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“Provincie Limburg wil haar inwoners en medewerkers uitdagen om de confrontatie met de eigen vooroordelen aan te gaan.”

🇬🇧 After Dutch 🇬🇧

Op 19 mei organiseren SER Diversiteit in Bedrijf en de Provincie Limburg het Symposium: Diversiteit op de werkvloer (aanmelden kan nog tot 16 mei). Als omkadering voor dit event, wordt ExpatsxMigrants van 11 mei tot en met 17 juni in het Gouvernement geëxposeerd.

Beleidsmedewerker integratie – internationale werknemers Romy Roumans: “Provincie Limburg hecht waarde aan internationale werknemers binnen de eigen organisatie en in de rest van Limburg. Internationale werknemers leveren een belangrijke bijdrage aan onze economie, ook in Limburg. Zij verdienen een plek in de maatschappij. Wordt die hen ook gegund? Provincie Limburg wil haar inwoners en medewerkers uitdagen om hier over na te denken en de confrontatie met de eigen vooroordelen aan te gaan.” 

Wanneer: van 11 mei t/m 17 juni 2022
(Op werkdagen van 9.00 tot 17.00)

Waar: expositieruimte bij hoofdingang Gouvernement
(Limburglaan 10, 6229 GA Maastricht)

Entree: Gratis

🇬🇧 ENGLISH 🇬🇧

“Province of Limburg wants to challenge its residents and employees to confront their own prejudices.”

On May 19, SER Diversity at Work and the Province of Limburg will organize the Symposium: Diversity in the workplace (you can register until May 16). Arount this event, ExpatsxMigrants will be exhibited in the Gouvernement from 11 May to 17 June.

Integration policy officer – international employees Romy Roumans: “The Province of Limburg values international employees within its own organization and in the rest of Limburg. International employees make an important contribution to our economy, also in Limburg. They deserve a place in society. But is this granted to them? The Province of Limburg wants to challenge its residents and employees to think about this and to confront them with their own prejudices.”

When: from 11 May to 17 June 2022
(On working days from 9.00 to 17.00)

Where: exhibition space at the main entrance of the Government
(Limburglaan 10, 6229 GA Maastricht)

Admission: Free

“Do you see an expat or do you see a migrant?”

🇳🇱 Klik hier voor Nederlands 🇳🇱

This is the simple question we ask the viewer of the ExpatsxMigrants project. The follow-up questions would be why, and what are the consequences of this division?

In the interview below photographer Tetsuro Miyazaki explains why he started the project, two participants talk about their motivation to join the project and in a Vox Pop, passers-by in the streets of Maastricht are asked who they see in the street expo.

Tetsuro Miyazaki: “Because really, why do we (including me) have positive associations with expats and negative associations with migrants? Why do we think expats come to bring something and migrants come to get something? Why do we expect the ‘migrant’ to speak our language fluently after 6 months and whay aren’t we annoyed when the ‘expat’ who has been living here for 10 years still mispronounces the name of the city he lives in?”

Street Expo

This year marks the 30th aniversary of the Maastricht Treaty. In this context, Studio Europa Maastricht has organized a citizen’s panels, called the Conference on the Future of Europe.

To bring the debate about prejudice towards migration from the conference venue to the streets, they invited us to put the Expats x Migrants photo project on display in bus shelters.

Tetsuro Miyazaki, photographer of the project: “I am thrilled that the project is now visible to everyone in the city. I have always found displaying my projects in the public domain an important aspect as this allows me to engage with people who are not necessarily already invested in the topics or issues that I want to address.”

“Zie jij een expat of een migrant?”

Dit is de simpele vraag die we de kijker stellen in het ExpatsxMigrants project. De vervolgvragen zijn dan ‘waarom, en wat zijn de consequenties van het onderscheid dat je maakt?’

In onderstaand interview vertelt fotograaf Tetsuro Miyazaki over zijn beweegredenen om dit project op te starten, vraagt hij twee deelnemers waarom ze mee hebben gedaan aan het project en vraagt hij een aantal passanten in Maastricht hoe zij naar de beelden uit het project kijken tijdens de straat expositie.

Tetsuro Miyazaki: “Waarom hebben we (daar reken ik mezelf bij) positieve associaties met expats en negatieve associaties met migranten? Waarom gaan we ervan uit dat expats iets komen brengen en dat migranten iets komen halen? Waarom verwachten van iemand die we als migrant beschouwen dat hij binnen 6 maanden ‘de taal’ al spreekt en waarom vinden we charmant als een ‘expat’ die hier al tien jaar woont de naam van de stad waarin hij woont nog steeds verkeerd uitspreekt?”

Dit jaar vieren we de 30^ste verjaardag van het Verdrag van Maastricht. In het kader van deze herdenking, organiseerde Studio Europa Maastricht een burgerpannel, the Conference on the Future of Europe genaamd.

Om het debat over vooroordelen rondom migratie van de conferentie-ruimte naar de straat te brengen, hebben we het Expats x Migrants project twee weken lang in bushokjes door de stad geëxposeerd.

Tetsuro Miyazaki: “Ik ben super enthousiast dat het project nu zichtbaar is voor iedereen in de stad. Ik wil mijn projecten altijd zo veel mogelijk in publieke ruimte laten zien, omdat het me instaat stelt om mensen te bereiken die niet per se bezig zijn met de onderwerpen die ik bespreekbaar wil maken.”

On 23 September 2021 the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE) in collaboration with the Dutch Association for Migration Research (DAMR) organizes its multidisciplinary and annual conference devoted to topics focusing on development and migration, return migration and displacement, migrants and the receiving society and migration in light of Covid19.

Durning the conference an interfaculty team of UM researchers, including many MACIMIDE researchers, has secured one of the 2021 UM D&I grants to invite people to think about and question the labels they put on others by zooming into the distinction made between migrants and expats. This is done by means of a virtual
and physical photo exhibition portraying 20 foreign workers (some who identify as expat and some who identify as migrant) to highlight how migrants and
expats may not look so different. This is followed by a workshop to discuss social categorisations related to migration (research) as well as their causes and
consequences. The workshop could cover questions like: 1) Is the expat/migrant distinction justified? 2) what is the role of academics and universities in
upholding the distinction? 3) Would rooting out this distinction have a meaningful impact on the acceptance of the migrant community ? and 4) How could
academics and universities contribute to overcoming this distinction?

Organizers:
Julia Reinold (UNU-Merit) and consortium from FASoS, MSGoG, Law and SBE in collaboration with Expat Center Maastricht and Tetsuro Photograhy

🇳🇱 hier

Our project invites people to think about and question the distinction made between migrants and expats. The term ‘expat’ is entangled with assumptions of privilege and class, whereas the label ‘migrant’ somehow connotes something lesser, even though both groups consist of people who moved away from their country of origin.

For this project, 20 foreign workers will be selected to be included in a virtual and physical photo exhibit. The exhibit will showcase how individuals who self-identify as migrants and/or expats may not look so different. Additionally, an expert panel will discuss the theme of migrant identity in Maastricht and beyond. During the panel, several topics will be addressed, such as: 1) whether the expat/migrant distinction is justified; 2) whether rooting out this distinction will have any meaningful impact on the acceptance of the migrant community as a whole; and 3) the role of academics and universities in this regard.

The aim of this project is to foster a dialogue on this important issue and to contribute to the inclusion and protection of the migrant community in Maastricht. The long-term impact of this project is the tearing down of obstacles that contribute to the perpetuation of this, potentially arbitrary, socioeconomic segregation. Finally, the photos can be continually used as a learning tool at Maastricht University.

The project is implemented by a diverse team representing five UM faculties in cooperation with Tetsuro Photography and the Expat Centre Maastricht Region. Many thanks to the UM Diversity and Includivity Office for giving us the grant to carry out this project!