"Do not draw attention to yourself" - Is the integration of migrants important, and for whom is it important? Gorani people in Belgrade

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the question of the process of integration of the Gorani people who moved to Belgrade during or immediately after 1999, or during the war in Kosovo. I consider the process of integration of members of the Gorani community particularly important because it is a relatively small community not officially recognized as a minority in Serbia. Members of the Gorani community were turned into a category of internally displaced persons because they came from a territory that constituted a part of the same state (FR Yugoslavia). Integration is often referred to as a complex and multi-dimensional postmigration process. In this paper, I proceed from the fact that the integration process does not represent a sui generis phenomenon. In that sense, I support the critical attitude towards understanding this process. This has partly contributed to the fact that in the research I focused on the perception of the integration process resulting from the experience of the migrants themselves. Through analysis of narrative discourse, I present the specificities of the process of integration of members of the Gorani community in Belgrade. At the same time, I point out to the shortcomings of the integration policy implemented by the state. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177027: Multietnicitet, multikulturalnost, migracije - savremeni procesi]

Keywords

• migration caused by the war
• internally displaced persons
• the integration process
• Gorani people
• Belgrade