Negotiating the sacred: the lived religion of Eritrean newcomers and their process of integration in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

This research analysed the data gathered from ten interviews with Eritrean newcomers living in Amsterdam on the relation between their experiences of lived religion and the experience of their process of integration in the Netherlands. The narratives reflect the participants’ attempts to combine their religious worlds, which are one of the few things they brought from Eritrea, with their new lives in their newly found place of residence. The narratives provide rich examples of their willingness to negotiate the ‘rules of religion’ with ‘the rules of the host culture’. Finally, suggestions for the helping professions and care providers of newcomers’ service will be offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Eritrean newcomers
• lived religion
• immigration
• integration
• the Netherlands
• Eritrean-Orthodox church of Tewahedo

Introduction

The aim of this study is to gain more understanding of the integration process of recently fled Eritreans in the Netherlands. After the Syrians, the Eritreans make up the largest group of asylum seekers in the Netherlands (SCP 2018). Based on our involvement in the field of social welfare, immigration and academia, we have drawn the conclusion that daily religious practices, which play a significant role in the lives of the recently arrived Eritreans in the Netherlands, is still an under-studied subject which deserves more attention in the academic and professional spheres. From our personal experiences, we claim that the way everyday religion intervenes with the lives of Eritrean newcomers, is often difficult to comprehend for the professionals that work with them. Simultaneously, we have witnessed the struggle of the newcomers in an attempt to stay committed to their religious lives whilst trying to adjust to a new, often secular, surrounding. We are therefore convinced that a better understanding of the world of the Eritrean immigrants in the Netherlands would benefit the newcomers as well as the hosting society.

This study will examine the role of lived religion in the lives of the Eritrean refugees. Moreover, this research will show how Eritrean newcomers conceptualise their experience of integration in relation to their everyday religious practices. It therefore draws its data from the narratives of ten Eritrean refugees living in Amsterdam. The main research question is: How do the lived religious realities of Eritrean newcomers relate to their experience of integration in the Netherlands?

Throughout this article, the word ‘newcomer’ will be used as a replacement of the word ‘refugee’ due to its political neutrality and because the word ‘refugee’ refers to a specific legal status. The term ‘newcomer’ does not refer to any type of legal status and can refer to both status holders and asylum seekers. The term, therefore, simply refers to one who recently arrived (Gore et al. 2019). Within this paper the duration of recently is standardised to be on arrival within the last ten years.

Context and problem identification

Eritrea, although five times the size of Belgium, is a relatively small country located in the horn of Africa, right in between Sudan and Ethiopia. While Eritrea currently is not at war, there is little sign of peace. The country is scarred by decades of a ‘neither war nor peace’ situation with neighbouring Ethiopia (SCP 2018). This ‘frozen conflict’ serves as a legitimising factor for the limited freedoms of the country’s residents. Large parts of the population have been mobilised into military service. Participation in the military service is mandatory from the age of seventeen, with an indefinite duration. Just like in a state of war, other freedoms also are limited: there is no freedom of press; limited freedom of movement; limited freedom of personal choice; a silenced opposition; and significant governmental control (SCP 2018). As a result, large groups of Eritreans are leaving the country, often undertaking long and dangerous journeys in order to gain better living circumstances in their new places of residence. Eritrea, with a number of 459.390 refugees in 2016, makes up the ninth largest group of refugees in the world. People are fleeing Eritrea at such a rapid extend that the country is now tagged as the ‘fastest emptying country in the world’ (SCP 2018). Within the Netherlands, the Eritreans make up the second largest group of asylum seekers: the country estimates its Eritrean population to be around 20.000 citizens (SCP 2018).

With the exception of Somalia, no country in Africa contains a homogenous population who all share the same language, religion and history (Paterman 1990). Eritrea can be divided into nine peoples, all speaking their own languages and practicing their own religions (KIS 2017). The country permits four religions: the Eritrean Orthodox Church; the Roman Catholic Church; The Lutheran Evangelical Church and the Sunni Islam. However, practicing any other religious beliefs is illegal and penal. The vast majority of Eritreans in the Netherlands are Christians, as most Eritrean Muslims flee to neighbouring countries with Islamic cultures. 90 per cent of the Eritreans in the Netherlands adhere to the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Eritrean Orthodox Christianity advocates a relatively traditional belief system in which traditional gender roles, family constellations, and sexual relations play a key role (SCP 2018).

A Dutch governmental report on Eritrean status holders shares their concerns about this particular group of newcomers. They are young – half of them have not even reached their twenties as yet; they often are poorly educated; they mostly come from rural areas; the majority of them suffer from various traumas; and the gap between Dutch and Eritrean culture is large. This report, carried out in November 2018, concluded that these and other factors result in a problematised process of integration (SCP 2018)

Another concern is that of the influence of the Orthodox Christian messages on the integration of the Eritreans in the Netherlands (KIS 2017). It explicitly raises the question whether this message is suitable for Dutch culture. This is because, according to the KIS report, it includes the prohibition of anti-conception, the encouragement of girls to marry young, and exhibits an aversion to homosexuality.

The question arises as to whether their devotion to an Orthodox Christian Church will have a positive or a negative influence on their process of integration. Could the Christian background work as an advantage in the integration process in contrast to the Muslim Syrians? Or is the Eritrean form of Orthodox Christianity so far removed from the Dutch Christian tradition that it won’t make a difference? One also could speculate that a religious devotion, whichever one that might be, complicates the integration into a highly secularised country like the Netherlands.

Besides two Dutch governmental reports, little research has been done on the role of religion in the lives of Eritrean refugees in the Netherlands. One conclusion of the 2018 report illustrates the need for a more personalised and specific policy – the hypothesis being that a more unambiguous policy, especially designed for Eritreans, would benefit their process of integration. In order to create this kind of policy, more research on Eritrean asylum seekers in the Netherlands is required. Research on this particular group of newcomers also is relevant as the current climate in the Netherlands, similar to other Western European countries, grows increasingly more hostile to newcomers (Gore et al. 2019). A better understanding of the role of religion in the Eritrean integration process would therefore benefit not only the hosting society but also the newly arriving immigrants, as it would provide insight in the advantages and pitfalls of the process. Therefore, this research will focus on the relation between the newcomers’ experience of integration and their lived religious realities in the Netherlands and develop recommendations accordingly.

Theoretical-Methodological framework

This study focuses on the experiences of everyday religion in relation to the daily experience of integrating into a new country against the background of socio-religious contexts. The term ‘lived religion’ was popularised in the late twentieth century as a remedy for the shortcomings of the mainstream theological and sociological perspectives, which treat religion as a stable system focusing on its official institutions, formal positions, ancient traditions and practices, devoted creeds and hierarchical structures (Ammerman 2014). The focus on lived religion will provide an extensive context for the religious lives of the Eritreans in the Netherlands.

The study of lived religion often is compared with that of ‘popular religion’ (Orsi 1985) or ‘implicit religion’ (Bailey 2001). However, religious scholar Nancy Ammerman (2014, 190) states: ‘Lived religion is not […] identical to popular religion’. She, and other lived religion scholars, argue that although lived religion takes its starting point in what people experience, practice, feel, desire, think and touch, it is important not merely to focus on the individual, everyday religious experience (Orsi 1985; Ammerman 2014; Talvacchia, Pettinger, and Larrimore 2015). In other words, lived religion should include study of both the private and the public space study of individual as well as communal practices.

The approach of this research to the Eritrean experience of lived religion in the Netherlands attends to its multi-layered complexity. It will focus on religious narratives, relations, materials, spaces, memories, and practices and connect these to the stories of assimilating to Dutch culture. In this article, we focus on a large number of performative behaviours and discursive frameworks through which integration and assimilation are practised as the basis for everyday religion. Put simply, it provides an analysis of lived religion as it is lived; in its negotiation, compromises, contradictions, and messiness. This framework is, therefore, chosen to construct a more comprehensive concept of the role of religion in the lives of Eritrean immigrants.

The theoretical framework of lived religion brings together a combination of perspectives; it is a multi-layered practice and therefore, should be approached as one that goes beyond the normative and institutional prescribed forms of religion (Ganzevoort and Sremac 2017, 2019; Sremac and Jindra 2020). This methodological structure consists of a multi-layered and interdisciplinary approach to religion from the perspective of the ordinary people, covering a wide range of scientific discourses. Lived religious subjectivities are helpful here to illuminate the varied set of discursive frameworks, practices and performances that work to negotiate the sacred in the lives of the Eritrean immigrants in the Netherlands. As there is no widely accepted set of epistemological and ontological premises in regard to the use of lived religion as a theoretical framework, lived religion is better described a methodological approach rather than as a theoretical framework. The methodological perspectives within this framework are held together by a contextual narrative approach.

Within this article the process of integration refers to the social- and cultural- dimensions of integration. Cultural integration relates to the process of participation into a new cultural environment referring to processes of behavioural and attitudinal changes within a person’s habits and belief systems (Heckman and Schnapper 2003). Social integration refers to the membership in a new society, which will reflect feelings of belonging and identification, particularly in relation to the social, cultural and religious context (Heckman and Schnapper 2003).

In particular, the study will focus on the individual choices people make in order to negotiate and assimilate to their new surroundings due to fluidity of the host culture. It will highlight the process of negotiating important or even sacred parts of their individual lives in order to successfully adapt. It will therefore focus on the process of negotiating ‘religious rules’ with the ‘rules of the new society’ (for the nexus between lived religion and migration see Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000; Walls 2002; Carnes and Yang 2004; Adogame and Weisskoppel 2005; Frieder and Aamoah-Gyadu 2011).

In order to examine the relation between the lived religious subjectivities of the Eritreans and their experiences of assimilation in the Netherlands, this research will use a contextual narrative approach. It is this lived experience that itself invites an interdisciplinary and narrative approach. This method is chosen because the Eritrean narratives of their experiences of their first few years in the Netherlands will provide valuable insight into their process of integration. The narratives will construct and contextualise the process of integration based on the personal experiences of the ones integrating and thus will offer an inside perspective on the matter. This perspective highlights the importance of stories being told by the ones who have experienced them, rather than the stories brought by the dominant group. This is important because, when it comes to narratives on immigration, the voices of the immigrants themselves are often unheard (Grimm 2015).

Study participants

The data for this study is constructed out of ten semi-structured interviews with Eritrean newcomers living in Amsterdam. The sampling strategy focused on finding the most suitable participants and consists out of the following criteria: (1) participants must have arrived in the Netherlands between now and 2010; (2) adhere to Eritrean-orthodox Church of Tewahedo; (3) possess a basic understanding of the Dutch language; (4) have the ability to express themselves in Dutch; and (5) be willing and motivated to be interviewed.

The criterion on the arrival in the Netherlands within the last ten years was set because the aim of this research is to examine the process of integration and negotiation of newly arrived Eritrean immigrants. The respondents therefore are all Eritreans belonging to the third group of Eritrean immigrants in the Netherlands who have fled the country after 2010. The first group of Eritreans, the majority of them being political refugees, arrived in the Netherlands between the 1980s and ‘90’s, while the second wave occurred between 1998 and 2010 as a result of the border conflict. Thus, this research sets its criterion on ten years, assuring that the respondents belong to the third group of newcomers, who have all recently started their process of integration.

All the respondents were approached as well as interviewed in the emancipation centre of SEZO. This is the same centre in which Freija, one of the researchers, works as a project leader. The challenges that arise when work-relations intertwines with research-relations, will be discussed in the results section. Although all the respondents were free to choose the interview location that they considered to be most convenient or comfortable for them, they all chose the centre. Within this centre, they participate in different kinds of educational courses: some of them follow informal Dutch language classes provided by volunteers and others participate in official one-year courses facilitated by SEZO and the college of Amsterdam.

The participants were each informed about the content of the research, the aims of the study, their right to opt out of the study, their right to stay anonymous, and the confidentiality conditions. All the respondents agreed on being recorded and none of the respondents opted out of the study. The minority of the respondents preferred to stay anonymous. However, in order to protect all the participants no real names were used throughout this article. Pseudonyms are used as references for the quotes in the interview results.

Out of the twenty-five people approached about the interview, nineteen people were willing to participate. The selection of the final ten participants was based on their age, sex, and level of Dutch. This selection was made in order to have a well-balanced and representative group of respondents. As a result of the sampling strategy the interviews were conducted with five male and five female Eritrean newcomers, who have all arrived in the Netherlands within the last nine years. Their ages vary between the age of 18 and 40, with the majority of them being under the age of 25. Although their living circumstances vary, some are living at asylum seeker centre, and a few have their own apartments, others lived in a social housing project combining newcomers with local students. All the participants are currently based in Amsterdam. The majority of them are living their new lives on their own, as they have left their families behind. Only two out of ten respondents are currently living with their families: one of them arrived as the result of a family reunification process and the other managed to re-unify with his family in Amsterdam a couple years after his arrival.

Empirical framework

The empirical material used throughout this narrative research is divided into three themes: (1) experience of integration into the Netherlands; (2) experience of lived religion; and (3) the role of lived religion in the integration and negotiation process. Following these lines, the results of the interviews are divided into these same three topics. The first part draws from the interview results on integration; the second part focuses on the lived religious experience; and the third part analyses the relation between the two.

In practice, these three analytic themes were each developed out of standardised interview topics. The first theme was developed from: (a) remarkable characteristics of the Dutch culture; (b) feelings and attitude towards Dutch culture; (c) ability and willingness to adapt to Dutch culture. The second theme was shaped by: (a) daily religious practices; (b) relationship with the sacred in the Netherlands; (c) the materiality of religious activity. The last theme contained questions concerning (a) practicing religion in secular spaces; (b) negotiating the rules of religion and the rules of Dutch society; (c) the positive and negative influences of lived religion on the process of integration into the Netherlands. This empirical framework will open up a new conceptual space for understanding the advantages as well as the challenges of the Eritrean process of integration.

Every interview was written down in the form of a paraphrased transcript. As the interviews were conducted in Dutch, the paraphrased transcripts also are written in Dutch and have not been translated to English. The quotes used in this article are personal translations. The inductive and comparative analysis started after an overall impression of the content and was obtained through the reading and re-reading of these transcripts. All narratives were coded on two levels. First level codes were broad and descriptive, focusing on the key aspects of the interview answers. Second-level codes were more analytic, categorising more specific and conceptual topics. A cross-case analysis was performed after the individual analysis was completed. This analysis is more comparative in nature, looking for high degrees of contrast between the narratives. In order to establish patterns, the cross-case analysis specifically looked for similarities within the narratives.

Results

Adopting to newly found freedoms: ‘If wanted to believe in that closet, I could!’

The first part of the results focuses on the narratives on the experience of integration into the Netherlands. It highlights how the Eritrean respondents speak about Dutch culture. What do they think and feel about the certain, to them, remarkable elements of Dutch culture, and how are they adapting to this new society? The most remarkable characteristic of Dutch culture, which was evident within all ten interviews, is the notion of freedom. The narratives brought forward certain positive as well as negative attitudes towards these newly experienced freedoms. Their stories thereby show their struggle as well as their willingness to adapt to these elements of Dutch culture.

The narratives often included comparisons between Dutch and Eritrean life, stating that the freedom they experienced in the Netherlands was in complete opposition to what they had experienced in Eritrea. The participants often referred to the freedom of religion, freedom of sexuality, and freedom of choice. When asked what their feelings towards these newly found freedoms were, all respondents – without exception – responded politely that Dutch freedom was good. However, when asked to elaborate, certain topics of experienced freedom turned out to be received with more difficulty than others. Nearly all respondents used the topic of homosexuality, all though never directly asked, as an example of a freedom they had seen in the Netherlands. It was a phenomenon they had never seen before and many had found this new revelation to be shocking at first. However, out of the eight respondents choosing to speak about the topic of homosexuality, only one admitted to still struggle with the matter. The other seven all stated to (1) to have gotten used to it; (2) understanding and accepting it to be part of Dutch culture and freedom; (3) wanting to respect everyone as part of their religious beliefs. Summarising this experience of newly founds freedom, two of the participants stated:

At first, we were really scared. There is a lot of freedom here: women with women and men with men. This is forbidden by religion. This does not happen in our own country. In the beginning this is a little difficult. We thought it was weird but now we understand everything. (Mehret)

In the past I would have said that this is not good; men with men. This cannot be. My religion says that this is not good, but my gut says that I can choose. I can choose what I think of that. That is my gut. What these people do is nobody’s business. Here you are free. My gut says that I can choose. (Abel)

Although the freedom of religion was in general perceived as a very positive aspect of Dutch law, almost all participants showed uneasy feelings toward the amount of un-believers they had come across. Again, this was something none of them had come across before. In their country of birth, everyone had been either a Christian or a Muslim. Feelings of discomfort towards this element of Dutch culture were evident throughout the sample. Participants showed conflicting attitudes towards the high degree of secularity within their new society.

Yes, a lot of things I had never seen before. A lot of people here are not religious. How do you mean you don’t believe? I don’t believe. Who is God? At first, I was very shocked by this. It’s new for me that people do not have a God. I thought if someone doesn’t believe, I cannot be in contact with them. (Tesfay)

The experience of integration of the Eritrean respondents is closely related to a newly found experience of different types of freedom. The interviews made evident that they associate their own process of integration with their attempts to adapt to these particular characterises of their new surroundings. Participants described the attitudinal and behavioural changes they made as part of their process of integration into a society in which the religious and sexual freedom is in direct contrast with the morals and values that they brought over from Eritrea. The participants thereby show that their willingness to negotiate their previous believe systems in order to adapt a positive attitude towards the Dutch freedoms is directly related to their awareness of the importance of integration.

A conversation with the sacred: ‘I discuss the day with God’

The second part of the results relates to narratives on the lived religious realities of the Eritrean refugees in the Netherlands. It focuses on their daily religious practices, rituals, the materiality of religious activity, and relation with the sacred whilst being in the process of integrating into a new and highly secularised society. A daily religious practice all the respondents mentioned is that of praying. All ten participants said they pray several times a day, often starting and ending the day with a little prayer. The narratives of the Eritrean respondents on prayers explained that they experience the process of praying in twofold – one to show gratitude and one to negotiate:

Yes, every night we say that same prayer [for gratitude] but I also talk for myself with God. […] About what happened today. What did I do? Have I not been nice to people? I speak about that with God. (Armani)

All respondents explained the grateful prayers as a stable and daily structure. The other type of prayer most of the participants defined as a conversation with the sacred. These prayers are not directly turned to God but often are directed to Maria or one of the angels. During these prayers one would admit to their sins, ask for forgiveness, discuss problems and sometimes cry.

Another prominent element within the Eritrean narratives on lived religious subjectivities is the value they attribute to the material aspects of religious life. Nine out of the ten participants wore a necklace with a cross, while ten out of ten stated they owned several pieces of Christian imagery. Their stories made evident that the necklace is an important part – if not a crucial part – of being a Christian as well as an Eritrean. The necklace therefor visualises their identity. One of the participants compared the wearing of the necklace with identifying yourself with a passport:

If you are Christian, you have to wear one. That is the rule of religion. If someone tells me that he is a Christian, but he does not wear a necklace, I won’t believe him. It is the same as being in the Netherlands. If you say you are Dutch, you have to have a passport. Otherwise no one will believe that you are Dutch. (Amanuel)

This interplay between national and religious identity was evident throughout the sample. The majority of participants stated that the purpose of their necklace was directly related to their Christian identity. Many participants said that the cross around their neck is who they are: ‘I’m a Christian’. This shows how their religion operates as an ‘ethnic-like’ identity marker and group binder. It seems like Christian identity often overtakes their Eritrean identity. In relation to their integration in the Netherlands this, partly, declares their feelings of discomfort towards the large amount of non-religious people in the Netherlands. If Christianity is such a crucial part of their identity, it can be difficult to relate to a society in which this identity marker is often non-existent.

Besides this element of identity, other factors were contributed to the function of the necklace; the necklace is touched for strength and during prayers; the necklace is said to hold of nightmares and protect against bad spirits; the necklace is kissed when asking for forgiveness; the necklace is kissed to show love for God and Jesus; and the necklace is used as a remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice. The interviews thereby made clear that other religious imagery also often is used for more than aesthetic purposes. Several participants said to use photos of Maria during their prayers.

The majority of the stories on their daily religious practices and personal relation with the sacred included the practice of apologising to the sacred. When describing their experience of lived religion in the Netherlands, many respondents referred to feelings of guilt: making mistakes and apologising to the sacred; negotiating the sacred and compromising religious rules.

People make a lot of mistakes. During the fasting period you are not allowed to look at other women. Thus, I don’t want to but sometimes it happens in the Netherlands. Especially, in the Netherlands. I want to focus my attention on God but struggle with that sometimes. You have to be careful that you don’t direct your attention to someone else [than god]. You have to be careful’. (Tesfay)

Dancing and chatting all day is not good. Saying bad things … […] It is not good. We are young people. We gossip but it is not allowed. […] After I go home, I pray and then I say sorry. (Lula)

The Eritrean narratives on rebellion show how this process of guilt and reconciliation plays an important role in their experience of lived religion. To regain reconciliation with the sacred after breaking the rules of the sacred, a process of apology is in order (Lazare 2004). Thus, in order to restore the relationship with the sacred, one has to acknowledge one’s sin and ask for forgiveness (Cohoe 2014). Throughout the interviews it became clear that this process of apology is a regular feature in the lived religious experience of all the participants.

When it comes to this religious experience of guilt in the Netherlands, it seemed like many of the respondents noticed a staggering line in their feelings of guilt ever since they arrived in the Netherlands. Some of them relate this linear relationship to the fact that they were only children in Eritrea. As they have now reached a state of adolescence, they are more aware of their mistakes and its consequences. Others reason that there is more distraction in the Netherlands. One 23-year-old male spoke of his struggles to keep his focus on God whilst being in the Netherlands:

For example, in the summer, when people tend to wear short clothes  … Well, then it is difficult because I would fall in love with her. That is difficult because you’re not allowed to [have these feelings] during Easter. During Easter there should only be God. […] It’s difficult because we don’t have a church here. In Eritrea, during Easter, we spend all our time in church. (Tesfay)

Thus, the interviews made evident that praying, visualising Christian identity, feeling guilty and apologising are the most prominent elements in the lived religious experiences of the Eritrean participants in the Netherlands. It became clear that the participants maintain a strong relationship with the sacred as prayers of gratitude and negotiating are on a daily order. The narratives also clarify that the religious subjectivities of the Eritrean respondents in the Netherlands is scared by constant feelings of guilt. Living in the Netherlands sometimes leads to compromising the sacred as Dutch society is sometimes found to be distractive.

Balancing new and old living worlds: ‘The city centre of Amsterdam is no place to fast’

The last part of the results focuses on the relation between the lived religious experiences of the Eritrean participants in relation to their experience of integration into the Netherlands. Has daily religion been a helpful factor, or did it cultivate complications? How do the aspects of lived religion as they know them from Eritrea, fit in to their new lives with its new secular spaces? Besides questions on the functionality of religion in the integration process, the respondents were asked whether they knew examples in which their religious believes were in direct contradiction to the customaries of Dutch society. Prominent topics in their answers features: work duties versus church duties; fasting in the Netherlands; gaining strength and necessary tools from the sacred; and negotiating the rules of religion in order to properly adapt to Dutch culture.

The negotiation of the sacred is a common phenomenon under religious minorities living in multi-cultural societies (Coleman and White 2006). This re-examination of certain religious protocols, often results in a better understanding of the way both worlds can intertwine. It leads to a more peaceful process of integration for the newcomers as well as for the hosting society (Coleman and White 2006). An often-named topic of concern was that of working on the weekends. Some of the respondents strongly believe that working on the weekends is forbidden. Saturday and Sunday are the days of God and should be reserved for church services and praying only. However, about half of the participants used this phenomenon as an example of their integration, stating that they were willing to compromise some of the sacred rules in order to adjust to the society around them.

Yes, I find that [working on Sunday] difficult but this is not my country. […] In the Netherlands you have to work … Always work. But I live in the Netherlands now, and this is the culture here, so I’m also going to work. (Armani)

Another sacred component, being compromised by some of the participants is that of the fast. Fasting is a large part of Orthodox Christian Eritrean culture (c.f. Meinardus 1999). The fasting periods vary but are estimated to be around 200 days a year. During these days one refrains from sexual intercourse and eating animal products such as dairy, fish and meat (KIS 2017). As these days are considered to be sacred, the level of religious commitment on these days rises. An annual period of fasting is the forty days before and during Easter (Meinardus 1999). Several participants spoke about their difficulties combining this religious period with their new lives in the Netherlands. One of the participants shared a story on the time he used to work as a bicycle repairman in the red-light district neighbourhood of Amsterdam.

I worked on the Dam [city centre of Amsterdam] for five days a week. It was during a time that we were fasting but on the Dam you can see bad things. I have seen really bad things on the Dam but I had to work there so it was a little bit weird because when you are fasting you are not allowed to see bad things. […] I was not allowed to look so I had to look at the ground. (Abraham)

Another important theme in many of the narratives was the function of their religious practices in relation to their integration. Without exception, the participants all recalled that they have not gotten any practical, non-abstract help from the churches they attend. However, most of the participants agreed that the church services provided them stress-relief, feelings of warmth and strength, as well as social contacts with other Eritreans. More support, however, seems to be gained from their personal relations with the sacred. Participants, for example, mentioned that they feel the presence of Maria constantly. All the participants thereby shared stories of the difficult times they endured and still endure after their arrivals in Europe. The stories included feelings of loneliness, missing their families and experiencing extremely high levels of stress. The majority of the participants claimed to have received strength from God. Many have said to regularly discuss their difficulties with the sacred: thanking them as well as asking them for strength. One of the participants believes that the success of his integration was because of God, claiming it was because of God, that he now speaks the Dutch language.

A last important theme, evident in the results of the interviews, is that of the philosophy of Eritrean Orthodox Christianity and its relation integration into a multi-cultural society such as the Netherlands. The most prominent subject throughout the ten interviews was the topic of respect. Without failure, all respondents mentioned the importance of respect at least more than twice throughout their interviews. It is evident that the religious beliefs of all ten participants are based on a common belief in respect for all God’s creatures. This philosophy is likely to have a positive influence on the multicultural and interreligious society, as it demands a respectful cohabitation with all human beings.

Believing is important. All people are important. I think religion is very good for all people that believe, also for Muslims, for all the people. It helps you with your feelings. It helps you with your feelings of togetherness. All religions are good. Not only the Orthodox-Christian one. […] You have to respect everyone. Everyone who believes needs to respect everyone. That is my opinion. (Aabel)

Yes, I respect people. We learn that in church: respect. We don’t tell people what to do. We do what we do and we have respect for people who do it differently. That is a rule from the church: you have to respect people. (Amanuel)

It thus seems that this Eritrean Orthodox Christian message that the ten participants coherently shared is one which can be of great use while trying to start a new life in a city which has numerous and different cultures and religions. Within the narratives, it is evident that the high values of respect often result in willingness to negotiate certain religious rules in order to advance the process of integration. Thus, although many aspects of Dutch culture, such as profound freedoms, are often in direct contrast with certain rules of religion, this same religion seems to positively influence their process of integration as it inspires them to change their attitudes, behaviour and personal choices in order to be respectful towards their new society. It seems that this message most emphasised in their experiences of lived religion helps them construct a positive attitude towards their new, often secular, surrounding.

Concluding remarks

This research analysed the data gathered from ten interviews with Eritrean refugees living in Amsterdam on the relation between their experiences of lived religion and their experiences of their process of integration into the Netherlands. The narratives reflect the attempt to combine their religious worlds with their new lives in their newly found place of residence and their willingness to negotiate the sacred in order to find a balance between the rules of religion and the rules of society.

An important topic in their narratives of adapting to Dutch culture is their acquaintance with the reality of freedom in the Netherlands. Some of these realities, such as homosexuality, nudity, unmarried couples and unbelievers, led to conflicting feelings for the majority of the participants. Although they have learned to be respectful of all God’s creatures, some of these practices are a direct violation of the rules of the sacred.

The narratives on the lived religious realities in the Netherlands show how topics of sin and guilt feature a prominent role in the religious lives of the participants. In relation to the Netherlands, it became clear that some of the participants struggled to obey the law of God even more in their new place of residence. Due to the lack of having their own church, they experienced more exposure to the distractions of the outside world during sacred times. The making of mistakes – as the participants called it – seemed to be an accepted part of daily life.

The interviews made clear that in order for these participants to successfully adapt to Dutch culture, certain elements of the sacred have to be negotiated. Examples entailed working on Saturdays and being surrounded by scarcely dressed women during fasting periods. Participants explained the compromises they had made – such as to only work on Saturday if your only other option was to get fired; or looking to ground when working near the red-light district on fasting days.

To conclude, the combination of this willingness to negotiate the sacred and the Eritrean Christian values of the importance of respecting all living creatures, will have a positive influence on the Eritrean process of integration in to the multi-cultural and interreligious society of the Netherlands. This willingness to negotiate, reconsider, and compromise religious elements insinuates the ability to successfully adapt to Dutch culture and will therefore have a positive influence on the Eritrean process of integration. The negotiation will help them find a balance between the protocols imposed by society and the laws of the sacred.

Limitations and future research directions

It is important to note that this research has several limitations. The limitations concern: trustworthiness of the interview data; lingual barriers; the small quantity of participants; the interview location and the relation between the researchers and the respondents; the absence of the examination of the liturgical and religious rituals of the Eritreans in relation to their role in coping with cultural shifts.

Firstly, the interview location came with its own challenges and limitations. Although all participants were asked to name the location in which they would feel most comfortable being interviewed, they all picked the development centre in which they were approached and in which one of the researchers worked part-time. It is therefore possible that the space in which the interviews were conducted influenced the power-relations within the interviews (Elwood and Martin 2000). Although we recognise this challenge, we believe that the participants had to be interviewed at their location of choice. It is therefore likely that since the relation between the interviewer and the participants was already established, a change of location would have little influence on a potentially imbalanced power relation.

Another challenge was that of the language barrier between the respondent and the researcher. As this research focuses on the narratives on integration, it is important the participants are – as we speak – in the process of integration. This means many of them have not yet mastered the Dutch language to a full extend. This language barrier complicated the interviews: questions needed to be short and uncomplicated; time was needed to explain certain words; and the participants sometimes struggled to narrate their stories. However, as one of us has a lot of previous experience in speaking to the target group, we believe she was able to make the participants feel comfortable as well as help them to speak openly.

Our proposals for further study, therefore, are suggestive and not definite. While this study contributes to the field by better understanding how Eritrean newcomers living in Amsterdam negotiate the sacred in order to find a balance between the rules of religion and the rules of society due to fluidity of the host culture, much future work needs to be pursued in order to understand the mechanism more clearly.

Lastly, some suggestions on further research on the topic of integration are:

1. Future research could focus more on what the Eritrean process of integration – according to them – requires in order to improve.

2. Studies that focus on the individual experience of immigrants are underrepresented within the academic debate. Therefore, more research on the narratives of immigrants and their personal experiences should be done.

3. This study could be replicated in terms of methodology; other frameworks than that of lived religion could be studied in a similar matter.

4. Further research should focus on the liturgical and religious practices of Eritrean immigrants in order to examine their role in the Eritrean experience of coping with the cultural shifts.

Our proposals for further study, therefore, are suggestive and not definite. While this study contributes to the field by better understanding how Eritrean newcomers living in Amsterdam negotiate the sacred in order to find a balance between the rules of religion and the rules of society due to fluidity of the host culture, much future work needs to be pursued in order to understand the mechanism more clearly.

Recommendations for the helping professions

The six main aspects we have identified that can help practitioners in working with newcomers include the following.

1. Provide Eritrean newcomers living in the Netherlands with a forum to examine their life histories and explore their spiritual concerns;

2. Provide Eritrean newcomers a safe environment for sharing and articulating their migration stories;

3. Provide Eritrean newcomers an opportunity for exploring and examining alternatives to guilt through storytelling;

4. Encourage the impact of everyday religious subjectivities and social support in one’s functioning;

5. Help Eritrean newcomers make meaningful connections between their previous life and new (integration and negotiations) processes and the latter’s relationship to their current lives in the Netherlands;

6. Appreciate Eritrean’s own cultural and spiritual beliefs.

These aspects would benefit the newcomers as well as the hosting society. Practitioners involved in the field of social welfare, therefore, need to understand the spiritual nature of newcomers’ narratives because it allows practitioners to be better caregivers if practitioners understand lived religion, faith grammar, and canonical language.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Freija Derks works in the field of social welfare, in which she coordinates several social projects which intervene with immigrants, refugees and status holders.

Dr. Srdjan Sremac is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Religion and Theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and co-director of the Amsterdam Center for the Study of Lived Religion at the same university.