DukeEngage programme interns Kiran Bhai and Sahil Prasada share their experiences of social inclusion in Ireland - or the lack thereof
Do you need to define integration to be able to integrate? Social inclusion and integration are taken for granted back home in the United States; rarely it seems do daily conversations turn to questions of integration. And yet as a country of immigrants, the past several hundred years have been a history of efforts at integration – some more successful than others. And while often unclear in their articulation and even more often imperfectly realised, denunciations of the principle of integration are in fact rather rare.
Inclusion and equality are a central part of the American ethos. In the United States, at least in principle, everyone should have the freedom to maintain his or her culture. Yes, there are still signs of inequality and discrimination in the US including the demographics of college and high school graduates, segregation in housing and much more, but it is very rare to find a public defence of institutional racism.
It’s within this context that we – Americans of Indian and Pakistani descent respectively – find conversations of integration in Ireland quite curious. Perhaps more curious still is how ‘two brown people’ have experienced racial integration in Ireland. In the US we rarely feel racially targeted or even racially noticed. But in Ireland we are much more self-conscious of our difference.
Bystanders often stare at our strangely diverse group, which includes students of many backgrounds such as Chinese-American, black and white. Our ‘exclusion’ was especially evident one evening in Galway, when our group decided to go to a local club on a Saturday evening.
On our way into the busy club, one of us (Kiran) was frisked at the entrance. Thinking this was standard for clubs in Galway, he waited patiently for his friends to be searched after him. Realising that everyone else in the group who was not Indian quickly went inside, sometimes without even getting their IDs thoroughly checked, he was shocked.
Such subtle racism was frustrating, and we were surprised at how bluntly the bouncers searched the ‘brown’ man at this nightclub.
After such an event, our group collectively reached a realisation that many of our interactions with the Irish were often based on some sort of subtle racism. Interestingly, these initial signs often decrease after people realise that we are all American. It’s as if being American allows me to have a sense of validation.
These experiences and observations of our interactions between the Irish and foreigners, including migrants who plan on creating a life here, reflect what we believe is the lack of social inclusion in Ireland.
Working with New Communities Partnership has provided us with much experience and knowledge on immigration in Ireland through the lens of policy. Seeing the challenges organisations like NCP have to face in order to establish forums for integration, receive funding and represent the migrant community has shaped our views on the Irish attitude on integration and migrants.
From our limited view of these past six weeks in Dublin, we believe that the issue in integration and social inclusion is that there is a need for a clear definition of integration to address the new, shifting population in Ireland. Without a uniform definition and goal for integration and social inclusion that fits the needs of new immigrants, Government and groups such as NCP, reaching integration will be unnecessarily hindered.
Perhaps because of a lack of clear definition, it took the United States hundreds of years to come to even a partial understanding of racial difference. Maybe making this clearer would speed the process in Ireland.
