7. CONCLUDING REMARKS
7.3 How to Improve the Quality of Information?
Even though it may sound as a simplistic and banal suggestion, but asking asylum seekers what they require of information and knowledge, rather than asking them to evaluate an already pre-defined and static information program, can prove to be an effective tool to improve the quality of the information in reception centers. Consequently, it will emancipate asylum seekers from the “box” in which they have been placed, where stereotypes and false presumptions define them. To elaborate on this, I would like to use a quote by one of the respondents, as an example of his perception of effective information.
He asserts that learning about Norway’s social and political history, rather than about the abstract values, is more important for gaining a deeper understanding of the country and, consequently, preparing for integration:
I have been here for nine months, and I have not learned anything about the Vikings. Do you know that most residents in reception centers do not know the name of the Norwegian king? Do you know that many do not know that Bergen was once burnt down and rebuilt, and that it was an important point of commerce between Norway and the rest of the world? This is useful information that, in my opinion, can give us a better understanding of Norwegian society, and, consequently, enable for a better integration (Amr).
It is difficult to find one concrete way to create “good-quality” information in reception centers. However, this study shows that today’s Information Program lacks what it takes to be regarded as effective. Authoritarian, one-way information, where the recipients are treated as objects, does not correspond with the definition of good integration.
Improving the quality of the Information Program can, therefore, be done on two levels, the national and the local. On the national level, asylum seekers can be equal participants in evaluating, revising and reforming the content of the Information Program, together with the UDI. Consequently, asylum seekers will have their saying about the overarching national program, and will be able to influence it through active dialogue.
On the local level, i.e. in reception centers, asylum seekers can be given the chance to influence and determine the topics that will be discussed in the classrooms. Here, information can be based on local dialogue between asylum seekers and the reception center.
This can be effective, because it opens for dialogue on the grassroots level. Consequently, the bureaucratic grip and national guidelines will be loosened, and the local level will be given more freedom and flexibility. Simultaneously, it requires that the nationally designed Information Program is less rigid.
To sum up, even though reception centers are a temporary domicile, asylum seekers feel isolated from the rest of the Norwegian society. One-way information only adds to this isolation, and it will strengthen the division between “us” and “them”. It is perhaps constructive to minimalize the amount of one-way Information sessions, and, instead, increase active interaction between asylum seekers and the local society where they live.
Through meetings, seminars and activities between asylum seekers and Norwegians,44 one creates a platform for interaction. Not only will this bridge gaps between peoples and cultures; it will also reinforce the foundation for a successful multicultural and diverse Norwegian society, based on equality and mutual respect. Ultimately, this will support the fact that the populist rhetoric about “us” vs. “them” merely reflects what I choose to call imagined difference.
44 The focus of such meetings can be determined through dialogue between asylum seekers and the administration in the reception center, and dialogue with local organizations.
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