Building Better Communities in Areas of New Migration Dr Deborah Phillips Universities of Oxford and Leeds.

Building Better Communities in

Areas of New Migration

Dr Deborah Phillips

Universities of Oxford and Leeds

Project aims

to explore the impact of new migration on community relations in ethnically diverse inner Bradford

to assess the effectiveness of community forums on local issues for building bridges between new and settled groups

Research team:Bal Athwal, Malcolm Harrison (University of Leeds) Nadia Bashir, David Robinson (Sheffield Hallam)Judith Atkinson (Incommunities, Bradford)

A8 migrant numbers

2010 805

2009 920

2005 3000

Workers Registration Statistics

A8 migration and settlement in Bradford

A8 migrant settlement coincides with areas of high deprivation and ‘Asian cultural spaces’

Structure of talk

Bridge building and social contact theory

Research project – approach to research

Findings

Wider implications

Bridge building and social contact theory

decade of projects implemented under the community cohesion agenda e.g. Amas & Crosland (2006); Commission on Integration and Cohesion (2007)

social contact hypothesis - originates in the socio-psychology and conflict reconciliation literature

cf. Allport 1954; Pettigrew and Tropp 2006; Hewstone et al. 2002; Ross 2000

key idea - under the right conditions, social contact can reduce prejudice and encourage positive social interactions between strangers

conditions: equal status between groups, structured settings, perception of common goals

Myles Hewstone (2009) reviews experimental data to argue that ‘social contact works’

Contact theory and neighbour relations – a critique

the results of bringing strangers together are unpredictable – differences may be reinforced

contact theory assumes that prejudice is rooted in ignorance, and that this can be overcome by contact

real or perceived social inequalities may hamper bridge building

casual encounters between groups may not have sustained effects

BUT…

there may be greater potential for bridge building through formal, structured encounters dialogue around issues of mutual concern (Fitzduff 1996; Ross 2000).

Reviewing the UK evidence at the neighbourhood scale

lack of rigorous project evaluation - hard to assess the impact of bridge building projects on

changing groups’ attitudes/prejudices towards other groups

interpersonal relations

‘circuit of knowledge’ - assumes good practice rather than evidence based

Project design

structured encounters through community forums mediated discussion around issues of local concern in 3 areas of Bradford

Community consultation

•170 residents across 14 community centres

•emerging shared concerns around:• drugs • crime • anti-social behaviour • safety • neighbourliness • housing affordability

Tensions in areas of new migration

What’s bad about where you live? West Bowling Relationships between existing communities and new migrants - disharmony - relating back to the Slovakians. New communities not understanding our ways of living…. Some residents live in fear.

Pakistani man, 26-30, 20 years in area People look at me badly…. We are not bad people. They swear at us and try to slap us.

Slovak man, 19, 5 years in area [There are] problems with Asians. You could just be walking and they want to fight you….

Czech man, 19, 2 months in area

Women’s discussion forums

14 - 18 participants

Source: West Bowling Youth Initiative, Bradford

Engaging young men

Forum evaluation - mechanisms for engagement?

contact and communication

learning about other groups

shared understanding and collaboration

Evaluation: an opportunity for communication and learning

all participants learned something about other groups, but settled groups learnt the most – challenged their misconceptions about newcomers

the exchange of knowledge had the potential to shift perceptions of the other groups - some settled residents became less hostile towards newcomers

Knowledge gained ~ some groups have parallel migration histories

‘they’re just like us, trying to earn a wage for their family’

depth of new migrants’ poverty and deprivation ‘other groups’ are generally friendly and want to mix fear and harassment underpins many community tensions

‘it was the first time I have been together at the table with Asian lads… we’ve never had the chance to talk with them’ (Slovak young man)

Acknowledging ‘fear’: Asian residents’ comments on their Eastern European neighbours

I was quite glad that I came to that meeting because now I know what they think of

us and what we think of them...what made them frightened of us.

They’re scared of us, really scared. It’s hard to believe.

I thought that they didn’t want to mix in with us, but they do want to mix in with us.

But they’re scared of us…, they’re scared of the young community.

Evaluation: building shared understandings?

There was some convergence…

some shared understanding of the nature of problems affecting the community and neighbourhood

a growing appreciation of other people’s points of view, e.g.

settled groups expressed some empathy for the new arrivals’ difficult circumstances

new migrants showed a greater appreciation of settled groups’ views on neighbourliness

BUT……… there were limits to shared understanding. This exposed

religious and cultural differences between groups

racist stereotypes and

perceived inequalities in power and influence

Why limits to shared understandings?

groups could agree on the nature of local problems, but not always on the causes and solutions of them

culture of blaming ‘others’ for neighbourhood problems

settled groups saw greater potential for improving community relations than the new arrivals

women with children generally saw greater potential for longer term collaboration than young men

Forums as a mechanism for community engagement

I want more of them.... I must admit it opened my eyes

Pakistani woman

It was good... I would do it again.... cause everyone could say what they think....

Slovak young man

Good, because we could get our point across. They could say what was on their mind …….. we were talking about the same issues. We didn’t have any argument. Everyone was calm.

Eastern European woman

Conclusions

community forums can help promote contact, communication and learning about other groups open up the possibility for recognising common interests around local issues

mediated discussions that confront differences can increase empathetic understanding between groups bring a new appreciation of cultural differences increase the potential for everyday civility and neighbourliness

BUT

The capacity for overcoming perceived disconnections appears to differ within and between groups, and areas

racism, discourses of ‘otherness’ and inequalities (real and perceived) can undermine attempts to improve community relations

the foundations of bridge building efforts may therefore be relatively

fragile.