In recent years, immigrant integration has become a central public policy concern in many immigrant-receiving countries. Some European states currently are dismantling their existing multicultural policies and are adopting new policies designed to better facilitate the integration of immigrants into the host society. Researchers have analyzed the changes in immigrant integration and citizenship policies at the national scale, but work on the implementation of these policies through local integration projects in impacted neighborhoods has been missing. Also neglected has been the role of immigrants in the implementation of local integration projects. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the goals, work, and outcomes of local integration projects in Marzahn, a neighborhood in Berlin that has a high concentration of recent ethnic German migrants from the former Soviet Union. The doctoral candidate will seek answers to the following questions: (1) How do the integration goals and the underlying concepts of citizenship of local projects differ from national and provincial integration policies? (2) To what extent and how do immigrants participating in local integration projects modify project goals and outcomes? (3) How does the engagement in integration projects differ between immigrant men and women, and why? The student will use multiple methods to answer these questions. Analysis of national and provincial integration policy documents and expert interviews with local policy makers and project leaders will provide data regarding the differences between national, and provincial, and local integration objectives. Participant observation, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and immigrant diaries will provide data regarding how and why immigrants participate in integration projects and how they understand their own integration goals. The student hypothesizes that national and provincial integration objectives and their underlying conceptions of citizenship often are challenged and actively amended in the process of implementation by local institutions. In addition, she suspects that because women migrants participate in local integration activities more actively than men, they shape these projects to suit their distinct needs.
The results of this research will fill gaps in knowledge regarding the efficacy of local integration projects as well as on how local integration institutions and immigrants are actively involved in the transformation of integration objectives. Analysis of gender differences in project participation will provide insights into how immigrant men and women adapt to their new communities in different ways. Such insights are important for the formulation of gender-sensitive integration policies, a growing field of public policy in all major immigrant-destination countries, including the U.S. Furthermore, this study will bring scholarship on the politics of immigration integration into conversations regarding with theoretical perspectives on citizenship. Finally, by focusing on recent ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union, the project it will provide insights into the specific integration challenges of migrants who have become citizens but remain culturally and socio-economically marginal. Until recently the integration needs of such naturalized migrants have received little attention and consideration in integration policy making. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.
