Reframing integration. Information marginalization and information resistance among migrant workers
| Pages | 27-48 |
| Published date | 20 September 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-06-2019-0108 |
| Date | 20 September 2019 |
| Author | Jenny Bronstein |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Reframing integration
Information marginalization and information
resistance among migrant workers
Jenny Bronstein
Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore a different perspective about the role that information
plays in the integration process of migrant workers by exploring the views and opinions of individuals and
organizations that work with these communities on a daily basis. The study proposes a new perspective of
Ager and Strang’s framework of integration by looking at its different elements through the perspective
provided by Gibson and Martin’s (2019) concept of information marginalization and Dervin’s sense-making
notion of resistance.
Design/methodology/approach –Ten intermediaries working with migrants were interviewed using
semi-structure interviews. They were analyzed using an integrative approach of deductive and inductive
content analysis and rendered categories drawn from the theoretical frameworks and categories that emerged
from the data.
Findings –The content analysis of the data revealed that information marginalization is characterized by
the lack of cultural knowledge and lack of language proficiency that impact the migrants abilities to fulfill
their everyday needs, experience a safe and stable environment. Information marginalization results in
migrants experiencing self-protective behaviors such as secrecy and an inability to trust information sources
that are not contextualized by insiders. Findings show that information resistance can be overcome by
making information available in relevant formats and distributed through trusted sources.
Social implications –The study revises the notion of information marginalization by trying to understand
the social and cultural gap that from both sides of the issues of integration.
Originality/value –The study presents a different perspective of the role of information in the integration
process of migrants by examining the views and opinions of intermediaries working with these populations.
Also, the study reframes existing notions of information marginalization and resistance by addressing both
sides of the cultural and social gap embodies marginalization.
Keywords Intermediaries, Migrants, Integration, Information behaviour
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In this study, I present the findings from a qualitative investigation that explored the other
side of the issue of integration of migrants; that is, the views and perceptions of information
intermediaries working with migrants in Israel about the integration process. The notion of
integration has been the focus of academic debate in recent years and has been defined in
different ways (Ager and Strang, 2008; Cheung and Phillimore, 2014; Farach et al., 2015;
Gilmartin and Migge, 2015; Harder et al., 2018; Phillimore, 2012). In its broadest sense,
integration means the process or transition by which people who are relatively new to a
country become part of society (Rudiger and Spencer, 2003). Integration is achieved when
“people, whatever their background, live, work, learn and socialise together, based on
shared rights, responsibilities and opportunities”(Ndofor-Tah et al., 2019) while keeping a
measure of their original cultural identity (Threadgold and Court, 2005). Integration is being
characterized today as a multidimensional and multidirectional (Harder et al., 2018) process
that encompasses “access to resources and opportunities as well as social mixing”involving
adjustments by everyone in society (Ndofor-Tah et al., 2019).
Integration is the desired outcome of migration which has been described in the literature
as a transition (Bronstein, 2019; Meleis, 2015) –a disruptive process that fractures migrants’
information landscapes (Lloyd, 2017) separates them from their traditional social networks,
and renders their known information sources and practices inadequate (Giralt, 2015;
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 76 No. 1, 2020
pp. 27-48
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-06-2019-0108
Received 5 June 2019
Revised 14 August 2019
Accepted 19 August 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
27
Reframing
integration
Lloyd et al., 2013). To integrate into their host society, migrants need to find ways to redefine
themselves, redevelop self-agency (Kralik et al., 2006) and learn news “ways of knowing”
(Lloyd, 2017; Martzoukou and Burnett, 2018). Past studies that focused on this population
have investigated the challenges and obstacles migrants face in the process of social
inclusion and integration into their new society (Atiso et al., 2018; Allard and Caidi, 2018;
Bronstein, 2017; Clark et al., 2014; Khoir et al., 2015; Lloyd, 2015).
Migrants are one of the most marginalized population groups worldwide (OECD, 2018).
To adequately design and provide information and services for these populations, LIS
professionals need to understand how marginalization works. This study draws from
Gibson and Martin’s (2019) notion of information marginalization “that describes the
systematic, interactive socio-technical processes that can push and hold certain groups of
people at social ‘margins,’where their needs are persistently ignored or overlooked”(p. 1).
Information marginalization shifts the focus away from the behavior of the information poor
who mistrust their surroundings (Chatman, 1996) and often lack the necessary skills or
abilities to effectively seek and retrieve information (Britz, 2004) toward the institutions and
places in which information poverty is deeply embedded.
In my investigation into the views and perceptions of intermediaries working to
provide information and services to the migrant community, I realized that the obstacles
and difficulties experienced by migrants when trying to access and use the information
they needed in their everyday lives originated in both the migrants themselves and in the
systems and institutions designed to assist them. Hence, this paper proposes a new
perspective of Gibson and Martin’s (2019) concept that addresses the cultural and
social gaps existing between the migrants and the individuals and organizations working
with them.
The second concept I propose is information resistance based on Dervin’s (1999) sense-
making concept of resistance. Dervin (1999) asserted that sense-making “assumes that
articulation of one’s lived experience including its struggles and resistances as well as
alignments with given order is in itself a Sense-Making journey”(p. 742). I would argue that
the social, cultural and language gaps that exist between migrants and intermediaries
render the information and services offered often inadequate or irrelevant resulting in
migrants resisting or rejecting the information offered to them that ultimately results in a
situation of information marginalization that hinders migrants’process of integration.
This study contributes to the literature on the role of information in the integration of
migrants in three ways: first, it explores a different perspective about the role that
information plays in the integration process of migrant workers by exploring the views and
opinions of individuals and organizations that work with these communities daily. Most LIS
studies considering migrants worldwide have focused on their information needs and
behavior (Allard and Caidi, 2018; Bronstein, 2017, 2019; Caidi and Allard, 2005; Fisher et al.,
2004; Lloyd, 2015) and their use of information technologies (Baron et al., 2014; Dekker and
Engbersen, 2014; Suh and Hsieh, 2019). Their intent was to facilitate their integration into
their host society. Second, instead of a top-down approach to integration that quantifies
social, economic and educational indicators and reviews integration programs and policies
as outcomes of the process of social inclusion (Cheung and Phillimore, 2017; Lichtenstein
and Puma, 2018; Puma et al., 2018; Schibel et al., 2002; Schneider and Crul, 2010), this study
considers the issue from a qualitative perspective that allows participants to talk about their
experiences and opinions. This study provides a different perspective about an issue that is
often hard to measure because it relies on “surveys of attitudes, feelings and perceptions”
(OECD, 2018, p. 25). Third, the study proposes a new perspective to Ager and Strang’s (2008)
framework of integration by looking at its different elements through the perspective
provided by Gibson and Martin’s (2019) concept of information marginalization and
Dervin’s (1999) sense-making notion of resistance.
28
JD
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