FROM AN IMMIGRANT TO A LOCAL - A NEVER ENDING JOURNEY

Migration is as old as human history. Boundaries change. Cultures evolve and converge. However, the migration in modern history has become a complex phenomenon because of the emergence of nation-states, protectionism, wars, and political and economic interests. The generation of “guest workers” lived in a different environment. The relationship between a “host” and a “guest” was of a different nature. The situation changed when the subsequent generations of guest workers, born and raised in Europe, demanded to be treated as “locals”. What does it mean to become a “local” and be accepted as one? Are societies open enough to embrace the “locals” with foreign roots? Are the children of guest workers and immigrants, “indigenized” enough to qualify as a local? What’s the difference between integration and assimilation? Can two identities co-exist?

With the help of experts, this Dialogue will take us through the journey – reasons and kinds of immigration, the process of integration, transformation and indigenization, the challenges and obstacles in that process? And, how we can deal with these challenges.