Communities of Refugees

• In Event: Community Resilience

Abstract

Millions of people are displaced each year due to conflict and crises. Once refugees choose a destination, how do they decide whether to isolate themselves as a group or integrate into the existing community to which they have moved, and what determines whether efforts to integrate are successful? We trace the origins of multiple refugee communities throughout the state of Tennessee and investigate the evolutions of their relationships with existing communities. The process of integration is two sided. Refugees have a choice of their informal institutions, which entails a choice over attempting to integrate or to isolate. Likewise, existing communities have a choice over their reception, which can be welcoming or exclusionary. We explore how these choices interact, and the factors that determine when certain choices are more valuable than others.

Author

• Jennifer M. Larson, Vanderbilt University