‘For us, by us’: migrant youth as institutional entrepreneurs challenging racialized practices of civil society organizations.

• In Event: Migration, Advocacy and Representation

Abstract

This article focuses on civil society organizations (CSOs) in Flanders (Belgium). The CSO landscape in Flanders is fascinating as it combines a vibrant and dense network of organizations active in all spheres of social life, while at the same time being largely non-inclusive and racialized in its demographic composition and functioning. Despite the fact that 26% of people in Flanders have a migration background and that society, especially in urban regions become a superdiverse reality (Statistiek Vlaanderen, 2023), CSOs remain predominantly homogeneous, especially in leadership positions, despite the important role they play in providing services and improving the well-being of marginalized individuals. Furthermore, no effective actions have been taken to address this situation (Author I et al., 2019). International literature also shows that CSOs face a number of difficulties in implementing diversity policies. Often, they fail to modify their actual practices to accommodate an increasingly culturally diverse population within the organization (Ahmed, 2007; Spracklen et al., 2006). Critical tradition research has emphasized that CSOs can be conceived as racialized structures where diversity initiatives are often superficial and ceremonial. As a result, these organizations have an image of being neutral and progressive externally but fail to make sufficient inclusive changes internally (Meghji, 2022; Ray, 2019).

We are interested here in how migrant youth seek to challenge these racialized practices of established CSOs. To address this question, we build on the intersection of institutionalist research and critical race studies. We use ‘institutional entrepreneurship’ (IE), a process by which new institutions are created or existing institutions are transformed (DiMaggio, 1988), as a tool to capture the engagements of migrant youth in Antwerp, approaching them as peripheral actors who are disadvantaged by established institutions and therefore most willing to pursue change (Garud et al., 2007; Leblebici et al., 1991). We combine this institutionalist reading with the concept of racialization as it allows us to see that CSOs are not race-neutral (Meghji, 2022; Ray, 2019).

Based on in-depth interviews, we show how peripheral actors diagnose problems related to race and diversity in CSOs and Flemish government policies, and how they try to challenge the racialized structures in established CSOs by creating their own initiatives, but face several burdens. These findings have two important implications for CSOs: (1) they reveal racialized deficits that reinforce the exclusion of migrant youth in CSO fields; (2) they highlight the agency of migrant youth and consequently the missed or misused opportunities by established CSOs to acknowledge these initiatives and invest in mutual collaboration.

References

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Authors

• Fatima Laoukili, University of Antwerp

• Stijn Oosterlynck, University of Antwerp, Center for Research on Environmental and Social Change

• Gert Verschraegen, University of Antwerp