Much like we have little choice as to when and where we are born, issues of forced migration are submerged with perspectives of restricted choice. Do migrants have a choice as to whether they integrate or assimilate into a host society? What are the digital literacy skills most important to migrants? How can we achieve the social and cultural fluency that is needed for healthy and productive social and cultural outcomes? How can we create information flows that empower the most vulnerable and alienated people? What should we be conscious of when working with NGOs, researchers, and other actors in this field? This presentation summarizes reflections from attending the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece in the summer of 2018. It also summarizes reflections from a summer school program at the University of Sheffield, Thessaloniki campus, entitled Refugee and Migrant Crisis: New Challenges of Integration. Finally, the presentation will discuss first-hand experiences volunteering at the Sindos Community Centre outside Thessaloniki. This presentation will delve into the gaps between the research and policies on forced migration and the realities refugees face.

1. Assimilation versus integration:
Personal perspectives from our
experiences in Thessaloniki, Greece
Alexandra Melinchok
Martha Kyrillidou

2. Integration versus Assimilation
• Integration: incorporation as equals into society of
individuals of different groups
• Access to social and economic systems and institutions
• “making room for the culture and identity of immigrants”
(Nathanson)
• Assimilation implies “losing one’s identity, which risks
becoming absorb[ed] in the system” (Nathanson)
• Puts focus on refugees changing in order to adapt

3. Education in Greece
• Education is key to integration
• Challenge of language barriers
• Discouragement, higher
dropout rates
• Education system should
encourage maintenance of birth
language
• Positive self-concept
• Educators might find this makes
their job harder

4. Integration in the Classroom
• Bilingual education (integration) versus just teaching the
native language (assimilation)
• Academic proficiency takes much longer than basic
communication skill mastery
• Host language only education is expected too soon
• Opportunity to work with migrant communities in ways
which could provide employment for migrants
• Look at ways to create positive impact for both
communities

5. Integration Applications Beyond Education
•Discourse of assimilation are used by xenophobic
politicians who depict immigrants as not willing to
assimilate
•Promote discourse of integration
•Long-term mutual flows and exchanges between
refugee and native community
•Integration of affected communities into research
design and implementation
•Opportunity for new partnerships

6. References

7. International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM)
Whither Refugees? Restrictionism,
Crises, and Precarity
Thessaloniki, Greece
July 24-27, 2018

8. LIS
professionals
• Information needs and information
seeking behavior of refugees
• Natalie Bowdoin, University of
South Carolina Aiken
Central
African
Republic
• UNHCR Za’atari Camp Libraries
• Karen Fisher, University of
Washington, iSchool
Syria
• Refugee and Immigrant Services &
Empowerment Department (RISE)
• Julie Robinson, Kansas City Public
Library
Kansas
City

9. LIS
professionals
what can they
contribute
Information researchers as policy research consultants
Information needs of human rights and civil society groups
Access to information as a human right (open access movement)
Impact of social / political conflict on information provision
Community engagement as academics
Community services as public librarians
Geographic diversity and opportunities
Infrastructure where active learning takes place (libraries)

10. Non-LIS professionals
Policy, Practice, Research:
• Global Refugee Legal Aid
• UNHCR perspectives
• Greek Refugee Crisis: language, schooling,
integration vs assimilation
• Big Data Academic Research (ex. Georgetown
U, U of Toronto, etc.)
• Documentaries and Films of experiences
• Roundtables with Refugees

11. Forced Migration Presentations

12. Engage
Opportunities
to contribute
• Papers not published on conference website
• Opportunity to host research in institutional
repository
• Influence practice and research to adopt
Creative Commons license
Community of scholarly practice
• Literacy
• Education services
• Translation services
• Citizenships services
• Social services
• Cross-cultural communication in Libraries (IMLS
funded)
Community needs of refugees

13. What is the
place of LIS in
Forced
Migration
Research?
IMLS Measuring Success Framework Focal areas:
Lifelong Learning
Human Services
Employment and economic development
Civic Engagement
Public Access to Information
Library Capacity Building

14. References
Natalie Bowdoin, et al. Academic libraries serving refugees and asylum seekers. College &
Research Libraries News, [S.l.], v. 78, n. 6, p. 298, june 2017. ISSN 2150-6698. Available at:
doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.78.6.298.
Karen Fisher, Read, UNHCR Za’atari Camp Libraries: A Nascent Refugee-Run System on the
Syrian Border (2019)
Photographer Yiannis Behrakis: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/award-
winning-photographer-yannis-behrakis-dies-aged-58-190303134738043.html

15. Thank you