping. So, when they come close to the chosen task, the clapping becomes more enthusiastic - but when they move away it slows or stops.

It is important that the facilitator tells the person sent out that it is the others’ responsibility to get them to achieve the goal.

Clown exercise - happy umbrella

Participants stand in a circle. The first person says an adjective. The next person says a noun. The third person then embodies the combination of the two - so creating a happy umbrella, an hysterical lightshade, a frightened chair etc.

Keep passing around the circle. Try to ensure that everyone gets to be “the third person”.

It is important to do this exercise quickly, without much thinking.

Clown exercise - bag trick

Participants work in pairs. Each person has a paper bag. One person mimes throwing an imaginary object to the other, who “catches” it in the bag, flicking the bag so as to create the image and sound of the object being caught.

Participants are encouraged to try lots of silly variations.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-No need of language or very little, so perfect to work with anyone.

-You can enjoy the possibility of being leader and of playing at turns.

-It allows a playful attitude and it is very funny. It needs focus and rhythm, and so it is also good as a theatre exercise.

-It needs the participants to understand and talk the local language.

-Just be aware to adapt it to everybody (if somebody doesn’t speak the local language, you can use cards with drawings)

-It needs to be adapted for those who don’t speak your language.

TOPIC Anyone who

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To allow a playful attitude with very simple and fun exercise, so everyone can do it and like it.

-To break the ice within the group.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Group sit in circle on chairs with one less chair than group members. The person with no chair stands in the middle of the circle and says: “Anyone who…” (the blank is fill in with with a simple words such as “likes chocolate”/ “took the bus to get here”/ “is wearing black shoes”) and anyone who agrees with the statement has to swap chairs, the person in the middle run to take one of the chairs so another person is left in the middle.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Just be aware to adapt it to everybody (if somebody doesn’t speak the local language, you can use cards with drawings, or indicate the element you are asking them to have…)

-You can always find more and more funny/bizarre characteristics!

TOPIC I see you

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To allow a first discrete physical contact, generate empathy and sympathy, let positive emotions flow.

- To give participants a sense of recognition within the group. Each feels valued and accepted as who they are.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

Participants move freely through the room, and spontaneously select partners to encounter.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Partners take each others’ hands, and look each other in the eye.

When they are ready, and feel it to be true, they say “I see you”. When each partner has said this to the other, they move on.

-Empathy, sympathy, emotions can flow in a very direct immediate way.

-A very personal way to know the others in the group.

-This is a perfect, simple training to the basis of human relations: look at each other, generate trust in the relationship, touch the other, walk together.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Can be very useful for the staff of any environment (office, bank, supermarket…) to see each other in a different way. An interesting exercise of team re-building.

- Not everybody feels comfortable in touching, or sharing such a personal moment with others, especially if unknown.

-This is a very intense encounter which in some cultures or between some types of people can feel very confrontational, especially where the issue to be worked on is controversial. Some may feel uncomfortable with this.

TOPIC Group reflective practice

-To allows going deeper into themes and practices.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To allow people who don’t feel comfortable with practical exercise to give a contribution by discussing.

-To enhnce awareness and solidity of the contents.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

At the end of each day’s work, a group member (not the main facilitator) leads a short period of reflection. Questions raised might include:

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

“What have you learnt today?”

“What has mattered to you today?”

“What do you think the group has learnt today?”

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

Language barrier could be a problem. More open and/or narcissistic people could prevail on those who are shy or less expert -- facilitation is needed also in times. Discussing things should never be transformed in attacking people.

TOPIC Reporting through performance

- To allow participants a further - and bodily - reflection on what they learn/practice.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- To allow participants to understand other groups’ emotions in doing experiences.

- To introduce new tools for expression.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

Participants in a group workshop are asked to visit a place or organisation involved with migration. This could be a community or advocacy organisation, a school or college, a therapy centre etc.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Instead of “reporting back” in a conventional way, they are asked to prepare a short performance which encapsulates their learning from the visit.

The group as a whole responds to and reflects on this performance.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

By taking into account that not everyone is expert in the theatre practices: facilitation and guide could be needed. Theatre expertise (at least a little) is needed. Language barrier could also be a problem. More open and/or narcissistic people could prevail on those who are shy or less expert in the small working group -- facilitation is needed.

Training around museums as meeting points for work with refugees and migrants

4-8 March 2019, Oldenburg, Germany

The municipal museums of the City of Oldenburg offered a unique case study for THE PROMISED LAND Project. The museums include a local history museum, two historic villas, as well as two art galleries, each presenting different opportunities and contexts for working with refugees and migrants.

Building on the experiences of the previous training weeks, we allowed plenty of time for discussion and exchange. We also felt it important to provide an introduction to the wider discursive context for the work of museums not only in Germany but internationally. Therefore, the first day of the training looked at the German Museum Association’s recommendations on Migration, Museums and Cultural Diversity, followed by a critical examination of the Multaka project. The first day also includes an in-depth introduction into the German asylum system.

On the second day of the training the group explored Germany’s memory culture around the Shoah, and how new arrivals and migrants should and might be expected to relate to it. In the afternoon, the project group visited Jugendkulturarbeit e.V., where we had the opportunity to observe three youth theatre projects.

On Wednesday, we visited the Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte to learn more about one of their projects working with refugees; and IBIS e.V., an organisation providing support to refugees, for example through cultural work and language classes. The evening was spent with service users from IBIS in their very own café, enjoying a shared meal.

Thursday saw us travel to the Migrationscenter, a centre providing vocational training and integration and orientation classes to refugees and migrants. We had the opportunity to work alongside refugees and later enjoy lunch together in the centre’s own café. In the afternoon, we were able to speak with tutors from Inlingua who provide language classes for refugees. Specifically, we discussed the various cultural topics that arise as part of the language tuition, and which are sometimes about competing cultural values.

On the final day of our training in Oldenburg, we learned more about a unique initiative, pro:connect, which provides support for refugees looking for work.

Non-Formal Education Tools and Methods Used in This Training Course

TOPIC Planting a flower, signing an eye

-To give the migrants a sense that the space was theirs, and that the participants, as the recent arrivals, were being welcomed into it.

-To allow participants to engage with migrants in a very simple, human way, doing something together, which got around the potential of such visits to become like a zoo.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- To encourage talking with people while doing the activity; it’s very “physical”, so the language level isn’t a barrier; it’s very simple, and so everyone can make it at once, but very symbolic as well (the eye means that one of the biggest issues related to migration is invisibility or refusal to see).

-To enhance mutual trust and understanding in a very short time: breaking barriers.

-To alter the relationship between the migrants in the centre and the people from outside altered.

-To make participants realize that the space belonged to the migrants, and have the experience of being grateful to be included.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

When we visited the Migration Centre in Oldenburg, we were each invited to plant a flower in the garden, where some of the migrants were learning horticulture as a trade.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

They offered us the plants, gloves and tools, and we left our own marks in their space.

A second, related action involved us being asked to write names and messages on pre-prepared wooden “eyes” (the symbol of the centre). These artworks were then “planted” in the garden, again through a combination of trainee and visitor labour.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-The ideas behind this simple action could be applied more widely, in a number of educational and cultural spaces, and in the workplace. For example, at a performance, visitors might be invited to join in a migrant song or to exchange stories. In any space where the migrants have a clear presence, the sharing of food can have a similar effect.

-It is so simple and powerful that it can be easily applied everywhere and with everyone: as an educational, a theatrical, a teambuilding tool, with kids, and adults, people working together, people with disabilities...

-The biggest pitfall is that such actions could end up perpetuating the very divisions they aim to overcome. If the visitors are not sufficiently sensitive and responsive, then it risks appearing crass or artificial.

-Work of this kind has the potential for considerable follow-up, particularly if the visitors are local. An initial encounter through gardening or shared art could become the start of an ongoing relationship, where two communities collaborate through shared interests and activities.

-it would be interesting to involve artists (both natives, migrants and refugees) in proper creations starting from the wooden eye. And have a final exhibition including both visual and performing arts.

-In the case of our group, both migrants and visitors clearly felt more at ease with one another after these shared activities, and fell easily into

TOPIC

The meeting circle

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To allow refugees and migrants to meet directly with visitors from the host culture (or elsewhere) on a human level by asking questions which are very simple and direct - but they are also very resonant with the migrants’ situation.

-To make the visitors think more deeply about that situation, by hearing answers to questions they are themselves answering, which are very different from their own.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

The migrants sit in a circle of chairs, facing outwards, and the visitors in another circle outside them, facing inwards. Depending on the numbers present, each migrant “meets” one or more visitors in each encounter.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

The encounter consists of a simple conversation, facilitated through a single question from the facilitator: for example “Where do you feel most at home?”, “What is the smell of your home country?”, “How many languages can you speak?”

Both migrants and visitors should answer the questions, explaining their answers to each other.

After each encounter, the migrants move round one place, so as to meet another visitor or pair of visitors.

The two groups come to feel much more equal. Because both parties answer the same questions, they come to understand not only the differences in their experiences, but also their common humanity. Empathy, mutual trust, curiosity enhanced; mistrust, fear, embarrassment lowered or cancelled.

This could be applied in any situation where there is an encounter between refugees / migrants and people from the host culture.

This includes official occasions, where a human understanding would be a very useful precursor to matters of business or law.

Again very simple to learn and do, so it can be applied in any possible context and with people of any age and status and language level (almost). Only be careful about which questions you are asking (see pitfalls).

There is a danger that some questions could be distressing for refugees: e.g. one man told me that his home country smelt of dead bodies.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

There is the danger that poorly prepared visitors might exploit the exercise to make the migrants feel less, rather than more included.

Language is a potential barrier: it was helpful when speakers of a common language (English or German) were placed close to people who had fewer language skills.

Be careful about which questions you are asking, because some questions may be too sensitive to be asked, or some people may be not ready to share everything with everybody.

Beware of the potential patronising of unprepared or insensitive groups of “visitors”. Equality is the basis for any work aimed at dialogue.

The exercise can be followed up by a more in-depth conversation. For us, it was followed by a shared meal, cooked by migrants in the Centre’s kitchen. This allowed us to enter into a fuller discussion with people we already felt we knew a little, and who had some knowledge of us.

TOPIC

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Language rally in (art)exhibition

-To activate vocabulary of the host language

-To focus on the similarities between languages rather than the differences

-To foster dialogue and team spirit among the small group members

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

This is an exercise to introduce a multilingual group to an (art)exhibition by means of language learning. The group is divided into smaller groups of 3-5. Their task is to explore the works in the exhibition space and together find certain art objects, all of which are paraphrased on a task sheet. When they find an object they are asked to exchange and discuss certain vocabulary in the host language and in their native languages, related to what they see in the object(s), e.g. terms of colours or items seen in a painting.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

It has to be adapted to the language level of the participants, and to the cultural institution, which could be another museum, or a theatre, or a library, or a cultural centre.

Language can also be a barrier, so the practice has to be carefully adapted according to the participants.

TOPIC Cut-to-camera

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To introduce practical camera work to narrative structure of a movie and a careful planning of realising a story in a film shooting

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

An exercise to introduce mostly young people, to practical camera work and narrative structure at the same time. After an introduction to camera perspectives and framings each group gets a camera. The task is to make up a story and depict it in five consecutive shots using five different framings (long shot, medium long shot, medium close up, close up + one free shot). This requires careful preparation of every scene, because in the end, all five shots have to be in the right consecutive order on the camera memory, so they can be played on the spot. Each shot can be repeated until the group is satisfied and all fails have to be deleted on the spot.

TOPIC Dialogic guided-tour through exhibition

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To take visitors of an exhibition as experts, not only consumers

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

In contrast to an “expert tour”, the idea is to take a tour in an exhibition as a dialogue between a group, a guide, exhibited object(s) and the exhibiting institution. The guide leaves blank space for inquiries, encourages people to express their questions, knowledge and thoughts on the objects seen and to a certain extent may even put the role of the institution into perspective, e.g. reveal certain information on means of the emergence of the exhibition.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

This has the potential to empower refugees and migrants as citizens in their new space, and to give them the chance to “own” the history. It stops the Othering and sense of exclusion in conventional narratives.

TOPIC Origins of family names

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To support international group that is to work together for several days to get to know each other and bring to everybody’s mind that there are aspects of migration history to find in almost every family.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

An international group sits together in a circle. Each person tells the story of how they got their first name and their last name. Especially for the family names it is interesting to hear about the origins (What does it mean? Who brought the name to the family? How did they inherit it? Where/Are there other family names (before)?)

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

People get to know one another more deeply through this Exercise. Names often carry very deep personal and family stories. There is the possibility of disturbing memories surfacing for some refugees. It’s about family. The best thing is not to make this in any way compulsory - these sort of exercises can always be “passed”.

Non-Formal Education Tools and Methods Relevant to Museums and Discovered in the London Training Course

TOPIC Migration Museum - public debate via cards

-To allow participants to compare their attitude to others and change their mind.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To get a better idea of the group you’re working with.

-An open attitude towards other people’s opinions and points of view.

-To encourage open attitude towards other people’s opinions and points of view.

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS -Envelopes, pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers

Within the framework of a themed exhibition or event, people are encouraged to write a question which concerns them on an envelope, and to place that envelope in a designated space.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Other people are then able to respond to the question by writing on cards, which they then place in the envelope.

Examples we saw at the Migration Museum included:

“Why are mixed race people considered to be black?”

“How do you deal with racial bullying?”

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

Difficult to practice this with people who don’t know your local language. But good and easily adaptable to almost all sorts of people (even kids, by just adapting style and code) Language barrier could be an issue.

TOPIC Migration Museum - public contributions of migration stories

-To allow free expression: no judgement, no constraint, no need to be recognised, a free space to tell.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To create space for a very personal impression of what people are driven. And how different biographic motivation can be.

-to create a free environment where people could feel willing to share their story.

-To promote understanding for other people..

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

MATERIALS - Pens, pencils, A5, A6 size small papers or cards.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

In the context of a museum display or exhibition, an area is kept open for public contributions. Cards and pens are provided, with the instruction “Write your own migration story”.

Blu-tac or similar is made available so the cards can be added to the display.

Training in application of intercultural competencies and awareness of refugee and migrant issues to business contexts

13-17 May 2019, Toulouse, France

In the final training we learned about the contribution that diversity makes to business –and that which business makes to diversity.

We spoke to consultants and strategists who’ve worked toward creating a single, transEuropean entity out of heterogeneous factions in the aerospace industry. We also investigated diversity as a precondition of innovation.

We experienced first-hand some of the tools that helped teams and organisations get aligned and work towards common goals. These tools are derived from Systems Theory, Process Work, Family Systems Therapy, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Quantum Physics & Co-Active Coaching.

We studied the French immigration system. We heard from experts at Médicins sans Frontières and AFPA (national organisation tasked with retraining those who have been given asylum) as well as those who arrived in France as refugees.

Non-Formal Education Tools

and Methods Used in This Training Course

TOPIC Re Systems Coaching: Apply To All Following Tools

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-Systems tools are specifically developed for creating alignment between very different groups, expressing marginalised voices and transforming ‘heat’ into a way forward and so a great many of them are very useful for working with migrants and refuges as well as the societies they move in.

-The system becomes ‘aware of itself’ and can move into its next iteration (evolve).

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

All the coaches in the Toulouse Training were ORSC trained, and therefore used to ORSC ™ tools. There will be similar tools in other systemic models. However we all chose ORSC which was the first (and we think the most evolved and best) systemic coaching training in the world. There are many, many tools but the following are some that we have used in the course of PL

-All systemic tools can be used in multiple circumstances

-They are used to work with groups, teams, pairs, couples, individuals, tribes and whole organisations or nations. Any entity which is alive and grows is a system and can be coached as such.

-Needs to be done with a trained systemic coach.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Professional ethics, such as those of the IFC, need to be observed especially with vulnerable people such as refugees.

-During the training/ workshop/meeting: Regular check ins and feedback on how people are feeling. End of training: Ask for feedback.

-Check back in, say, 3 months. Establish a relationship where they can contact you for further support if necessary

-Always co-create objectives together (using DPA) ,

-Check at end of training they have met group/team/ individual object-

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To give overall picture of a situation and to allow participants’ voice to be heard, and to be able to express/vent difficult feelings, basis of alignment and community

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

Represents all voices to be heard even unpleasant or difficult ones. It is a commitment to hearing marginalised voices for the sake of the entire system.

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Powerful tool which can be used with medium or large groups to explore all the ‘voices’ in a specific topic or system. Gives a high level view of a particular debate. May lead to historical perspective, empathy and deeper understanding, and ‘thinking out of the box’ or habitual roles

-People who don’t normally feel heard feel their voice matters. Raises awareness to everyone in the system. Gets key issues ‘out’.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-Can be perplexing and confusing at first, but gives an overview of the system we are in, updates our ‘files’ allowing us to share perspectives on the same debates.

-This is not a stand alone tool (or a role play) and should be used with other tools and a coach to maintain safety

-Coach may have to go against the dominant system to ensure all voices are heard.

- There is the danger that participants may fall into cliché.

TOPIC String Exercise

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-Systems are made up of interdependent entities with a common purpose or identity. This exercise helps people experientially understand and see what it means to be part of a system.

-Participants start to “feel” and “see” the impact of being part of an interdependent system.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

DURATION 90 Minutes

Pairs hold strings and knot them, feeling the ‘push and pull’ of the relationships between them. They then team up with other ‘dyads’ forming whole teams. The coach guides them in a series of experiments which (pulling, letting go) which allow them to experience the usually invisible relationships as concrete things.

Needs to be done with a trained systemic coach in order to effectively lead the exercise including an effective debrief to land the learning points.

All systemic tools can be used in multiple circumstances

Reference the experience as related situations arise where people are or are not acting in a way that acknowledges interdependence. Monitor the level of interdependent behavior and actions.

TOPIC Change Triangle

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To understand the impacts of change and how to find ways to cope with it.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

This is a simple model showing very precisely the ways that change affects us all. Many different ways to show this depending on the needs of a particular group and circumstance. People who have been traumatised by change can share on and better understand their experience and move on. People are deeply reassured to know that what they are experiencing is ’normal’. It gives them strength to weather the change and to regroup their resources

TOPIC Appreciation Loop

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

- To introduce a way to validate people who often feel excluded by creating a fun and lovely appreciation environment

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

One person sits in the centre and the others (max. 5 per person) say what they appreciate about him/her.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

-It may well help to build confidence and self-esteem. Nice to end a session as eveyrone leaves with a gift! Models positive thinking, positive self-regard.

-Coach needs to ‘read the room’ and keep the exercise brisk and rapid! It can feel artificial and people from less demonstrative cultures may feel deeply embarrassed.

TOPIC High Dream - Low Dream

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-to support and show participants that their voice matters by giving each person a chance to speak or if the group is very large, by giving enough time and space for each voice to be heard.

-to invite participants to dream vs. just speaking the minimum or what they don’t want.

-To encourage listening without commenting.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

DURATION 90 Minutes

Dynamic and active session using visual aids to help us “hear” and “see” each other’s hopes and concerns for the week. The use of visuals also made it easier for participants with varying levels of English to participate.

-It creates a safe space where dreaming is allowed and encouraged. This provides foundational information toward moving a group toward alignment.

-All systemic tools can be used in multiple circumstances

-Needs to be done with a trained systemic coach

-Encouraging speakers to be concise to keep the energy up until all voices are heard. Not allowing any cross talk.

-Often used directly before inviting the group to Design their Team Alliance of How they want to be together.

TOPIC Rank, Revenge and Privilege

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To increase self-awareness as well as awareness of perhaps unintended impact on others as a result of different levels of ranks within a system. (This invites being more aware and more intentional within a system.)

GROUP SIZE Around 20 DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Important self-exploration to see what characteristics and positions (ranks) we have correspond to privileges and/or power structures. Helpful when working with power dynamics — The concept of rank or privilege describes that conscious or unconscious power arising from culture, community support, etc. Whether you earned or inherited your rank, it organizes much of your communication and behavior, especially at edges and in hot spots. Rank in itself is neither good nor bad. When used unconsciously, it creates the experience of oppression of some sorts for the people opposite you and it might lead to revenge.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

All systemic tools can be used in multiple circumstances. Needs to be done with a trained systemic coach otherwise it could re-enforce the refugees’ sense of helplessness.

Regular check ins to see if people are or are not using their power skillfully to help the system. Monitor to see if people are acting out from a place of revenge toward people with more perceived power.

TOPIC Designed Team Alliance (DTA)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To create more clarity and mutual understanding within the group about how we want to be together which helps to reduce or minimize guessing or projecting onto others.

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

This tool helps train participants to co-create how they want to be/work/ live with their system by designing the atmosphere or culture that they want as well as how they want to “be” when it gets difficult and what they are individually taking responsibility for to offer in this system e.g. It encourages dialogue to design something that all can live with.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

All systemic tools can be used in multiple circumstances. Needs to be done with a trained systemic coach. The Designed Team Alliance is a living document that should be regularly revisited to see if it continues to be useful or needs to be changed. Monitor to see if the team is using it or if they have forgotten it.

TOPIC Third Entity.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

-To reinforce a sense of belonging, common values, purpose, identity -To encourage people to dream about what might be

GROUP SIZE Around 20

DURATION 90 Minutes

STEP BY STEP IMPLEMENTATION

Coach asks individual members to speak with the Voice of the Team (not what individual members) aksing them a series of questions focussing evyerone in the room on common goals, challenges, attributes

Relationships are fundamentally creative This is the place from where we can build new projects, artefacts, governance etc.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FACILITATOR

Can result in moving forward strongly together as a new entity and putting old confllicts behind us. Third entity is the way forward for moving out of conflict, stuckness, and old positional antagonisms. It is the basis of alignment

CHAPTER 4 - THE RESPONSES

4.1 Interview with Kouamé - Toulouse

4.2 Interviews with Ndjebel Sylla and Sulayman Camara - Bologna

4.3 Poems by women at CARAS - London

4.4 Testimonials from the Stadtmuseum exhibition “Anerkennung” (Recognition) by Saad and Emad - Oldenburg

4.5 Don’t Let Them Tell You Stories: extract from a play by Brian WoollandLondon

CHAPTER 4 - THE RESPONSES

1. Interview with Kouamé - Refugee living in Toulouse

Aged 14, Kouamé (full name and country withheld) had to flee his home after his parents were murdered for political reasons . For the next three years, he travelled in 53 Africa, knowing hunger, fear and violence at the hands of people-traffickers “with the feeling of being less than nothing, a shadow, a migrant’. Finally arriving in Toulouse, and overwhelmed by the project of gaining official refugee status here, he wrote his auto-biography, while considering ending his life.

RETURN FROM DARKNESS was published and went on 54 to win the 2018 Prix du Livre des Droits de l'Homme de la Ville de Nancy. His story received widespread praise and recognition, including a meeting with President Macron.

Now a naturalised French citizen, at the age of 21 Kouamé has a full-time permanent contract in the aviation industry. Feeling frustration at the fragmented way ‘the refugee problem’ is perceived, he has created the charity (or ‘association’) AKWAMU to address its root causes.

FIXING THE ‘MIGRATION CRISIS’ - “Helping Africa is Helping Europe”

“The main key to solving the migration crisis is education in the countries of origin. We have to raise awareness among young Africans. They are disconnected from all that happens to migrants. There is no discussion in the media and they have no idea of what is happening to refugees or whether they live or die.

“Secondly, we have to give them the means to live in their own country. If they have nothing to eat and have lost everything, they will leave. We have to give them a helping hand so they trust that they can stay alive in their own country.

“The people trafficking industry is very dangerous and Europe has to find a way to stop it. When they start on their journeys, African migrants are innocent about the traffickers and what they do.

“European politicians should also put pressure on their African counterparts to govern for the people and to stop supporting African dictators and corruption. Only then can we stop the wars that are happening everywhere.

“If Africa and Europe can collaborate in getting this done then migration will very rapidly cease to be a problem”.

Revenue des ténèbres - published in French by XO editions, 2018: http://www.xoeditions.com/en/livres/

Kouamé was interviewed by Nicola Scicluna in Toulouse, July 2019.

FOR MIGRANTS ALREADY IN FRANCE

“These people are alive, but without work their lives have no meaning. To tell them “don’t stay here” is not a solution either. They are already here. Africans are not lazy and are not looking for aid. We have let them work so that they too can realise their dreams and make a contribution to the society they are living in.

“The administration here in France completely exhausts us. Paperwork is extremely complicated and it is very difficult for us to understand what we have to do. What is required of us by the Prefecture? How does the law work? You need to guide us. Some of us are being helped by retired people. These older people have a lot to contribute. Guiding us gives them a role and helps us a great deal.”

AKWAMU

Koamé’s response to his experiences was to create a new charity, AKWAMU. The charity is working to:

• Restore a hospital

• Refurbish a school to educate children

• Contribute to the development of agriculture and farming ensuring training of young people

• Put in place a system bringing fresh water to all inhabitants

• Assure the cleanliness of public spaces

• Educate citizens

“As I have said, the biggest challenge is to raise awareness amongst young Africans.

“Each time I return, I gather a crowd of about 100 young people. These people are older than me, they don’t go to school, have no training and no occupation. They are just there – what will become of them? I give them footballs and club strips and they realise that I am thinking about them and they listen.

“I tell them about the plans for their village. How we can create agricultural cooperatives and install clean water and we provide resources. Once they understand, they act. In my village, there are hectares and hectares of forest. So why do people come to Toulouse where there is none? Because they don’t have the means to cultivate it. They have no resources and need a helping hand. My charity is training people to use banks, to put aside a little money, so that they can be autonomous and continue next year. They don’t know how to do this. Again, it’s education and awareness that is needed.

“Poverty kills and people would rather leave than starve to death at home. This situation is getting worse and unless we tell people about the real nature of things, they will all want to come to Europe.

“I’ve not heard from one organisation which said “migrating is full of danger”. We are informing them.

“It’s very good that people in Europe put structures in place to welcome immigrants, but to resolve the problem we have to treat the roots. If you wait until they come here it’s too late”.

2. Interviews with Ndjebel Sylla and Sulayman Camara - Participants in Teatro dell’Argine’s work in Bologna

Ndjebel Sylla, 23 years old, born in Senegal in 1995, in Italy since 2015

I liked taking part in the theatre projects, and it was very important to me: when you start, you don’t like it, because you don’t know exactly what it is, you are shy, you think you don’t have the skills. But after two or three times, I liked it a lot and it became so important to me.

Before having the theatre activity, I was always at home, I just went to school and then back home, thinking about very sad and terrible things in my life. Also in the streets, it wasn’t a nice situation, and I didn’t speak or understand Italian very well, so I was always at home by myself thinking about terrible things.

When I started the theatre experience, I met a lot of friends, with them we spoke Italian gradually, very gently and slowly. And they have done a lot of good things for me, they’ve just organised a party for my birthday.

This year, I also brought my friends to the workshop, one in particular, who has just arrived from abroad, because I know he can find many people there, he can better learn Italian. And he liked it, he enjoyed it a lot.

Sulayman Camara,

20 years old, born in Gambia in 1997, in Italy since 2014

It was very useful for me to take part in the theatre experience Esodi, and in Acting Together #WithRefugees, because I am also a refugee. I met new people, we’ve made a lot of things together, we exchanged our cultures. The Acting Together #WithRefugees workshop was just 4 meetings in one month, and after one month we were friends. This is very important, it is a way of welcoming people together, exchanging ideas, meeting new people, making friends. Before, we only were among Africans, or among Italians, while here we are all together.

Before practising theatre, I thought that theatre was just a game, in the sense that it is nice but useless. On the contrary, now I know that it is a way of educating people, even when you have fun, it is a way of exchanging cultures.

Another nice thing is the possibility that we have in the workshop of speaking or singing in our own languages, so we talk Wolof, Mandinga, Italian, English… This is very nice.

Now I work as a cultural mediator, and I like my job, because I have the opportunity of helping people like myself. I was like them when I arrived, now I have my papers, and I can help those who have escaped from war, dictatorship, poverty. I brought three new people to the theatre workshop, because I know how important it is, to speak better Italian, to find new friends, also Italian friends. Theatre was very important for my job as well, because I was very scared of speaking in public before, but now I can do that. These three boys were scared because they thought that for practising theatre you have to speak Italian well, but here we speak English, French, our own language, and they came and were happy.

When I had just arrived, Marianna, the social worker who took care of me, suggested that I go to the theatre workshop. At first, I said I didn’t want to, because I was worried all day long every day about getting my papers. I arrived in 2014, and after three months I met the commission (deciding about assigning the refugee status - ed.), but then waited one

year for my papers. I only thought about my papers, because without them you cannot do anything.

But then I started going to the theatre workshop, and it helped me a lot. Before, I was only thinking about Africa, about my Mum, who is there, I only thought about that. Then, at the theatre, I found a lot of new friends, of good people, among the workshop participants, among those working at the theatre. Good people. Theatre as a space free from life’s problems. It is very important.

Theatre is so good. Now theatre is in my blood, I will do it every year: God willing, always.

All I really want is to be home with my family. I would also like to go to school.

I want to be independent. I also want to have my family around. I also want a good job. I make pastry so I want to become a chef. I want to visit some places – maybe Italy.

I love to be home with all my family, my mum, my father, my two sisters and two brothers but some places I can’t express myself. I like to explain how I feel and what I think. I want to take my own choices. Men cannot dictate to me what to say, what I’m supposed to do or behave.

I will support my daughter to make her own choices, allow her to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.

All my life , all the people told me “no don’t do that”, “you can’t speak like that” “you need to have limits”.

This is why I ran away.

I come from Gambia.

Luckily I had my Grandpa, who helped me to run away. He gave me money and took my documents from my parents.

He was my best-friend, and we could talk about everything. Unfortunately he passed away a couple of years ago.

I try not to make the same mistakes with my daughter that my mother did with me. I will have conversations with her- and listen to what she has to say.

- Anonymous

“I Believe” Poems

I am lovely, happy and protective

I believe the world is going to change

I understand my religion is different

I worry about my housework

I hope my children will have a better future

I cry if I am sad

I believe the world is going to change

I am lovely, happy and protective

- Awa

I am from Afghanistan

I am busy

I believe in cooking

I understand Dari

I worry about not having a home I hope everything is near I cry because my mother us in Afghanistan and I haven’t seen her in five years

I believe in Allah

I am busy (all mothers are busy

I am from Afghanistan

- Aplima

I am happy and busy

I believe in Islam

I understand Pashto

I worry about my mum

I hope that my father comes to the UK

I cry when my children are sick

I believe in Islam

I am happy and busy

- Kharifa

4. Testimonials from the Stadtmuseum exhibition“Anerkennung” (Recognition) by Saad

and Emad - Oldenburg

Recorded by Juliane Samide (IBIS e.V.)

Saad

Our colleague told us about the project of the exhibition “Anerkennung” (Recognition) and asked us if we wanted to participate. She said that videos should be made in which we can talk about people without a German passport not being able to vote. I really wanted that!

I know so many people who have fled and who would like to vote in Germany to feel part of it. I work here in Oldenburg and pay taxes. Why can't I vote here? I hope that this question will give many museum visitors food for thought and that they will consider what it means not to be able to vote in a country where you live. Maybe this will have an effect on some of the visitors and if not, I could at least express my wish for the future. I think the atmosphere in the museum is great. I especially liked the mixture between old and modern. Not only with the exhibits, but also with the rooms. It has something very

tion. Oldenburg is my new home and I want to participate in the processes here and at the same time express my own opinion. The exhibition made that possible for me. I was able to express my opinion and was seen and heard by the museum visitors. My opinion is important! And I hope, like Saad, that many people understand my wish to be allowed to vote.

I was in the museum in Oldenburg for the first time. Without the project I would probably never have gone to the museum. That's different now. I got to know the museum and experienced Oldenburg in particular from a completely new perspective. I now know much more about the city than before.

5. Don’t Let Them Tell You Stories: extract from a play by Brian Woolland - London Context(s)

“Don’t let them tell you stories” is a play which has been written in response to the experience of taking part in THE PROMISED LAND project. It draws heavily on stories I have heard during the project (from refugees, and from colleagues), and also on interviews and conversations with people who have related experience but are not directly involved with THE PROMISED LAND project.

We are bombarded with images of refugees which encourage us to think of them as ‘others’, as if the human beings we are watching or hearing about are members of a homogenous group. And even when these ‘others’ are not demonised, there is a tendency to think of ‘us and them’ as essentially different. The unspoken assumption is that their lives are not like ours. In each of THE PROMISED LAND training weeks this tendency has been challenged in the most positive ways – through lectures, workshops, formal discussions and informal conversations.

But if ‘they’ are far more complex than alienating generalisations allow, so, too, are ‘we’. The play addresses these over simplifications directly.

About the play and the extract

The political and social situation in the UK is so unstable (and is changing so fast throughout the European Union) that if the play were to be in ‘the present’ it would be out of date by the time it went into production. I therefore decided to set it in ‘a near future’, and although the characters and plot are informed by experiences of THE PROMISED LAND, it is not a piece of documentary nor verbatim theatre.

The scene reproduced here comes early in the play. It is one of several interviews which take place at the Asylum Seekers Processing Service (ASPS). This is a fictional institution, but the regulations and constraints within which the characters are operating are similar in spirit to those in place in the UK at the time of writing. The Fisherwoman’s story is not an attempt to represent one person’s story, but an amalgamation of several. David and Susie, the other characters in this scene, work for ASPS. Susie is David’s line manager. He’s in a probationary period after recently taking the job. Susie occasionally sits in on the interviews that David is conducting. He wants to be humane and sympathetic, but becomes increasingly compromised.

When Susie offers advice to David towards the end of this scene – ‘Don’t let them tell you stories’ – she is not simply being brutally callous. She is giving voice to the impossibility of working in a situation where human beings with great dignity and courage (for it takes enormous courage to undertake the kind of journey that the Fisherwoman has made) are systematically treated as numbers.

David and Susie are each struggling with their own demons. And despite trying not to let their personal history affect the way they interact professionally – with each other and with the people they are interviewing – they are working within a set of rules that undermines their own integrity as well as dehumanising the people they are trying to ‘process’. The issue of boundaries is one of the central concerns of the play, and is explored in several different ways. One of these is made visible in the staging:

The stage is split into two distinct areas. On this side: the interview scenes and the dinner party

On the other side: desolation – with increasing amounts of rubble, broken glass, splintered wood, brick dust and household debris…

As the play progresses these barriers begin to break down. The world we are encouraged to identify with as ‘ours’ and the world of the ‘others’ become increasingly entangled. David and Susie are both (to differing extents) in denial about how much closer they are to the Fisherwoman’s situation than they recognise. As the play develops they are forced to confront that denial.

Towards the end of the extract three other characters are briefly mentioned: Idris, Nadia and Rosie. Idris is Susie’s husband, and Rosie is their young daughter. Nadia is married to David.

Further reading

Other published material that informs the play includes: We crossed a bridge and it trembled – Voices from Syria. Edited by Wendy Pearlman. Harper Collins 2017. Outside the Asylum: A Memoir of War, Disaster and Humanitarian Psychiatry. Lynne Jones. W & N 2017. The King Is Always Above the People by Daniel Alarcón. Fourth Estate 2017.

Border Crossings is planning to give ‘Don’t Let Them Tell You Stories’ a rehearsed reading in autumn 2019. It

SCENE FIVE How was the fishing?

(The interview room at the Asylum Seekers Processing Service (ASPS). The FISHERWOMAN is standing behind the chair on her side of the table.)

DAVID Sit down. Please.

(DAVID sits down. THE FISHERWOMAN follows his example. He looks at documents. SUSIE enters. She has found the document wallet she has been looking for. Shows DAVID that she has it. Places it on the table. She removes an application form, supporting documents and a set of creased photographs from the document wallet.)

SUSIE So... You want these photographs to support your claim? It’s unusual, isn’t it, for a woman. To take a boat to sea. Is this your boat?

FISHERWOMAN It was the boat of my family.

SUSIE It’s a fishing boat? Yes?

FISHER Yes. It is a fishing boat.

SUSIE That’s what it looks like.

FISHER My father was a fisherman. My father had the boat. My husband worked with my father on the boat for many years. He was a fisherman also. When my father could not go to sea, my husband had the boat.

SUSIE And what about you?

FISHER I was a teacher.

SUSIE So, we’ve established … the boat in the photograph is a fishing boat?

FISHER Yes.

SUSIE No nets.

FISHER The nets are … When I get back there are no nets.

SUSIE When you got back? I don’t understand. Explain.

FISHER When I get back to my harbour. My oldest son he takes the photographs.

DAVID You have three sons?

FISHER Yes.

DAVID What happened to your father and your husband?

SUSIE Sorry David. Let’s just stay with the boat for a moment. When you got back from where?

FISHER From the island.

SUSIE So you did go to the island?

FISHER I have no choice. I have to do what they say.

SUSIE OK, OK... I get that.

DAVID Shouldn’t we ask her if she –– ?

SUSIE Do you need a translator?

FISHER I understand English.

SUSIE Answer the question please.

FISHER I was a teacher.

SUSIE A direct answer. Do you need a translator?

FISHER I do not need a translator.

SUSIE OK. So? What happened to your nets?

FISHER My father. He was in a demonstration. The regime arrested everyone. Some people ran away, but my father, his leg was broken many years ago. It was an accident with a (she gestures a winch) on his boat. They took away in buses the people who could not escape by running. My father could not run. We thought they would keep them for a night and then re lease them. We thought they were trying to frighten us… We waited for him, to come back. A week passed. After a week they brought his body back in the night. They left it by the door. His body was naked. He had been tortured. His skin was covered with cigarette burns and blisters. It was like a terrible… I don’t know the word… And they had cut off his genitals.

DAVID I am so sorry. That is so awful.

(Silence)

SUSIE And what happened to your husband?

FISHER My husband had a sister. She was married. She had three small children.

SUSIE Your husband. Not your sister. Please. Just answer my question.

FISHER That is what I am doing. You asked me what happened to my husband. I am answering your question. My husband had a sister.

DAVID Your sister-in-law.

FISHER Yes. My sister … in law. She cannot leave the house because one of her children is ill. And her husband is killed. So my husband and I, we visit her. One day him. The next day me. We take food every day, and medicines when we can get them. Then the militants come to our town. Daesh. AdDawlah al-Islāmiyah. I think you call them ISIS. We do everything they or der. We are Christians. But I cover myself like they tell us. Maya, my sisterin-law, she covers herself. We do everything they say. Then one day when

my husband is leaving after a visit, Maya is very … distressed about her son. She is crying. He embraces her. To comfort her. One of the men from Daesh sees them. He accuses Maya. He says she is adulterer. They take her from the house and she is stoned to death. My husband, he cannot stand by. He protests. And so they kill him too.

DAVID I am so sorry. That must have been dreadful.

SUSIE Dreadful.

(Silence)

SUSIE Thank you for the explanation, but now … Please… Could you tell us about the nets…. What happened to your nets?

FISHER The nets are taken from me.

SUSIE Did somebody steal them?

FISHER I do not know who took them.

SUSIE Or could it be you sold them?

FISHER I was a teacher. But the government bombs the school. So I have to be a fisherwoman.

SUSIE Could it be you sold them because you didn’t need nets anymore?

FISHER I did not sell them. They are taken. I promise you.

(Silence. SUSIE studies documents. DAVID smiles at the FISHERWOMAN.)

I do not want to be here. I do not want to be here.

DAVID Where would you like to be?

FISHER I would like to be safe.

DAVID Look. Are you sure you don’t want a translator?

FISHER I had to keep my husband’s boat for my sons to work. I would like to be a teacher.

SUSIE I understand that. But let’s just stick with the fishing. Yes? Except apparently you don’t have a boat now. And you don’t have a crew. And you don’t have nets. So… let’s recap. After your husband joined the rebels, and the school where you worked was bombed, what happened?

FISHER I was a fisherwoman.

SUSIE That’s unusual, isn’t it? For a woman. In your country.

FISHER Yes.

SUSIE In any country.

FISHER I don’t know.

SUSIE Well, it is. It’s unusual. So… When did you last catch any fish?

FISHER I did have a boat. My boat was taken away.

SUSIE Impounded by the Italian Navy if these notes are correct. So… before it was taken away, how was it possible to catch fish without nets?

FISHER I am a teacher. And also I can fish. My father taught me.

SUSIE Just answer my question please. How was it possible to catch fish?

FISHER It was not possible. The nets were taken.

SUSIE Right.

DAVID When you still had your boat and you still had your nets, how was the fishing?

(SUSIE looks at DAVID)

DAVID Was the fishing good?

FISHER Fishing is good. My father loved to fish.

DAVID Even after his leg was broken?

FISHER My father loved to fish.

DAVID What we’re asking is … Did you make a good living? Did you make much money from fishing? Look, you do have the right to ask for a translator.

FISHER I want to speak for myself. I do not trust your translator.

SUSIE Just answer my colleague’s question. Did you catch many fish?

FISHER There are not many fish.

DAVID I heard that too. Dreadful what’s happening to the oceans. What is that? Pollution? Overfishing? Global warming? Plastic.

FISHER Yes.

DAVID Appalling. I really sympathise. But teaching. You have your teaching. And you speak good English.

FISHER In the Guest Centre where I am staying, I teach children.

SUSIE Good.

FISHER and grown-ups.

SUSIE Good, good.

FISHER They say I am good.

SUSIE Look. There are several ––

FISHER But I am not paid. I do this to help people, but I need to be paid.

SUSIE There are several issues here. To start with, we need to know you are who you say you are.

FISHER I have to work.

SUSIE The problem is we can’t give you a work permit until your application has been processed and you’ve been granted a visa ––

FISHER I have no money. I have to work to make money.

SUSIE We all have to work. Thank you. You will hear from us very soon.

FISHER I cannot go back to my country. I will not be safe.

SUSIE We cannot make a decision now. We have to discuss it between ourselves and talk with other agencies. But you will hear from us very soon.

FISHER The regime hates my family. And the smugglers will say I am an informer. They will kill me, and they will kill my sons.

SUSIE We will take all this into account. Now. Please. We have a lot of other people to see. Please… David…

(DAVID gets up to show her out. He shuts the door behind her. After she has left, SUSIE puts documents and photos back in the document wallet.)

SUSIE This isn’t personal, David, but I need to say something .

DAVID … OK.

SUSIE Please. Don’t undermine me. There was no need for that.

DAVID I’m sorry. I don’t

SUSIE She specifically said she didn’t want a translator.

DAVID I know. I just got the feeling she ––

SUSIE David, it is not our job to get feelings about these people.

DAVID These people?

SUSIE Shorthand. You know what I mean.

DAVID But they have a right to be accompanied by a professional translator.

SUSIE Which is why … I specifically asked her if she wanted a translator. She said she didn’t.

DAVID I know that, but ––

SUSIE So what was that about?

DAVID I really wasn’t meaning to undermine you.

SUSIE You may not have meant to, but what came across was you setting yourself up as the good guy while I ask the difficult questions.

DAVID That’s really not what

SUSIE This is not easy, David. There are some days what we have to do makes me feel really bad. And I have to tell myself, that is not my fault. It’s the situ ation. And that’s what it is. For better or for worse, it’s what it is. We do what we can do. And so it’s all the more important to be scrupulously fair. We cannot be sentimental. It’s in nobody’s interests.

DAVID I don’t think I … Was I? I didn’t think ––

SUSIE It’s not an accusation… But can I offer some advice? Don’t let them tell you stories.

DAVID But isn’t that? … Don’t we have to hear their stories to make informed judgements? Don’t we have to understand the context?

SUSIE Of course. To a point. But bear in mind, they all have stories. And every one of them’s distressing. Heart wrenching. It’s difficult, David. God knows, it’s difficult. Everything you hear is horrific. Which is why we have to ask the right questions. Simple questions. And keep focused. But we cannot be swayed by stories. We wouldn’t last a day.

DAVID But what she was telling us

SUSIE Exactly. What she was telling us. You’re assuming she’s genuine. You’re assuming her whole story is the truth. But just suppose, just say for a moment that she’s the one who sees there’s more money to be made taking these poor sods across the Mediterranean on a broken down boat than trying to catch fish. And don’t tell me a woman wouldn’t do it. See it from her point of view. She loses her father and her husband. She’s determined not to lose her sons. But she needs money. She sees a way of making good. She’s looking after her own. Mothers in wartime. What mother wouldn’t do that?

DAVID All I did was remind her

SUSIE No. No, that’s not all you did. She specifically said she didn’t want a translator. What you were doing wasn’t about her. It was about you, David. We are not police interrogators. Good cop, bad cop. That is not the way we work.

DAVID You think I should be tougher.

SUSIE I don’t like that word. Sounds awfully macho. That is not what I’m asking.

DAVID I know. It’s to do with being fair. I was only ––

SUSIE I know what you were doing. But – you know – we do what we can. That’s what we do. There’s a limited amount of time.

DAVID Yes, yes, I know. You’re right.

SUSIE I didn’t want to make a thing of it. You don’t mind me saying.

DAVID Of course not. I’m learning.

(She smiles. Reaches out with both hands. Takes his hand. Holds it in both hers.)

SUSIE Thank you.

DAVID It’s OK. I ––

SUSIE And it’s especially important if we’re going to, if you and I are going to ––

DAVID I know

SUSIE I wanted you here. I like what you bring. I love you for it, Davy. But use the skills you have. Don’t let them use you. Sorry to be so …

(She squeezes his hand.)

DAVID It’s OK.

(She looks him in the eye. A warm smile.)

SUSIE We’re looking forward to dinner.

DAVID You sure that’s still a good idea?

SUSIE Would you rather cancel?

DAVID No. No. No, not at all. Just that I thought…

SUSIE We’re grown-ups, David.

DAVID Well… Sometimes! No, of course I don’t want to cancel.

SUSIE I was just wondering… The week after your dinner party. Half term week. Idris is taking a group of kids on some kind of field trip. He only told me last night. One of the other teachers pulled out. Had some kind of accident. Idris volunteered to take his place. So, I was thinking ––

DAVID Nadia’s going to stay with her mum for a couple of nights that week.

SUSIE Do you want to come to me? Rosie sleeps through anything these days.

DAVID I’d love to… But, how about… If you can get a sitter, we do something? How do you fancy a birthday treat?

SUSIE You remembered. How lovely!

DAVID Do you want it to be a surprise?

CHAPTER 5 - POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Underlying Structural Causes

5.2 The Immediate Situation

5.3 The Role of Culture

5.4 Monitoring and Evaluation

CHAPTER 5 - POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Underlying structural causes

a. The principle of solidarity

In our work across a range of EU countries (and Turkey), the project partners were made very aware of the conflicting attitudes and policies being adopted towards refugees and asylum seekers in various Member States and Accession Countries. Article 80 of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty asserts a legally binding principle of solidarity whereby all possible measures should be taken by Member States in order to have an equal share of responsibilities concerning asylum. This law is being blatantly disregarded by all Member States.

We recommend:

• That European institutions including the Commission should exercise more pressure to end the breach of this condition and assert the harmonisation of asylum and refugee legislation across the EU. This needs to include a common understanding and definition of which Third Countries should be regarded as “safe”.

• That the Commission initiate a redistribution of funds to help some Member States cope with incoming people seeking international protection while upholding European standards.

• That the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission re-assess the efficacy of Dublin 3, recognising that the obligation of asylum seekers to register in the first safe country where they arrive places Southern European countries (Greece, Italy and more recently Spain) at a gross disadvantage in relation to the proposed equal dispersal of migrants through the Member States.

b. Rights of Refugees and Migrants

During the visits we undertook to a broad range of organisations dealing with Refugees and Migrants across Europe and in Turkey, we became aware of a wide range of legal frameworks within which these organisations and the communities they serve are compelled to operate. In particular, we became aware of disparities over the right to work and / or to access education, and the impact of these disparities on both the migrants themselves and on host societies. Many countries limit or entirely curtail the right to work and education for refugees or asylum seekers, or restrict the kind of access asylum seekers can have to the labour market. For instance, they may not be allowed to be selfemployed, they may be restricted to shortage list occupations or certain sectors, or can only be employed subject to a labour market test or survey. This means that although asylum seekers have the right to work after 9 months in most EU member states, in practice the likelihood of them being able to exercise this right is much reduced. Some countries do not allow access to the labour market even after the set time-period, if the delay in the process is attributed to the asylum seekers; this is the case in the UK for instance.

The lack of labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers may force them to seek employment in unregulated, dangerous, degrading and exploitative conditions, which in turn can expose them to other risks including that of sexual and gender based violence or human trafficking, and interfere with a wider range of human rights. This is not only costly for the individuals but also for their host societies who have to provide benefits and support. Instead, having the right to work and being integrated in the labour market as soon as possible is advantageous for host societies and refugees and asylum seekers.

It is important that refugees have the right to work and to be educated or trained. Being in employment enhances their dignity and self-respect. Work and education can give hope, satisfaction and can re-establish their sense of self-worth. Employment and education also important in terms of integration, as the workplace offers important opportunities for positive socialising and exchanges with host populations. With income and independence comes greater financial self-sufficiency. The approach taken in Germany

offers a positive example of best practice that should be adopted across Europe.

We therefore recommend:

• That the EU encourages Member States to grant access to their labour markets and education systems to asylum seekers at the earliest possible opportunity, so encouraging integration and self-worth, and avoiding social dependency.

• That Member States reduce the barriers to the employment, self-employment and education of refugees and asylum seekers by encouraging faster asylum decisions, supporting the transition of asylum seekers from the asylum system to proactive and bespoke integration services, providing greater resources for integration, particularly in relation to language (including technical language) and supporting access to the labour market (covering cultural education and adjustment, the search for employment and work experience, CV and application writing, support for entrepreneurship, recognition of previous qualifications and relevant training).

• That Member States support intercultural awareness training for Governmental and NGO staff dealing with migrants and refugees, with a particular stress on the specific cultural nuances that will allow them to offer a positive welcome and encourage participation in the host society.

• That all Member States put effective anti-discrimination legislation in place, ensure its enforcement and monitor its impact.

c. The question of air transport

During the perceived crisis of 2015-16, much emphasis was placed on the role of peoplesmugglers who charged exorbitant fees to people fleeing conflict zones, placing them in unsafe and overcrowded boats, which led to many drownings and other tragedies. There was little discussion as to why refugees should have needed to pay huge sums to such people for such an unsafe passage, when cheap air fares into Europe are readily available from countries like Turkey and Morocco.

Our discussions with refugees and NGOs revealed that a key factor here is European Council Directive 2001/51/EC of 28 June 2001, which requires an airline that lets someone

on a plane without proper entry documents for the destination EU country to pay the passenger’s repatriation costs if they’re turned away. The “financial penalties do not apply to cases where the non-EU national is seeking international protection”—in other words, if the person is a refugee or asylum seeker. This means that the task of evaluating refugee and asylum claims, supposedly reserved only for governments or the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, is in practice transferred to airlines’ gate agents. Understandably unprepared for the role, most airlines have simply opted to deny boarding to all passengers without proper entry documents.

“It is this directive that is the reason for so many refugees drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.” (Prof. Hans Rosling)55

We recommend:

• That the EU work closely with the aviation industry to repeal this directive, and to find an humanitarian solution to the question of assessing refugee and asylum status.

2. The immediate situation

a. The EU-Turkey deal

The partners in THE PROMISED LAND project were able to visit and observe a range of organisations engaged with refugees and asylum seekers in several EU countries, as well as Turkey. The numbers of Syrians currently in Turkey as a direct result of the 18 March 2016 EU-Turkey Summit Agreement - also known as EU-Turkey deal - is very high and growing. This Agreement established that for every Syrian retransferred to Turkey from Greece, one other Syrian would be resettled from Turkey to the EU, in what is referred to as the “one for one” approach. Additionally, the agreement requires that all irregular migrants and asylum seekers arriving to the Greek shores from Turkey be returned without any opportunity or guarantee of protection and assessment of status.

In Turkey, a geographic limitation on the ratification of the 1951 Geneva Convention only allows for Europeans to be considered as refugees, while the category of Temporary Protection Status is applied to Syrians today.

Our discussions with local actors suggest that the Agreement goes against international and European law in the following ways:

• First, breaching the internationally recognised duty of non-refoulement by sending back Syrians and other nationals without taking into consideration their individual claims to asylum and requests of protection, which constitutes a human rights violation.

• Second, Turkey’s Temporary Protection Status, coupled with the practical conditions for Syrians that result from the limited resources made available by the EU in the deal, make it unsuitable as a “safe third country”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=YO0IRsfrPQ4

• The final main legal issue is the EU prohibition of collective expulsion of foreigners as stated in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

We therefore recommend:

• That EU institutions and Member States assess asylum applications on an individual basis, considering the individual voice and agency of Syrian refugees, immediately shifting from a “one for one” approach that discriminates on the basis of the country of origin and disregards individual needs and circumstances.

• That the EU should uphold its fundamental values and legal standards, which forbid the collective expulsion of foreigners and ensure access to rights, justice, and individual evaluation for all asylum seekers.

• That the asylum policy narrative should be reframed around humanitarian principles. That the success of the deal is currently being measured solely in terms of reduced numbers of asylum seekers arriving at European borders is incompatible with legal and moral obligations to ensure refugees are afforded international protection. This “success” hides deeper structural issues that leave Syrian refugees in harsh conditions, in Turkey and other countries like Lebanon and Jordan, struggling to meet their basic needs. We note the inherent contradiction of our commending good practice in a range of European contexts while so many are excluded from Europe.

We also note the existence of similar arrangements in relation to Libya and Sudan, including the special fund relating to displaced persons in Sudan, and the Memoranda of Understanding made by the EU and the Government of Italy with Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA). These arrangements may be effective in terms of limiting the flow of migrants to Europe, but they do so by empowering the militias on which these unstable regimes are dependent; which have a record of involvement in human trafficking, and which have a vested interest in managing migrant flows so as to secure maximum funding from the EU. We call upon the EU to recognise the moral untenability and political unsustainability of these policies.

b. EU engagement with NGOs in Turkey

The partners were fortunate to observe the work of various NGOs operating in Turkey, which provide basic needs, education, training and cultural work to assist refugees in making the challenging adjustments required in their new living spaces, as well as providing essential intercultural dialogue work between new citizens and host populations.

It was made clear to us that these NGOs are not currently operating on a sustainable basis, as they are dependent on competitive EU funding streams, which set such organisations in competition with one another, together with funding from an increasingly unstable and inhumane US administration. While we were in Turkey, in January 2018, the US withheld $65 million in pledged funding to a U.N. agency that serves more than 5 million Palestinian refugees, suggesting the likelihood of further such cuts to humanitarian programmes in the Middle East.

The lack of sustainable resourcing for NGOs working with refugees in Turkey is a huge barrier to their successful resettlement and to their human rights.

We therefore recommend:

• That the EU commit to funding key NGOs in Turkey at a sustainable level for at least 10 years, adopting a forward-looking, long term view of refugee policy.

3. The Role of Culture

THE PROMISED LAND project was set up in response to the September 2016 VOICES OF CULTURE report on THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN PROMOTING INCLUSION IN THE CONTEXT OF MIGRATION. A member of our Steering Committee also presented this report to the OMC group on the same theme. The OMC group reported in March 2017. Our project has used these reports to frame much of its work, and supports the recommendations contained therein.

In particular, we wish to emphasise that Culture and the Arts should not be seen solely (or even mainly) as instrumental in enabling the adjustment of new citizens to a European environment. More significant is the role of Culture in fostering interaction and dialogue with wider European society, and in shifting the dominant narrative so as to enable a more harmonised interaction between new citizens and host communities.

In particular we recommend that the EU and Member States seek to support cultural work that:

• shifts the discourse surrounding refugees from a “burden” (or, even worse a “threat”) to an “asset”. There is a clear need to deconstruct the myth according to which “for every one incoming person, there is one job less”. Evidence shows that, in the longterm, the integration of refugees can be an invaluable benefit for the host societies and economies, with clear trends of GDP growth, and enormous potential especially for some ageing European populations. The xenophobic language of “hoards” and “swamping”, and the use of racist imagery has to be resisted within the Cultural sphere.

• resists narratives of victimhood and of individual heroism in relation to refugees. The discourse needs to move away from neoliberal celebrations of resilient individuals and representations of suffering that allow audiences to feel positive about their own sympathetic stance, and towards work that identifies the structural issues that implicate host societies in the perceived crisis.

• undermines the myth of a racially determined European identity, which is resurgent in many Member States at the present time. In order to facilitate a more humanitarian agenda in the reception of refugees, in line with the founding principles of the EU and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, there needs to be a reframing of popular discourse to embrace diversity and difference as the essence of European values and identities.

• places the agency of refugees themselves at the centre of artistic practice, enabling their voices to be heard in public discourse and offering them a clear route to the active citizenship that is always central to successful processes of re-settlement. This emphasis also facilitates genuine dialogue between cultural actors from refugee and host society backgrounds, with the accompanying creative dynamic, offering a micro -

cosm for wider processes of democratic participation. When working on intercultural dialogue and inclusion, people with a migration or refugee background should be involved from the very start of any policy, action, plan or project in the cultural sector, as well as in reception and integration policies.

• supports a trans-disciplinary, trans-sectoral and transnational approach. When working on intercultural dialogue and inclusion, the artistic and cultural sectors should work together with institutions, organisations and individuals from the social and educational sectors, as well as with experts from other fields of action or reflection (anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, museums and libraries). This would guarantee the maximum efficacy and strength of actions implemented.

• strengthens and builds on existing networks. In order to be stronger and gain from work already undertaken by others, people and organisations from the cultural sector should refer to the many existing European and national networks and institutions who work efficiently in the field (Culture Action Europe, the Tandem Alumni Network and the Bosch Alumni Network supported by European Cultural Foundation and Bosch Stiftung, some branches of IETM, ICOM, the Goethe Institut in Germany and all over Europe etc.). Support should be prioritised for projects that adopt a networked approach, so as to ensure the most effective use of resources.

4. Monitoring and Evaluation

As stated in the VOICES OF CULTURE report: “Evaluation of projects dealing with the inclusion of migrants and refugees is particularly important because in this context, more than in other cases, what is a stake is the future that we are shaping together for our societies. Evaluation of projects dealing with refugees and migrants should not only focus on the impact, results, outputs and products, but especially on the process through which these projects are implemented.”

Our experiences in THE PROMISED LAND project serve to underline the importance of new approaches to the Monitoring and Evaluation of cultural projects around refugees and migrants, and around the promotion of intercultural dialogue more generally. Funding bodies (particularly at European level) need to recognise the dynamic and fluid nature of cross-cultural work in arts and education, and to understand that rigid adherence to pre-determined project structures and detailed budgets submitted at the application stage is detrimental to the progressive and dynamic potential of such projects.

We recommend:

• That EU and other funders seek to broaden and deepen the evaluation of cultural projects, moving beyond a narrow concentration on budgetary precision and quantitative results, to embrace qualitative assessment of societal impact, cultural development and the furtherance of humanitarian agendas.

• That EU and other funders work with actors from the cultural and educational sectors to develop more flexible and realistic evaluation tools that privilege a qualitative approach as outlined above.

AFTERWORD

• Notes on Contributors

• Photo Descriptions and Credits

AFTERWORD

The poster has been compared to a Nazi propaganda film featuring a column of Jewish

On June 15 2016, Nigel Farage revealed a pro-Brexit propaganda poster with a photograph of Syrian refugees, taken in Slovenia in 2015.

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Bushra Ali is a Syrian student, now studying in Adana, Turkey.

Nicola Bonazzi is President and Joint Artistic Director of Teatro dell’Argine, San Lazzaro & Bologna, Italy.

Eleanor Brown is Managing Director of CARAS, a charity supporting people of refugee and asylum-seeking background who live in South-West London.

Sulayman Camara is a participant in the Italian Esodi workshop, originally from Gambia.

Micaela Casalboni * is Joint Artistic Director of Teatro dell’Argine, San Lazzaro & Bologna, Italy.

Dr. Nicole Deufel * is Head of Museums, Galleries and Collections, City of Oldenburg, Germany.

Lucy Dunkerley * is Associate Director (Community Engagement, Participation and Learning) at Border Crossings, UK.

Ass. Prof. I. Efe Efeoglu * is Associate Professor of Management, AAT Science & Technology University, Adana.

Chiara De Carlo is a Social Worker at Opera Padre Marella in Bologna, Italy.

Anne Kerisel is an Independent Communications Advisor and Managing Editor working primarily with MSF and Unitaid.

Kouamé is the author of “Revenue des ténèbres” and founder of the charity AKWAMU.

Ulrich Kreienbrink * is Project Manager at the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany.

Giulia Musumeci * is Project Manager at Teatro dell’Argine, San Lazzaro & Bologna, Italy.

Angelo Pittaluga is an Integration expert for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Saad and Emad are refugees living in Oldenburg, Germany.

Nicola Scicluna * is Proprietor of I2u-Consulting, Toulouse, France.

Ndjebel Sylla is a participant in the Italian Esodi workshop, originally from Senegal.

Corinne Torre is Head of Mission for Médecins sans Frontières in France.

Necmi Turgut * is Youth Worker, AAT Science & Technology University, Adana, Turkey.

Michael Walling * is Artistic Director of Border Crossings (London, UK) and Visiting Professor at Rose Bruford College.

Brian Woolland is a writer, theatre director and educator based in the UK.

Dr. Ilke Şanlıer Yüksel is Director of Migration and Development Research CentreÇukurova University, Adana, Turkey.

Dr. Marilena Zaroulia is Senior Lecturer, Drama: Department of Performing Arts, University of Winchester, UK.

* Denotes a member of THE PROMISED LAND Steering Group, who jointly created Chapter 3 - The Tools and Chapter 5 - Policy Recommendations

PHOTO DESCRIPTIONS AND CREDITS

Cover: Esodi (Exoduses) group, “L’Eredità di Babele” (The Legacy of Babel, Teatro dell’Argine). Directed by Vincenzo Picone. 6-8 July 2018. (Photo © Lucio Summa)

p.8 Thousands of Iraqi refugees leaving Basra in response to allied bombing, 2003. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.10 Andrew French as Achilles and Tariq Jordan as Patroclus in “This Flesh is Mine” by Brian Woolland, presented by Border Crossings and Ashtar Theatre (Palestine) in 2014 and 2016, directed by Michael Walling. Photo: Richard Davenport.

p.14 Refugees in Hungary, 2015. Getty Images.

p.18 A protestor from Migrants Organise in 2015. www.migrantsorganise.org

p.20 Refugees at the Gevgelija border crossing, Macedonia, 24th August 2015. Photo: Dragan Tatic

p.25 Afghan and other refugee children at CARAS, London. Photographed for Border Crossings’ project POCAHONTAS AND AFTER, 2018. Photo: John Cobb.

p.29 Migrants pictured outside the main rail station in Salzburg waiting for a chance to cross the border into Germany, which had offered sanctuary. 24th September 2015. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.33 Migrants outside Salzburg gather in the rain near the bridge over the River Saalach, which connects Austria and Germany. German police were stopping and searching vehicles and preventing migrants from crossing. 24th September 2015. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.35 Not 'Everybody Welcome': the police demolition of the Calais Jungle, 8th March 2016. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.40 Participants in THE PROMISED LAND project have lunch with staff and migrants at Opera Padre Marella, Bologna, 25th April 2018.

p.42 Graffiti on the wall of the Greek Academy of Arts and Letters, Athens, January 2012. Photo: Marilena Zaroulia.

p.46 Liz Gerard’s ‘The Chart of Shame’, detail Migration Museum, London, June 2018. Photo: Marilena Zaroulia.

p.48 Migrants on board Malta's Navy patrol boat after a telephone SOS call alerted authorities to their sinking boat 100 miles from the Libyan coast, as they tried to make their way to Europe. 31st May 2007. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.52 The Red Star 1, the I.O.M. humanitarian boat docks in Benghazi with its cargo of 850 escapees, included stranded migrant workers and casualties evacuated under fire from the besieged town of Misrata. 5th May 2011.

Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.53 Esodi (Exoduses) group, “L’Eredità di Babele” (The Legacy of Babel, Teatro dell’Argine). Directed by Vincenzo Picone. 6-8 July 2018. (Photo © Lucio Summa)

p.57 Esodi (Exoduses) group, “Nel paese dei Pinocchi” (In the Country of the Pinocchios, Teatro dell’Argine). Directed by Nicola Bonazzi and Vincenzo Picone. 8-10 July 2016. (Photo © Gabriele Fiolo)

p.61 Esodi (Exoduses) group, “L’Eredità di Babele” (The Legacy of Babel, Teatro dell’Argine). Directed by Vincenzo Picone. 6-8 July 2018. (Photo © Lucio Summa)

p.67 African migrants are “processed” after landing in Europe. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.71 Images from THE PROMISED LAND training week in Oldenburg, March 2019.

p.74 The director of Oldenburg’s art museum, Dr Jutta Moster-Hoos, gives a guided tour of the exhibition to a class of German language learners. Providers of language courses increasingly look for additional cultural experiences as part of the courses, which museums are perfectly situated to provide.

p.76 Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani: Freedom of Movement, Exhibition view © Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, 2019, Photo: Carina Blum.

p.80

p.88

Migrants in Calais break into and climb in the back of lorries as they wait to board the ferry to the UK. 27th May 2015. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

Headmaster Ibrahim Shaik Ismail and some of his school children in Raqqa catching up on studies in the playground of their school, adjacent to a building used by ISIS for Yazidi women prisoners and subsequently destroyed during the time the Syrian City was the capital of the Islamic State caliphate. 29th August 2018. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.91 In lieu of school for the working Syrian refugee children living in Lebanon, ‘Child friendly Spaces' are run by Save The Children to try and provide the bare minimum of an education. This one is at a temporary camp near the Northern Lebanese village of Tal Zaffar. 14th December 2015. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.95 A temporary camp near the Northern Lebanese village of Tal Zaffar. 14th December 2015. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.96 Migrants in the Calais Jungle move their possessions as the authorities demolish the southern half of the camp. 10th March 2016. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.98 “Give and Gain” Exercise. Oldenburg, March 2019.

p.107 Sign advertising an English language workshop in the Calais Jungle. 2nd September 2016. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.108 Unaccompanied minor, 13 year old Jamil from Afghanistan, who had been living in the Calais Jungle for several months. 10th March 2016. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.112 “Eyes” planted at the Migration Centre, Oldenburg. March 2019.

p.117 French CRS riot police pictured in the 'Jungle' migrant camp outside Calais during the ‘clear-up’. 1st March 2016. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.118-9 Images from THE PROMISED LAND Systems Coaching work in Toulouse, May 2019.

p.124 Kouamé, pictured June 2019. Photo: Nicola Scicluna.

p.127 Compagnia dei Rifugiati (Refugee Company) group, “Candido” (Candide, Teatro dell’Argine). 2006. (Photo © Luciano Paselli).

p.128 Women in the Calais Jungle. 4th August 2014. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.129 A Kurdish refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Suruc. 12th October (top) 2014. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.129 Hamida and her children. They come from the Syrian village of Tal Trojan (bottom) near Idlib, and are pictured in an informal settlement near Tal Zaffar in the Akkar region of Northern Lebanon. 14th December 2015. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

p.130 An example of an exhibition co-curated with different groups, here a group of new arrivals who share their views on electoral laws excluding foreigners from participating in elections. Post-Its allow participants and visitors to further comment on the content provided. In this case, a healthy exchange of views ensued, casting a critical eye also on the term “foreigner”. The Post-Its across the top therefore suggest “people without a German passport” instead.

p.132 Iman Aoun as Hecuba in “This Flesh is Mine” by Brian Woolland, presented by Border Crossings and Ashtar Theatre (Palestine) in 2014 and 2016, directed by Michael Walling. Photo: Richard Davenport.

p.140 Tariq Jordan as Telemachus and Bayan Shbib as Melantho in “When Nobody Returns” by Brian Woolland, presented by Border Crossings and Ashtar Theatre (Palestine) in 2016, directed by Michael Walling. Photo: Richard Davenport.

p.148 Refugees landing in Europe. Photo: Jamie Wiseman.

THE PROMISED LAND

Intercultural Learning with Refugees and Migrants

The mass migration of refugees and their subsequent integration into European societies is a challenge that transcends borders, and requires a panEuropean response. By sharing practice between partners from countries that have differed significantly in the way their political leaders have approached the question, and generating approaches that place the refugee question in a European context within the educational and cultural sectors, THE PROMISED LAND project moves beyond the short-term approach which has characterised much work in this area to date, and looks to the future of a continent dealing with profound demographic and cultural change.

“If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for.”

(Angela Merkel)

ISBN 10 - 1-904718-11-6

ISBN 13 - 978-1-904718-11-6

EAN - 9781904718116