why are you an expat and I’m a criminal
when these words were spoken to me an
expat by a refugee in my research group
I didn’t know how to answer he came to
the Netherlands and received the label
of refugee a label which would change
the rest of his life he found himself in
the Dutch integration program a program
lasting three years which requires him
to attend privatized Dutch language and
cultural classes and to complete six
Dutch language and cultural exams and if
he doesn’t complete this within three
years then he faces a fine a fine of ten
thousand euros plus interest a recent
report from the Dutch government shows
us that he along with over 50 percent of
refugees in the Netherlands are facing
this fine today so if you hear this you
might think well this system needs to
change and that’s exactly what my
research is trying to find out but I’m
not researching the effects of higher
fines
I’m not researching the effects of more
tests what I want to know is if the
starting point for change can be in the
words or the discourse that we use when
we’re developing integration programs in
the Netherlands now let me take you on a
journey of the discourse that you
encounter as a refugee when you are
integrating in the Netherlands so you
are a refugee and you have to buy a book
and in this book are sentences that you
have to practice saying out loud in
save a woman with a drill and the text I
don’t have a boyfriend you have a man on
a camel with the text I don’t live in
the nether
or a man in the kitchen with the text I
am not married or you have a black child
with the text I was born in Africa what
messages are you receiving as a refugee
when you are a learning Dutch from this
book about what is encouraged
what is discouraged and what is or
better yet what is not Dutch you are the
one who has to learn you are the one who
has to ask for help
you have to sort out your integration
exam yourself these words are found in
the Dutch government brochure
integration for asylum seekers and I
studied this document because I wanted
to know what do you read the most as a
refugee who has handed this document and
what do you think it is the thing that
you read the most as a refugee when you
begin your integration program is the
word pay you repay a fine to be more
specific 15 times in that document the
second thing that you read is you must
complete you read that 14 times and the
final thing that you read the most as a
refugee starting your integration in the
Netherlands is take a test 13 times this
is the world that we offer to refugees
when they start their integration in the
Netherlands but how is it in other
places
Canada is known as the gold standard for
integration with their private
sponsorship program and this is a
program that’s so different from how we
do integration in the Netherlands you
can almost not compare the two but let’s
zoom in on one small aspect let’s zoom
in on the discourse that you see in the
programs in Canada so if you are a
refugee in Canada than I hand you the
document welcome to Canada and I study
this document as well
and I went looking I went looking for
that one word that was so important in
our Dutch documents the word pay and I
could barely find it and when I did it
wasn’t about paying a fine it was about
pay your tuition fees if you decide to
study or pay for your children’s sports
teams or in sentences like this very
Canadian sentence Canadians are very
generous people their taxes pay for you
to have language classes but you also
saw sentences like this connecting to
others is important making new friends
will help you feel at home in Canada I
am an occupational therapist a
profession focused on participation and
meaningful daily activities and I can’t
help but wonder how your daily
activities the activities which make
your identity would change if you are a
refugee trying to make new friends or if
you are a refugee trying to prove that
you can do it all on your own and now I
would like to show you a slide that
compares how many refugees in the
Netherlands have to pay a fine for
failing their integration exam compared
to how many refugees in Canada have to
pay a fine for failing their integration
exam but I can’t because in Canada there
are no integration exams there are no
fines and there are no mandatory courses
in Canada they measure integration in
different ways such as this how much do
refugees themselves feel that they
belong in Canada what this shows us is
that a discourse based on connecting to
others and making friends actually
results in us measuring successful
integration in a different way but do we
see examples of this closer to home
citizens in the Netherlands have
responded in an incredible way to
refugees arriving in the Netherlands
since 2005
we’ve seen a huge increase in citizen
initiatives aimed at helping refugees
integrate and when you look at the
discourse of these programs you see it’s
often quite similar to what we saw in
Canada they don’t believe integration
starts with a test or a course they say
things like this integration begins in
the community now we don’t know for sure
yet that this kind of discourse equals
better integration that’s exactly what
my research is trying to find out but I
believe we need to be critical about all
discourse we need to be critical about
what ideas and ways of thinking are
behind the words that we use we needs to
be critical about what we are asking
refugees to do and who we are asking
refugees to be researching discourse
makes these invisible expectations
visible now let me ask you now that I’ve
made this visible to you is this you is
this us is this what we really want
refugees to strive to become in the
Netherlands we must continue to research
this discourse and make it visible
because only when things are visible can
they be challenged and through
challenging can begin to be changed
thank you
[Applause] [Music]
when these words were spoken to me an
expat by a refugee in my research group
I didn’t know how to answer he came to
the Netherlands and received the label
of refugee a label which would change
the rest of his life he found himself in
the Dutch integration program a program
lasting three years which requires him
to attend privatized Dutch language and
cultural classes and to complete six
Dutch language and cultural exams and if
he doesn’t complete this within three
years then he faces a fine a fine of ten
thousand euros plus interest a recent
report from the Dutch government shows
us that he along with over 50 percent of
refugees in the Netherlands are facing
this fine today so if you hear this you
might think well this system needs to
change and that’s exactly what my
research is trying to find out but I’m
not researching the effects of higher
fines
I’m not researching the effects of more
tests what I want to know is if the
starting point for change can be in the
words or the discourse that we use when
we’re developing integration programs in
the Netherlands now let me take you on a
journey of the discourse that you
encounter as a refugee when you are
integrating in the Netherlands so you
are a refugee and you have to buy a book
and in this book are sentences that you
have to practice saying out loud in
save a woman with a drill and the text I
don’t have a boyfriend you have a man on
a camel with the text I don’t live in
the nether
or a man in the kitchen with the text I
am not married or you have a black child
with the text I was born in Africa what
messages are you receiving as a refugee
when you are a learning Dutch from this
book about what is encouraged
what is discouraged and what is or
better yet what is not Dutch you are the
one who has to learn you are the one who
has to ask for help
you have to sort out your integration
exam yourself these words are found in
the Dutch government brochure
integration for asylum seekers and I
studied this document because I wanted
to know what do you read the most as a
refugee who has handed this document and
what do you think it is the thing that
you read the most as a refugee when you
begin your integration program is the
word pay you repay a fine to be more
specific 15 times in that document the
second thing that you read is you must
complete you read that 14 times and the
final thing that you read the most as a
refugee starting your integration in the
Netherlands is take a test 13 times this
is the world that we offer to refugees
when they start their integration in the
Netherlands but how is it in other
places
Canada is known as the gold standard for
integration with their private
sponsorship program and this is a
program that’s so different from how we
do integration in the Netherlands you
can almost not compare the two but let’s
zoom in on one small aspect let’s zoom
in on the discourse that you see in the
programs in Canada so if you are a
refugee in Canada than I hand you the
document welcome to Canada and I study
this document as well
and I went looking I went looking for
that one word that was so important in
our Dutch documents the word pay and I
could barely find it and when I did it
wasn’t about paying a fine it was about
pay your tuition fees if you decide to
study or pay for your children’s sports
teams or in sentences like this very
Canadian sentence Canadians are very
generous people their taxes pay for you
to have language classes but you also
saw sentences like this connecting to
others is important making new friends
will help you feel at home in Canada I
am an occupational therapist a
profession focused on participation and
meaningful daily activities and I can’t
help but wonder how your daily
activities the activities which make
your identity would change if you are a
refugee trying to make new friends or if
you are a refugee trying to prove that
you can do it all on your own and now I
would like to show you a slide that
compares how many refugees in the
Netherlands have to pay a fine for
failing their integration exam compared
to how many refugees in Canada have to
pay a fine for failing their integration
exam but I can’t because in Canada there
are no integration exams there are no
fines and there are no mandatory courses
in Canada they measure integration in
different ways such as this how much do
refugees themselves feel that they
belong in Canada what this shows us is
that a discourse based on connecting to
others and making friends actually
results in us measuring successful
integration in a different way but do we
see examples of this closer to home
citizens in the Netherlands have
responded in an incredible way to
refugees arriving in the Netherlands
since 2005
we’ve seen a huge increase in citizen
initiatives aimed at helping refugees
integrate and when you look at the
discourse of these programs you see it’s
often quite similar to what we saw in
Canada they don’t believe integration
starts with a test or a course they say
things like this integration begins in
the community now we don’t know for sure
yet that this kind of discourse equals
better integration that’s exactly what
my research is trying to find out but I
believe we need to be critical about all
discourse we need to be critical about
what ideas and ways of thinking are
behind the words that we use we needs to
be critical about what we are asking
refugees to do and who we are asking
refugees to be researching discourse
makes these invisible expectations
visible now let me ask you now that I’ve
made this visible to you is this you is
this us is this what we really want
refugees to strive to become in the
Netherlands we must continue to research
this discourse and make it visible
because only when things are visible can
they be challenged and through
challenging can begin to be changed
thank you
[Applause] [Music]
Please follow and like us: