Promoting Positive Community Relations: An Assessment of Refugee Agency and Contact

Abstract

The refugee agency is an important factor in understanding holistically, as it has economic and social components and complexities. In the context of dialogue, agency is both necessary to overcome barriers to contact and to engage meaningfully in deep listening and community planning. The authors examine three avenues of investigation into one neighborhood hosting refugee resettlement through community-driven research. Following their resettlement, economic agency of refugees—in the form of entrepreneurship—has resulted in political scrutiny and pressure on refugees. Despite the positive economic changes, the social status of refugees is contentious, especially in the absence of meaningful contact with the host society. This paper examines the economic development of refugees, a Listening Project where refugees and other community members serve together as interviewers of their neighbors and finally a Community Dialogue. Overall, the authors find that this wider context helps us examine patterns, including the throughline of agency in the success of the contact-based dialogue process.