Conference Program

'We are here': how migrants defy the logic of invisibility and become agents of change

Contemporary societies are characterised by growing and more diverse migrant populations that open challenges regarding migrants’ integration and education, in which migrants are often portrayed as passive or lacking in competence. In order to defy this logic, this paper recognises migrants as important actors in shaping the perspective on migrants’ integration and related education. While much adult education scholarship is sensitive to diverse migrants’ needs and critical towards generic migrants (re)settlement and integration programs, it still focuses mostly on the learning needs of migrants, rather than also on the learning needs of the receiving society to adopt to growing migration within a two-way integration process (Samaluk, 2020; Shan & Guo, 2023).

This paper addresses this gap by exploring how migrants publicly voice their concerns, enter in dialogue with local community, raise public consciousness about their conditions and strive towards changing oppressive social structures. It departs from wider understanding of migrant integration and radical adult education theory grounded within Gramscian counter-hegemony struggles and Freirean critical pedagogy (Elias & Merriam, 2005; Freire, 2005; Samaluk & Kunz, 2022) to examine a case study of a migrant-led communal space and an advocacy organisation Ambasada ROG, which emerged in Slovenia as a response to the 2015 crisis of the European refugee policy. The analysis is based upon participant observation at public events organised by Ambasada ROG and secondary sources of data featuring over 190 migrants’ written stories in the newsletter Tukaj smo [We are here] published on Ambasada ROG’s social media and web sites and in six printed issues. By utilising secondary data sources produced by migrants and by participating at events organised by migrants, researcher takes the role of participant, who does not intervene, but reads/listens to migrants’ stories, in order to uncover their own understanding and experience of integration and related education and their active engagement in society.

Findings show that migrants utilise public engagement in order to defy the logic of invisibility, dehumanised media portrayals and fight for recognition and mutual understanding. By sharing their stories and actively engaging within wider community they also act as organic educators, who focus on both learning needs of migrants and the receiving society that is still ill adapted to growing and more diverse migration. They thus raise other migrants’ political consciousness, public awareness about complex migrant conditions and put pressure on the government to change its migration policies. By doing that they also establish bridges and solidarity with local community and thus became agents of change, who demonstrate that integration is ultimately about economic and social security and mutual solidarity that can also bring some positive changes to oppressive laws and policies.