Presentation given at the Refugee Research Methodologies Workshop hosted by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Istanbul, Turkey, November 11-12, 2016.

1. CATALONIA AND THE "CULTURE OF
WELCOME": GRASSROOTS
APPROACHES TO REFUGEE
INTEGRATION - METHODOLOGY,
GIVING VOICE TO THOSE MOST
WILLIAM NETHERLAND

2. INTROD
UCTION

3. INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
▸Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
▸Applied Anthropology
▸Flexibility

4. INTRODUCTION
THE REFUGEE CRISIS
Image 1: Regional Overview
Source: The UN Refugee Agency

5. INTRODUCTION
THE "CULTURE OF WELCOME"
Image 2: Refugiados Bienvenidos
Source: Facebook/Refugiados Bienvenidos

6. INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
▸"Thick Description" (Geertz, 1994)
▸How do grassroots organizations in Catalonia define, perceive, conceptualize and approach refugee
integration?
▸Questions of Departure
▸How have the perceptions of integration among grassroots operatives been influenced by
their own experiences of integration?
▸How has the unique, pluralistic context of Barcelona affected those approaches as well as the
involvement of grassroots members themselves?
▸Having developed in direct response to the refugee crisis, do those conceptualizations of
integration apply only to refugees or to other immigrant profiles as well?
▸What role do they play as mediators and how well do they represent the needs of those most
concerned?

7. METHODOLOGIC
AL
APPROACHES,
TECHNIQUES

8. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS
ETHNOGRAPHY
▸"Ethnographic fieldwork enables us to apprehend emerging
dynamics as they are being built and deployed.” (Arribas
Lozano, 2014, p. 1)
▸“From the scientific standpoint, the research project adds to
studies that do not take the term of ‘integration’ as self-
evident but problematise the concept by revealing the way it
is used by different actors for different reasons.” (Kortmann,
2015, p. 1058)

9. “MY OBSERVATION OF THE ‘CULTURE OF
WELCOME’ IN CATALONIA TRULY BEGAN AT THE
MOMENT I AND MY WIFE DECIDED TO MOVE TO
BARCELONA. FROM RESEARCHING AND
APPLYING FOR SCHOOL ONLINE TO FULFILLING
THE VISA REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAINING OUR
RESIDENCY PERMITS, I HAVE BEEN ACTIVELY
OBSERVING THE WELCOMING NATURE OF THIS
PLACE AND THIS PEOPLE. THE FIRST NIGHT WE
ARRIVED, WE DISEMBARKED FROM A BUS IN
PLAÇA ESPANYA AND WERE QUICKLY ASKED, IN
ENGLISH, WHERE WE WERE TRYING TO GO. THE
WOMAN WHO HAD ASKED US GAVE US
DIRECTIONS TO OUR DESTINATION AND LEFT US
WITH THE WORDS, ‘WELCOME TO BARCELONA!’”
Field Notes
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS

10. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
▸Vienna, Austria
▸Idomeni, Greece
▸Barcelona, Spain

11. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS
OBJECTIVITY, COLLABORATION AND
ACTIVISM
▸Investigator
▸Volunteer
▸Collaborator
▸Activist

12. “THUS, INTERNAL CRITICISM
AND DEBATE, HORIZONTAL
EXCHANGE AND LEARNING,
AND VERTICAL
COLLABORATIONS AND
PARTNERSHIPS WITH MORE
POWERFUL PERSONS AND
ORGANIZATIONS TOGETHER
FORM A MUTUALLY SUSTAINING
CYCLE OF PROCESSES.”
Appadurai, 2002, pp. 42-43
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS

13. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS
CULTURAL INTERPRETATION
▸“The purpose of ethnographic research is to describe
and interpret cultural behavior.” (Wolcott, 1987, p. 43)
▸Organizational Culture (Wright, 1994)
▸Demographics
▸Image Portrayal
▸Attitudes, Values and Concepts

14. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS
▸How have their definitions of integration been socially and culturally acquired?
▸Context
▸Mass Media
▸Family Histories
▸Personal Expectations
▸How have their definitions of immigration been socially and culturally acquired?
▸Conflict
▸History
▸Mass Media
▸Gender, Race and Class

15. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS
THE REFUGEE VOICE
▸Multi-site Ethnography (Marcus, 1995)
▸Multivocality
▸Multilocality
▸(Rodman, 1992)
▸Methodology of Mediation

16. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONSIDERATIONS
ANALYSIS
▸Qualitative Data Analysis
▸Grounded Theory
▸Inductive Reasoning
▸Redaction

17. CONCLU
SIONS

18. “SOCIAL SCIENTISTS, PUBLIC
OFFICIALS, AND THOSE INTERESTED
IN THE WELFARE OF IMMIGRANTS
CAN USE ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA TO
ENDORSE A MORE COMPLEX
COLLECTIVE ETHOS THAT IS ROOTED
IN THE HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND
CULTURAL CONTEXTS AND IS
THEREFORE LESS LIKELY TO BE MET
WITH RESISTANCE BY HOST
NATIONALS.”
Abraham, 2014, p. 118
CONCLUSIONS

19. THE
METHODOLOGY

20. REFERENCES
Abraham, T. (2014). Using Ethnography to Inform Policy and Programs for the Integration of
Immigrants: a Case Study in Andalusia, Spain. Journal of International Migration and
Integration, 15(1), 117-134. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-013-0271-y
Appadurai, A. (2002). Deep democracy: urban governmentality and the horizon of politics.
Environment and Urbanization, 13(2), 23-43. DOI: 10.1177/095624780101300203
Arribas Lozano, A. (2014). Lógicas emergentes de acción colectiva y prácticas colaborativas
de investigación. Apuntes para una Antropología junto y con los movimientos sociales.
Gazeta de Antropología, 30(1), artículo 07. Retrieved from: http://hdl.handle.net/10481/30775
Geertz, C. (1994). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In M. Martin &
L. C. McIntyre (Eds.), Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (pp. 213-231).
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kortmann, M. (2015). Asking Those Concerned: How Muslim Migrant Organisations Define
Integration. A German-Dutch Comparison. Journal of International Migration and Integration,
16(4), 1057-1080. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-014-0387-8

21. REFERENCES
Marcus, G. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited
Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24(1), 95-117. DOI:
10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523
Rodman, M. (1992). Empowering Place: Multilocality and Multivocality. In S. Low & D.
Lawrence-Zúñiga (Eds.), The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture (pp. 204-
223). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). (2016). Refugees/Migrants Emergency
Response - Mediterranean, Regional Overview. Retrieved November 1, 2016 from UNHCR
website:
http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.php#_ga=1.97806239.1060609127.1478030093
Wolcott, H. (1987). On Ethnographic Intent. In G. Spindler & L. Spindler (Eds.), Interpretive
Ethnography of Education: At Home and Abroad (pp. 37-56). New York, NY: Taylor &
Francis.
Wright, S. (1994). 'Culture' in anthropology and organizational studies. In S. Wright (Ed.), The
Anthropology of Organizations (pp. 1-53). London & New York: Routledge.