Description
Purpose of the UnDRho project is to examine the contours of Muslim diversity in Rhodes, Greece. Although the Greek Orthodox population is dominant for centuries on the island, there exists a significant local Muslim community continuously since 1522. The UnDRho project proposes to investigate the local Muslims' perception for the Muslim immigrants with the view to examine the possibility that the religious institutions of the former represent the latter in order to assist them in their smooth integration in the local society. The direct target group of the research consists of the older generations of local Muslims who have experienced the bureaucratic repression of their identity in contrast with younger generations. The Method employed will be that of Life Narrative interview which will allow the non mediated retrospection and the reproduction of the “trauma” under the light of the present state of affairs. Those interviews along with those of the control groups will be the source of content analysis that will lead to the formation of policy suggestions regarding the possibility of using the already existing religious institutions of the Muslim community as a welfare provider for the Muslim immigrants. Along with the scientific publications and the presentations in conferences, the UnDRho project plans the editing of a documentary film regarding the interaction at the Ibrahim Pasha Mosque in Rhodes between locals and immigrant Muslims.
Summary of project results
The last five years the European South is faced with a complex of problems pertaining to the economic crisis and the mixed migration flows. This mixture of problems becomes thornier on the islands of the Aegean Sea that constitute a target destination for the migration flows that struggle to reach European soil. In that context Rhodes island presents an interesting social formation with a long history of intercultural interactions. The objectives of the research included, firstly the study of the meaning of cultural diversity by the Rhodian Muslim community, secondly the analysis of their stance towards the Muslim refugees and immigrants and thirdly the exploration of the disposition of developing integration solutions as a community for the fellow Muslim that arrive on the island. Overall, the purposes of the research, that is the development of integration solutions by exploiting the ad hoc social characteristics of places where old and new diversities come in contact has been successfully met. The research started with a bibliographical study. Based on that study, the empirical part of the research was designed with the structure of the sample and the pilot interviews as well as the software development for an online repository of the interviews. The interview phase was then implemented with 18 long interviews with members of the Rhodian Muslim community as well as Muslim immigrants, using the life narrative format which produced the preliminary results of the research. The recorded interviews were then studied.The bibliographical study, the preliminary interviews’ results and the content analysis were used to form policy recommendations that concerns places where traditional and new diversities come in contact and covers in that way the third objective of the research. The research activities were combined with dissemination mainly in the form of a documentary film. An important dissemination activity was also performed with the organisation of an international colloquium in Rhodes that brought together experts in the social management of diversity, from education, law, cultural anthropology and architecture. The project managed to identify strategies and draft, policy recommendations for the successful integration of refugees and immigrants. The policy recommendations suggest the structure and communication of a social openness narrative based on the local cultural diversity examples that constitute integrated features in different societies.
Summary of bilateral results