Panelists:
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Anita Fábos, Professor, Department of Sustainability and Social Justice, and IBH Co-convenor, Clark University
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Leora Kahn, Founder and Executive Director of PROOF: Media for Social Justice, and IBH Co-convenor, Clark University
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Tunggul Puji Lestari, MA Student, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington (see bio below)
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Craig Mortley, Ph.D. Student and Graduate Assistant, School of Social Work, University of Connecticut
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Adam Saltsman, Associate Professor, Department of Urban Studies, Worcester State University
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Akino Tahir, Senior Fellow, Urban Refugee Research Group, Resilience Development Initiative (see bio below)
This webinar discussion brought together scholars and practitioners who explore belonging, migration, and displacement in urban settings through a multidisciplinary lens. The original panel was planned to be presented at the IASFM20 conference in Indonesia, however not all panelists were able to make it, so this virtual event provided an opportunity for all panel members to join and share their insights on how urban spaces can better include and empower displaced populations.
The discussion highlighted diverse initiatives—spanning academic research, media, cultural studies, and artistic expression—that center the voices of those with lived experiences of displacement and mobility. The aim of this interactive dialogue was to identify common challenges across these efforts and showcase innovative strategies that amplify marginalized perspectives in decision-making processes, reshape urban discourses, and foster empathy for the diverse experiences of displaced individuals. Following the panelist discussion, attendees had the opportunity to engage in a live Q&A session with the panelists.
Organized by: International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM); Resilience Development Initiative – Urban Refugee Research Group (RDI | UREF); Department of Anthropology, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM); Integration and Belonging Hub (IBH) at Clark University
Panelist Bios
Tunggul Puji Lestari is a graduate student in the Jackson School of International Studies at University of Washington, Seattle. She received a Master’s degree in Linguistics from Brawijaya University in Indonesia. She is currently focusing on the issues of Southeast Asian migration and cultural contacts within Indonesia, as well as the experiences of the Southeast Asian diaspora in the United States.
Dr. Akino Tahir is a co-Director of Just Transition Indonesia and a Senior Fellow at the Resilience Development Initiative. Her focus is on the intersection of youth, gender, environment, migration and urban issues. Akino chaired the 20th Conference of the International Association of the Study of Forced Migration. Her recent projects include “Refugee Transition Network”, a research networking project under the UK AHRC grant, and “Let’s Walk My Journey”, an art exhibition by refugee artists to voice out their transit stories in Indonesia funded under the UK Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers Champions grant. She is also a writer and podcast producer, having established 4 different podcast channels, producing a total of over 400 podcast episodes since 2018.
Presentation Abstracts
Presentation 1: Craig Mortley & Adam Saltsman
Making Worcester Home: Youth Participatory Action Research, Newcomer Belonging, and the Politics of Navigating Urban Space
Abstract: In recent years the concept of belonging has featured prominently in forced migration scholarship, especially related to the urban experiences of people from refugee backgrounds (Harris 2021; Marshall 2021; Yuval Davis 2011). Such scholarship offers a notion of belonging that is tied to socio-spatial relationships, diaspora politics, and the subjective experiences of navigating life in the context of displacement. A focus on belonging offers a lens to forced migrant mobility and (un)settlement that considers refugee experiences as transnational, fluid, and multiscalar. While this concept adds much needed nuance and complexity to questions of forced migrant integration, there often remains in such scholarship a barrier of disciplinary reductionism; i.e. a tendency to analyze forced migrant subjects primarily in terms of factors directly related to their migration and integration.
In this paper, we argue that an inductive approach which centers the voices of people from refugee backgrounds in the design of our methods can create space for analyses of a politics of belonging that breaks such a barrier. We suggest that young people from this population offer a unique perspective into what it means to navigate urban life. We offer insights from our Youth Participatory Action Research project “Making Worcester Home,” which we have co-facilitated with three different youth groups in 2019, 2020, and 2023 in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts in the United States. Through journaling, community maps, photovoice, interviews, and focus groups, youth and co-facilitators engaged in reflective practices and dialogues to co-construct knowledge about their experiences and perceptions related to urban displacement and belonging. Our findings reveal a complex portrait of belonging that intersects with race, gender, and migration status, detailing how these youth perceive and interact with both physical and social urban spaces.
Presentation 2: Tunggul Puji Lestari
Making Home out of the Dining Table: Food, Identity, and Belonging Among Cham Refugees in Seattle
Abstract: This research examines the complex process of ‘homing’ among Cham refugees in Seattle, Washington, who have experienced multiple layers of displacement and marginalization. Originating from the Champa kingdom, modern day Central Vietnam, they faced historical dispossession and invisibility in Southeast Asia. Upon arrival in the United States, the migration process further obscured their Cham ethnic identity, contributing to their invisibility within the broad Asian American category and leading to frequent miscategorization as Vietnamese or Cambodian. Their resettlement in a historically redlined area further complicated this situation, exposing them to the enduring challenges, limited resources, and marginalization. This study explores how the Cham community, particularly women, navigates these intersecting oppressions to reconstruct a sense of home. It argues that culinary practices play a crucial role in ‘homing’ strategies, facilitating cultural preservation, identity reclamation, and the creation of community. Through ethnographic research and analysis of personal narratives, this work demonstrates how food becomes a powerful medium for establishing stability, security, and belonging in a context marked by historical trauma, ethnic erasure, and ongoing systemic inequalities. Ultimately, this research illuminates the dynamic and resilient efforts of Cham refugees to forge a sense of home in the diaspora, highlighting the interplay between historical displacement, socio-economic context, and cultural practices.
Presentation 3: Anita Fábos & Leora Kahn
Integrating Together? Innovative policies for bridging refugee and settled communities
Abstract: The Integration and Belonging Hub (IBH) is an initiative formed within Clark University’s Sustainability and Social Justice department. Its mission is to foster migrant and refugee-inclusive communities locally, nationally, and globally through student learning, community engagement, and research and policy analysis. At the core of this mission is the idea that our dynamic societies and the mobile people among them (refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and others) are continually “integrating together“ through multi-directional bridging processes towards social cohesion.
Prior integration research and practice highlights the urgency of updating our view of societies as sedentary receivers of refugees and other migrants, and instead involve them as key participants in sustainable development. But how is this paradigm shift addressed in policy? Despite the important idea of Integration as a multi-directional process that requires accommodation across a variety of settled and newcomer groups, policies in practice require newcomers to carry out the bulk of adaptation work, with little to no expectations of shifts on the part of settled groups towards integration. We understand this propensity as a logical function of how societies are currently organized around identities-borders-orders (Vertovec 2004). Nevertheless, with increasing attention to the reality of people on the move, policy makers will need to find ways to accommodate and normalize multi-sited emplacement and domiciling, bridge and merge networks, and otherwise conceptualize new ways to connect people beyond the metaphor of newcomers “integrating into” a static society.
This presentation identifies themes emerging from our inventory of integration policies over the past 15 years, and shares innovative examples of integration in urban settings that demonstrate a shared worlds approach. We also reflect on our own practices and pitfalls in co-creating integrated places and spaces that build on best practices, including the Integration and Belonging Hub itself.
Presentation 4: Akino Tahir (paper is co-authored by Marupa Hasudungan Sianturi)
Redefining urban integration for refugee in transit in Indonesia
Abstract: The global refugee crisis has left refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia stuck in prolonged transit, with few chances for resettlement elsewhere. Integration efforts face hurdles as the Western concept doesn’t align with local realities, urging the need for redefining integration and exploring alternative approaches to enhance urban integration in Indonesia. Expanding Jacobsen’s framework for refugee integration in transit countries, particularly in developing nations where permanent asylum and integration measures are less common, the paper introduces the Transition Integration Model (TIM) within transit contexts, encompassing identity, social connection, language/cultural knowledge, education, and livelihood/employment domains. The study supports existing literatures that the integration of marginalized individuals in forced displacement scenarios is complex, requiring collaboration among governments, civil society, host communities, and displaced populations. But while it offers a potential alternative to traditional integration approaches in developing countries, it is necessary to conduct further research to test the model to effectively capture the meaning of urban integration in Indonesian context.