Refugees in Towns
Supporting integration of refugees and hosts
REFUGEE INTEGRATION CONFERENCE AND ARTS FESTIVAL
MARCH 4-5, 2022
TUFTS UNIVERSITY: IN PERSON AND ONLINE
This year’s RIT Conference and Arts Festival will explore the links between migrant and refugee integration and mental health, identifying the barriers to and opportunities for protection and improvement of mental health in different communities and cities. Drawing on nearly 50 case studies conducted by refugees across the globe, researchers and practitioners will showcase lessons and strategies that facilitate refugee integration and promote mental health. Interactive workshops led by local artists will allow attendees to understand how a variety of art forms help migrants and refugees and their hosts heal and protect and promote mental health in their communities.
Overview
The Refugees in Towns project (RIT) promotes understanding of the migrant/refugee experience by drawing on the knowledge and perspectives of refugees themselves as well as local hosts. The project was conceived and is led by Karen Jacobsen, and is based at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. It is funded by the Henry J. Leir Foundation.
For refugees, migrants, and hosts, RIT offers an opportunity to develop and promote authentic narratives through participatory, reflexive, and local research. They author a range of case studies and reports in collaboration with students to identify the factors that enable and obstruct integration, and the different ways in which migrants and hosts co-exist, adapt, and struggle with integration.
For academics, RIT analyzes the global differences and similarities in the factors that enable or obstruct integration. Researchers further explore thematic areas of interest, for example the impact of COVID-19 or racism on integration. Additionally, RIT promotes its unique methodology, which utilizes participatory action research (PAR), reflexivity, localization, and a case study approach.
For policymakers and practitioners, RIT seeks to develop an understanding of potential solutions to the barriers refugees, migrants, and hosts face in integration through collaborative research and policy briefs informed by case studies.
RIT Study Interest Form
We are looking for RIT Studies!
Are you, or do you know someone, who can do a case study of their town? If you are interested, please fill out this form about the project and we will be in touch with you. More information is available within the form. We look forward to being in touch!
Partner Organization: We refugees archive
We Refugees Archive is a digital archive on refugeedom, past and present. It focuses on individual micro-histories and the city as a microcosm of refuge and new beginnings. The archive spans an arc from historical to current experiences of flight, which are brought into dialogue and thus provide new connecting lines and explanatory approaches from and with refugee voices for remembrance and education policy. The heart of the archive are various self-testimonies of refugees. This archival core is enriched with filmic approaches to refugeedom and contextualized by scholarly discussions, interviews with experts and academic guest contributions on relevant questions in the field of flight migration and/or regarding the specific examples of cities of refuge.
News
Our Office: Feinstein International Center
Address: 75 Kneeland St. Boston, MA 02111
Contact us: If you are interested in contacting RIT, please email Marina Lazetic at Marina.Lazetic@tufts.edu.