Franke Global Leadership Initiative (GLI) Oral Presentations
Border Walls in Montana: Immigration and Integration in Missoula
Presentation Type
Presentation
Abstract / Artist's Statement
The global refugee crises and migration movements polarize domestic and international politics. Our research analyzes the meaning, history, current examples and comparative differences between assimilation and integration in Japan, America, Morocco and France. We examined various sources and conducted interviews with experts on migration and politics in addition to immigrants living in the Missoula community. Based on this research, we wished to explore and highlight further the difference between integration and assimilation. To share this research with the larger Missoula community, we will take and display photographs of local refugees, international students, and other immigrants in their daily lives and present the interviews we previously conducted at an art exhibit downtown during the First Friday celebration in April. Montana's geographical isolation fosters an isolationist mentality which can inhibit understanding the implications of immigration and refugee crises. Because daily experience with other cultures in Montana is relatively limited when compared with larger cities in the US, we hope to open the eyes of those who may not have ever come in contact with a person from a foreign country. We wish to provide our audience with visual images so they may draw their own conclusions through their individual interpretation. And we hope to foster positive discussion around what is today a contentious subject. By displaying photographs and presenting the interviews of immigrants here in Missoula, we hope to humanize their struggles, celebrate in their successes, and enhance the understanding of immigration in our community.
Category
Interdisciplinary (GLI)
Border Walls in Montana: Immigration and Integration in Missoula
UC North Ballroom
The global refugee crises and migration movements polarize domestic and international politics. Our research analyzes the meaning, history, current examples and comparative differences between assimilation and integration in Japan, America, Morocco and France. We examined various sources and conducted interviews with experts on migration and politics in addition to immigrants living in the Missoula community. Based on this research, we wished to explore and highlight further the difference between integration and assimilation. To share this research with the larger Missoula community, we will take and display photographs of local refugees, international students, and other immigrants in their daily lives and present the interviews we previously conducted at an art exhibit downtown during the First Friday celebration in April. Montana's geographical isolation fosters an isolationist mentality which can inhibit understanding the implications of immigration and refugee crises. Because daily experience with other cultures in Montana is relatively limited when compared with larger cities in the US, we hope to open the eyes of those who may not have ever come in contact with a person from a foreign country. We wish to provide our audience with visual images so they may draw their own conclusions through their individual interpretation. And we hope to foster positive discussion around what is today a contentious subject. By displaying photographs and presenting the interviews of immigrants here in Missoula, we hope to humanize their struggles, celebrate in their successes, and enhance the understanding of immigration in our community.