Playgrounds as Migrant Integration Spaces
Playgrounds form one of the types of public spaces with the widest possible access and thus imply opportunities for interethnic contact. This contact, in turn, can contribute to migrant social integration — meaning a weakening of migrant-non-migrant stereotypes and a formation of new social ties bet...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE)
2017-06-01
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Series: | Вопросы образования |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://vo.hse.ru/article/view/15678 |
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author | Anna Rocheva Evgeni Varshaver Nataliya Ivanova |
author_facet | Anna Rocheva Evgeni Varshaver Nataliya Ivanova |
author_sort | Anna Rocheva |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Playgrounds form one of the types of public spaces with the widest possible access and thus imply opportunities for interethnic contact. This contact, in turn, can contribute to migrant social integration — meaning a weakening of migrant-non-migrant stereotypes and a formation of new social ties between these two ‘groups’ — or, on the contrary, lead to conflicts and strengthen negative attitudes. Existing scholarship provides contradictory accounts egarding the question about the role that public spaces in general and playgrounds in particular play regarding migrant integration. In the case of Russia, there are no accounts at all. The article presents the results of research conducted with qualitative methods (observation and interviews) on the laygrounds in two Moscow residential neighborhoods in 2014–2015 and which focused on the grown-ups/parents rather than the children. The article argues that playgrounds contribute to the integration of internal migrants-‘ethnic majority’ but not international migrants-‘ethnic minority’, even more so if the latter speak little Russian and/or wear a hijab. As a result, playgrounds witness the formation of two distinct ‘social circles’ of the ‘ethnic minority’ and ‘ethnic majority’ with few contacts between them, most of which are of a conflicting nature. Lack of interaction together with presence in the same space leads to the creation of a negative interpretation of each other’s behavior from both sides. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-10T15:54:19Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-e05ca2d39fa54e0895da277d718e5823 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1814-9545 2412-4354 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-10T15:54:19Z |
publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
publisher | National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) |
record_format | Article |
series | Вопросы образования |
spelling | doaj.art-e05ca2d39fa54e0895da277d718e58232023-02-10T15:53:27ZengNational Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE)Вопросы образования1814-95452412-43542017-06-01216718410.17323/1814-9545-2017-2-167-18415678Playgrounds as Migrant Integration SpacesAnna Rocheva0Evgeni Varshaver1Nataliya Ivanova2Russian Presidential Academy for National Economy and Public AdministrationRussian Presidential Academy for National Economy and Public AdministrationRussian Presidential Academy for National Economy and Public AdministrationPlaygrounds form one of the types of public spaces with the widest possible access and thus imply opportunities for interethnic contact. This contact, in turn, can contribute to migrant social integration — meaning a weakening of migrant-non-migrant stereotypes and a formation of new social ties between these two ‘groups’ — or, on the contrary, lead to conflicts and strengthen negative attitudes. Existing scholarship provides contradictory accounts egarding the question about the role that public spaces in general and playgrounds in particular play regarding migrant integration. In the case of Russia, there are no accounts at all. The article presents the results of research conducted with qualitative methods (observation and interviews) on the laygrounds in two Moscow residential neighborhoods in 2014–2015 and which focused on the grown-ups/parents rather than the children. The article argues that playgrounds contribute to the integration of internal migrants-‘ethnic majority’ but not international migrants-‘ethnic minority’, even more so if the latter speak little Russian and/or wear a hijab. As a result, playgrounds witness the formation of two distinct ‘social circles’ of the ‘ethnic minority’ and ‘ethnic majority’ with few contacts between them, most of which are of a conflicting nature. Lack of interaction together with presence in the same space leads to the creation of a negative interpretation of each other’s behavior from both sides.https://vo.hse.ru/article/view/15678playgroundsmigrant integrationpublic spacesinterethnic contactcontact theorymoscow |
spellingShingle | Anna Rocheva Evgeni Varshaver Nataliya Ivanova Playgrounds as Migrant Integration Spaces Вопросы образования playgrounds migrant integration public spaces interethnic contact contact theory moscow |
title | Playgrounds as Migrant Integration Spaces |
title_full | Playgrounds as Migrant Integration Spaces |
title_fullStr | Playgrounds as Migrant Integration Spaces |
title_full_unstemmed | Playgrounds as Migrant Integration Spaces |
title_short | Playgrounds as Migrant Integration Spaces |
title_sort | playgrounds as migrant integration spaces |
topic | playgrounds migrant integration public spaces interethnic contact contact theory moscow |
url | https://vo.hse.ru/article/view/15678 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT annarocheva playgroundsasmigrantintegrationspaces AT evgenivarshaver playgroundsasmigrantintegrationspaces AT nataliyaivanova playgroundsasmigrantintegrationspaces |