Countries differ on their perspectives of refugees and asylum seekers. Thus, policies of a country are unique based on their perspective, and the policy determines how easily refugees or asylum seekers are integrated. There are several determining factors of integration based on policy such as economic and social factors.
“Responding to Marginalization: Language Practices of African-Born Muslim Refugee Youths in an American Urban High School” is a study highlighting one social program implemented by the United States to facilitate integration. The emphasis on language as a tool for integration is one sub-heading of social factors that affect a country’s perspective of refugees and asylum seekers. Language is defined as a social practice and discourse as a connection between language and identity (1). By creating a program such as ESL to facilitate language learning, the United States promotes a form of integration through social practice. However, many of the students noticed that being a student in an ESL class was like being of a lower status (2). Even though the program’s intentions were to ease assimilation, it separated refugees inhibited integration by drawing a distinction between the two groups. Language plays an integral part in assimilation, and learning the language of the host country can help deteriorate barriers to humanize refugees. On the other hand, “Being a Guest – perspectives of an extended hospitality approach” discusses the economic factors which affect perspectives of refugees and asylum seekers. The researchers noticed a shift in the definition of hospitality from protection and help to tourism and commerce (3). In other words, because the definition of hospitality has an economic aspect and now implies tourism, there is a greater emphasis on the service of hospitality as a business rather than the relational piece. This theory acknowledges the language and definitions which influence policies.
Language plays a role in both scholarly journals, but the definitions of policies and the language of people vary as displayed in both sources. The first journal describes case study of young women in high school, analyzing a refugee experience, while the second journal outlines a network of hospitality beyond refugees and asylum seekers. By identifying the motives behind programs and policies for integration, I hope to analyze the role of humanization as it pertains to the policies of countries and their integration.
(1) Park, Jie Y. “Responding to Marginalization: Language Practices of African-Born Muslim Refugee Youths in an American Urban High School,” SAGE Open 7, no. 1 (March 2017), 3.
(2) Ibid., 5.
(3) Pechlaner, Harald, Christian Nordhorn, and Xenia Poppe. “Being a Guest – Perspectives of an Extended Hospitality Approach,” International Journal of Culture, Tourism, and Hospitality Research 10, no. 4 (July 2016), 425.
October 10, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Gwen — you’ve identified two relevant articles here, and noting the role of language in the overall discussions of your puzzle is important. You’ve also identified several important concepts that are relevant to your research. As you continue to analyze scholarship, though, focus a bit more on how different pieces of scholarship (and different groups of scholars) offer different *explanations* for the outcome/pattern that you are aiming to explain (different levels or types of receptivity, I think). What specific factors — variables/hypotheses etc. — emerge from these analysis that you could examine in your own research? How does each article illustrate a different school of thought (or differences within a school of thought) in terms of the *explanations* offered for puzzles like yours? Keep reading and work on connecting the scholarship more directly to the course concepts that we have covered.
Formatting notes:
– No need to include full names or full article titles in the text body (this information is in your citations and bibliography). Referring to works by author last name is standard/sufficient.
– Make sure to include a footnote after each sentence in which you reference or mention the work of another.