Refugee Stories: The Challenges of Integration in Germany

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Yasmine Adrian

Abstract or Description

Germany hosts the largest number of refugees in Europe and strives to create successful integration initiatives and policies to benefit refugees. In the years following the 2015 refugee crisis, Germany still struggles to find the best ways to integrate refugees, many of whom have trouble finding work, struggle learning German, and are lost in legal paperwork. Previous literature looks at Germans’ responses to refugees, whether the media’s portrayal of Germany’s welcome culture reflects reality, and how attitudes and stereotypes towards migration shape refugee experiences. Additionally, scholars disagree about the most important variables for integration; current research looks at the role of language, work, and communication with Germans to understand the integration process. This project builds on the literature by using refugee interviews from the digital archive Archive der Flucht to thematically analyze significant themes in the struggles and experiences refugees describe about adapting to life in Germany. Analyzing nine interviews with refugees from the Middle East and North Africa looks at the refugees’ side of living in a new place. Insufficient language resources, difficult labor laws, and attitudes and stereotypes about refugees negatively affect refugee integration, whereas refugees describe language education, interactions with Germans and other refugees, and the ability to build a community as necessary for integration. Using refugee stories to analyze integration draws attention to refugees’ needs and to migration as a human experience to help policymakers and organizations establish effective programs to integrate refugees in a new location.

Mentor

Brian Lagotte