Multiculturalism as the Normative Context of Immigrant Reception: Somali Immigrant Inclusion in Lewiston, Maine

Abstract

Drawing on data gathered through ethnographic fieldwork, I examine the process of normative incorporation as it occurs through the establishment of group recognition and representation among a new immigrant group settling in a new immigrant destination. I argue that Somali immigrant incorporation in the small, white American, new destination city of Lewiston, Maine was characterised by (1) the recognition of and partnership with Somali organisations and individuals who might represent the Somali community; (2) tensions between the assumed homogeneity of the Somali community and the reality of limited group cohesiveness; and (3) declining concerns about the authentic leadership position of representative organisations and increasing interest in working with an organisation that embodied the ideals of multiculturalism. I show that these organisational struggles shaped the development of a public, secular Somaliness that fit the parameters of the mainstream and undercut attention to practical challenges of Somali immigrant incorporation. My observations provide insight into the multicultural context of immigrant reception in other locations and among other immigrant groups.

Keywords:

• Multiculturalism
• Migrant Incorporation
• Migrant Settlement
• Ethnography
• New Destinations
• Somali Migrants
• Muslim Migrants

Notes

[1] This paper is not intended primarily as a contribution to Somali Studies literature. For additional information on Somali immigrants please see Berns-McGown (2007), Kusow and Bjork (2007) and Huisman et al. (2011).

[2] Bloemraad (2006) notes the material resources provided for refugee resettlement and adjustment services assist the incorporation of refugees. Immigrants who do not receive such services are more poorly incorporated into public life.

[3] For more about interpretive approach see Reed (2011).

[4] I discuss these varied initiatives elsewhere (see Voyer 2013b).

[5] Ford (2004) also observes that Somali immigrants see the development of Somali organisations and institutions as the key to the group's success.

[6] That Somali organisations have arisen in Sweden (Carlson et al. 2012), a national context that, far from welcoming such groups in within governance, treats them with suspicion, suggests that Somalis in Lewiston were not organising merely because the city was looking for organisations.

[7] Besteman (2012) questions the ethnic distinctiveness of this group.

[8] For another approach to considering the ‘manners’ of multiculturalism, see Voyer (2011).

[9] In 2013 UNICEF estimated that fully 98 per cent of Somali girls and women were subjected to the practices of FGM/C.