{"id":2582,"date":"2017-07-24T09:42:22","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T13:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2017-07-24T09:42:22","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T13:42:22","slug":"refugee-crisis-and-social-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/2017\/07\/24\/refugee-crisis-and-social-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugee Crisis and Social Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer, Elise Shea, Professor Hoehn, and I conducted research into Germany\u2019s ability to handle the arrival of over 1.5 million refugees since the beginning of 2015. With its large bureaucracy and numerous social programs, many refugees view Germany as their best option for restarting their lives. \u00a0We took the summer as an opportunity to better understand the actions Germany are taking on the Federal, State, and local level to determine what has been successful and where the state is failing the people. \u00a0Through this research we built connections and found pathways for Vassar Refugee Solidarity, the Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance, and the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education to provide various services and initiatives that could pick up some of the slack of the German government. \u00a0This summer project also provided the opportunity for us to return to the grass-root level. \u00a0We had the opportunity, through various conferences and personal connections, to meet many people with forcibly displaced backgrounds, and to gain knowledge and understanding from them about what we as individuals, and as the organizations and universities we represent, can do to help.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the summer we attended various conferences and workshops. \u00a0We started our time in Berlin with a workshop at Bard College Berlin where we talked with other Members of the Consortium, as well as other small liberal arts colleges and exchanged ideas and projects to find points of collaboration and receive feedback. \u00a0It was at this workshop that we learned about BCB\u2019s Arabic 101 program that looks to provide a space for community members and refugees to come together and discuss their daily trials and tribulations. \u00a0The same week, we attended the 10-day Conference called <\/span>Germany, Europe, and the Refugee Crisis: The Challenge to Integrate. \u00a0This conference gave us a great introduction into the world of the German bureaucracy where we met with the DAAD, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and a member of the German Foreign Office. Although on one hand, the bureaucracy provides various critical services, it also can be very limiting in what services organizations could provide, as they have to stay within a very tight box in order to maintain their funding from the German government. \u00a0This conference introduced us to various professors and academics from universities around the United States and proved to be a great intellectual opportunity for us. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From these two conferences and from the various other workshops we attended, we were eventually introduced to an amazing NGO in Berlin called the ReDI School for Digital Integration. \u00a0Due to their prime location, wifi, and numerous computers, the ReDI school seems to be our best opportunity for continued collaboration through our various digital initiatives. \u00a0While the entire summer experience has been very informative and helpful, finding and meeting this amazing NGO has really been the icing on the cake of this summer experience! I am looking forward to returning to Vassar to continue pursuing our new connections.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right:<\/strong> The refuge\"\"<\/a>e home in Messe Nord at the ICC. \u00a0Most of the people\"\"<\/a> live in this large room together. \u00a0The \u201chomes\u201d are 10×10 squares partitioned off by plywood and have no roof. \u00a0The lights are on from 6am – midnight. \u00a0Each person gets one small locker for their belongings. Left<\/strong>:<\/strong> \u00a0<\/span>The House of World Cultures where the Face It! Konferenz took place. This conference <\/span>focused on the topics of power-sharing, the production of knowledge, and the questions of what is political and who can be political.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, Elise Shea, Professor Hoehn, and I conducted research into Germany\u2019s ability to handle the arrival of over 1.5 million refugees since the beginning of 2015. With its large bureaucracy and numerous social programs, many refugees view Germany as their best option for restarting their lives. \u00a0We took the summer as an opportunity to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6034,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77491],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ford-2017"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2582"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2589,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/fordscholars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}