OpenLearn Resource: Migration (UK)

OpenLearn: Exploring how migration changes the places where we live. The Open University, UK, 2018.

Migration has a major impact on local communities, leading to a series of contexts in which intercultural dialogue either occurs, or would be useful if it did occur. This course, prepared by The Open University, integrates multiple short videos discussing relevant matters. It could be usefully followed by an individual interested in the content, or parts of it might be integrated into an existing course.

Full description from the course site:

“In this OpenLearn resource, we have raised the question of how migration changes the places we live in and the communities of people with whom we live. We looked at the ways in which migration can change the everyday sense of belonging and how local authorities, voluntary sector and local communities can work together to create an inclusive narrative. We also looked at how communities and a sense of belonging to a place can be challenged by policies such as the hostile environment, aiming to make life more difficult for undocumented migrants. These policies, we have argued end up challenging a sense of social cohesion by dispersing asylum seekers to places where they might be at risk of hate crime, by uprooting them from their communities through detention, as well as engendering feelings of unbelonging through border checks in everyday situations such as at work, when renting a flat or sending their children to school. On the other hand, these policies also have a detrimental effect on community for those who are not migrants. While they can affect black and ethnic minority citizens in particular by casting doubt on their belonging and requiring them to prove they are not indeed migrant newcomers, they also affect other citizens by requiring everyone to take part in everyday bordering practices, checking the migration status of people who register with the GP or enroll their children in school. Yet, there are also oppositional communities of resistance who build solidarities across the boundary of migrant and non-migrant.”