Role of culture and religion in integration. The lecture was given at a conference organized by Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity.

1. From Migration to Integration:
Actual and Potential Role that
Religion and Culture Play
Ashfaq Sadiq
Email: ashfaq.sadiq@hotmail.com
October 04, 2007
Tromsø, Norway

2. Interaction
 ‘We meet them when we shop’ or ‘We
meet them when we go to job’.
 ‘We see them at streets’ or ‘We meet
them when they come to work’.

3. Dialogue of the Deaf
 ‘We are we and they are they’
 ‘We are aliens, and will always be so’
 ‘They’ve no respect for what we
believe in.’

4. Dialogue of the Deaf
 ‘They are violent and practice a
religion which has a violent character’
 ‘They have no respect for our values’
 ‘They don’t belong to us’

5. Inclusion and Exclusion
 ‘Inclusion: Whose?
 Exclusion: By whom?

6. Religion and Culture

7. What is Religion?
 Belief system based on a divine law,
 Divine commandments or highest truth,
 System of thought considered to be supernatural,
 Organization
 Spirituality, Sacred,
 The moral codes, Practices, Values, Institutions,
Rituals

8. What is Culture?
 Norms and Value system
 Accumulated habits, attitudes, Way of life
 Beliefs that define peoples’ general
behavior
 Total set of learned activities of people
 Language

9. Demonstration
Migration

10. Migration: Peeping through the
past
 The long past
1. Early Christian migrations
2. Jewish expulsions from Arabia
3. Muslim expulsions from Spain

11. Migration: Peeping through the
past…
 The near past
1. Jewish migrations from Germany or Post
Soviet Jewish migrations to Israel.
2. Muslim migrations from India
3. Hindus and Sikhs being forced to migrate

12. A change in space leads to a change
in scope
 Religious identity becomes the most persisting feature
immigrants and their descendants retain, even long
after the role of language and other cultural aspects
have diminished.
 Returning to more religious life (a trend observed
after family reunifications)
 Immigrants become more concerned about their
cultural roots
 They can be deeply and violently alienated from the
society in which they live, even if they have attained a
good level of education and income.

13. Exclusion and marginalization
A retreat from society and a possibility of
opting for militant ways of expressing their
frustration and asserting their identity.
Implications for public security leading to
other members of society feeling threatened by
their presence.
The growth of disadvantaged and segregated
migrant communities has a high social and
financial cost.

14. Religion and culture, being central
and persisting factors, have the
potential to effect the integration
process. How?

15. Religion and Norway
 Two processes:
a) Global (A resurgence of political
religion)
b) Local (Strengthening identities along
ethno- religious nationalism)
(Prayer calls issue)

16. Religion, Norway and State
 Pre 1884 debates on constitution framing excluded
notion of religious freedom.
 Ethno-nationalists still believe Christianity being the
main identity source for Norwegian nationalism
 A short history in terms of migrant (non western)
populations, leads to lacking insights about
immigrants
 State still lacks a vision as to what ‘kind’ of society
they want

17. Poverty of clarity
Structural
Political
Cultural
Total Assimilation Integration

18. An Unhappy Marriage
1. Historical links between the country of
emigration and that of immigration.
2. Temporary settlements often lead to
permanent settlement.
3. Legislation and administration tend to
share these expectations.

19. Divided they Stand, United they
fall
 Larger tendencies of a harsh anti-
western attitude and vice versa leads
to a forced policy of self-segregation.
 Divisions along sectarian lines

20. Understand the misunderstood
A basic difference in concept of
‘house of worship’ in country of
emigration and the country of
immigration.

21. Change and Controlling Change
‘Change’ happens BUT controlling
change process has its consequences
(Flexibility in religion)

22. (Re)defining Integration
‘Other’ is not necessarily the ‘Other’

23. (Re)defining Integration…
Include the excluded (by a mutual
commitment to respect and adapt
to each other).

24. (Re)defining Integration…
A sense of common belonging amongst
nationals and migrants alike.

25. (Re)defining Integration…
Transition from informal recognition
to official acknowledgement the
realities at the national level.
Recognition and accommodation of
differences

26. (Re)defining Integration…
Positive and peaceful inter-actions
(Encourage religious places to develop
cultural centers open for audiences
other than their own)

27. Cut the root, not the branches
Educate religious clergy

28. Thank You