Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Definitions and Scope of the Book: When We Talk About ‘Refugees and Other New Arrivals’, Who Exactly Do We Mean?
- 2 What Has Been the Response in the UK?
- 3 What Does Any of This Have to Do with Libraries?
- 4 Libraries’ Responses in the UK – Historical Background
- 5 What Barriers are There to the Take-Up of Library Services by New Arrivals? And How Can We Begin to Dismantle These?
- 6 How Are Libraries Responding Today? And What More Can We Do? Some Practical Ideas …
- 7 And What Can We Learn From Elsewhere?
- 8 Conclusions
- Appendices
- Endnotes
- References
- Index
1 - Definitions and Scope of the Book: When We Talk About ‘Refugees and Other New Arrivals’, Who Exactly Do We Mean?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Definitions and Scope of the Book: When We Talk About ‘Refugees and Other New Arrivals’, Who Exactly Do We Mean?
- 2 What Has Been the Response in the UK?
- 3 What Does Any of This Have to Do with Libraries?
- 4 Libraries’ Responses in the UK – Historical Background
- 5 What Barriers are There to the Take-Up of Library Services by New Arrivals? And How Can We Begin to Dismantle These?
- 6 How Are Libraries Responding Today? And What More Can We Do? Some Practical Ideas …
- 7 And What Can We Learn From Elsewhere?
- 8 Conclusions
- Appendices
- Endnotes
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
At the time of writing, much of the world is acknowledging (again) just what a grip racism (and political populism) have, and so it is also timely to confront a major issue around migration to the UK: are there some people who seem to be welcome and some who are not? Is this based solely on skin colour, or is there more to it? And does this level of welcome fluctuate?
Writers have acknowledged the perception that some people are seen as ‘Good Immigrants’ (i.e. those who seem to fit in) (see, for example: Hirsch, 2018; Shukla, 2017) – what makes some new arrivals ‘good’ and others not? New arrivals from Hong Kong are an example. As journalist Jeevan Vasagar argues, the view of them is partly based on stereotypes:
Immigration has always been a contentious issue in Britain. So why, as the UK opens a path to citizenship for millions of Hong Kong residents, is it different this time?
Hong Kong Chinese are seen as a model minority, successors to the status of Ugandan Asians: a ‘thrifty’, ‘entrepreneurial’ and ‘family-oriented’ community who will skimp to send their children to private schools and boost Britain's economic fortunes, while quietly demonstrating that other ethnic minorities could be equally successful if they worked a little harder.
(Vasagar, 2021)We have seen this even more clearly with the welcome offered by the UK – albeit haphazardly – to people fleeing Ukraine, yet people seeking sanctuary from other countries are not provided with the same level of support (see for example Sajjad, 2022).
In addition, the perception of refugees is often very limited and/or stereotyped: ‘… everything made about refugees is by someone else and they are represented in offensive ways. Either refugees are criminals or saints. There is no mention of the challenges people go through, things aren't black and white.’ (Mračević, 2020)
Refugees and other new arrivals – seeking sanctuary
Introduction
People have migrated – for a variety of reasons – ever since the development of the earliest societies. However, the concept of ‘asylum’ (helping people to seek refuge and offering them protection) developed more recently, originally as a religious obligation, but later taken on by nation states (Wikipedia, 2021c; Lock, 2020; Asylum Insight, 2016).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Libraries and SanctuarySupporting Refugees and New Arrivals, pp. 1 - 22Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2022