Refugee resettlement volunteers as (inter)cultural mediators?

ABSTRACT

Refugee resettlement organizations hope that, by acting as intercultural mediators who navigate multiple cultural perspectives and translate them for others, volunteers will foster reciprocal adaptation by refugees and host nationals. However, intercultural mediation is challenging when divergent cultural frameworks generate discomfort or misunderstanding. Based on interviews with refugee resettlement volunteers, this study documents how volunteers positioned themselves in their narratives of interactions with and about refugees and how they attributed authority about what constituted appropriate cultural practices. Analysis of the varied “self” positions that volunteers adopted reveals that even motivated, knowledgeable individuals who want to respect diversity may inadvertently hinder adaptation.

KEYWORDS:

• Adaptation
• refugee resettlement volunteers
• intercultural mediation
• authority
• narrative analysis

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Editor Todd Sandel and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful questions and helpful comments. I also wish to thank the volunteer support workers at Refugee Services for sharing the challenges of intercultural mediation with me.