Where does the civic lie?
Exploring non-traditional civic participation of immigrants living in the US
Is civic participation on the decline? Or have we yet to understand and find the means to measure new forms of civic engagement? Check out this weeks piece providing some key observations from our pilot study looking into participation by New York City non-citizens.
In a recent research pilot of ours, we took a closer look at civic participation by non-citizens. Ruling out voting we were curious to understand the ways and degrees to which immigrants can get involved in the democratic process as academic research indicates a significant difference in participation based on an immigrant’s citizenship status,. Despite the fact that many activities are open to immigrants in the US. Here are some of our initial observations:
Transactional nature of community engagement
We noticed a strong transactional component in the way non-voting immigrants engaged with their communities. Feelings of being integrated and having a voice within one’s community usually started with local businesses: consumer activism (voting with your wallet), patronizing local businesses and building relationships with local business owners (such as being on a first-name basis), as well as being recognized and greeted by neighbors–– were often first cited as stories of fitting in locally. Enrolling in clubs or associations (such a community gardens or coops) was less frequently referenced.
Focus on the ‘hyperlocal’
Stories of community surfaced by the research often presented a strong focus on the ‘hyperlocal’. Participants defined ‘neighborhood’ as the group of houses forming a contiguous block, and the ability to form part of that ‘neighborhood’ was conditioned on whether or not one lived within that block. Spending time in local shared spaces and businesses (restaurants, coffee houses), building local routines (such as ‘jogging through the park’ or ‘running across a set of streets within the neighborhood’) were often cited by participants. For instance, we noted that participant stories never referenced one’s professional circle.
Identity as immigrant
There was a clear tension between ‘proving yourself as a local’ and pressures to fit in on the one hand–– possibly exacerbated by the felt ‘guilt’ from gentrifying–– vs. on the other hand needing to reaffirm one’s cultural heritage and engaging in practices and behaviors symbolizing attachment to country of origin. Besides stories of ‘hyperlocal’ mentioned above, participants referred to expat communities where they joined cultural activities from ‘back home’ (national holidays, specific foods, music and movies). This led us to identify a paradox–– or at least a fine line, when it comes to balancing one’s identity as a newcomer within a community and connection to roots within country of origin.
Rebuilding informal structures
While structures of support and ties to community often go unnoticed at home seeing how they usually evolve organically, stories surfaced by the research portrayed participants placing more effort and intentionality in rebuilding these informal social structures within their new communities (forming or joining a friends group, meeting new people, enrolling in classes or activities locally).
Making Places for Everyone — With Everyone: Placemaking strategies can spur growth and improve quality of life in cities, but they must be used equitably and ensure community involvement.
On the work of service designers in government: Government was designed, intentionally or not. That means it can be redesigned
Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg: how rebuilding social infrastructure can help heal divisions in our society and move us forward
A lit review of our findings around immigrant civic engagement.
Approaching the “Ladder of Participation” as referred to in civic engagement discourse. Where it works and how it doesn’t, and contextualizing our own research in terms of that model
Deep dives into some of our qualitative work done to date in analogous fields and around voting and not voting during the 2018 midterm elections
Thank you to all those who have already dropped a line and shared your thoughts. And thanks in advance to sharing this with anyone else you think might be interested.
If you think of feedback, suggestions, or people we should meet, please get in touch! You can email us at: 1stpersonprojects@thedifferenceengine.co