A summer in Antwerp

After proving their mettle through a rigorous competitive selection process, Ms. Kanaya Mahanti and Mr. Debdorshi Malakar of Rural Management Department (Batch 2017-19) participated in the summer course ‘Europe: Diversity and Migration’ (25 June – 6 July 2018) at Stadscampus, University of Antwerp, Belgium. Every year two students from the Department are selected. The summer course is funded by the USOS scholarship, which includes travel expenses, accommodation and subsistence allowance for the two students while they are enrolled in the programme.

Over the two week course, the participants, who were of varying nationalities and came from different disciplines, were divided into groups and were asked to address different questions. Ms. Mahanti and her team were part of The Social Food Lab and were asked how Moroccan Food is perceived as ‘the other’ while the question posed to Mr. Malakar was “How Sports unites people from diverse backgrounds?”

Ms. Kanaya Mahanti and Mr. Debdorshi  Malakar write about their personal experience in Belgium.

   

                                       

MR. DEBDORSHI MALAKAR

“Right from the moment when we landed at the Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, this trip has been a rollercoaster ride which I am going to cherish forever. Initially, amidst all the excitement, there was a tinge of nervousness as well. However, that slowly faded away because of the informal atmosphere and the friendly nature of the people around me. I was lucky to be placed in such a diverse batch where there were people from all across Europe as well as Mexico. The first day was all about knowing each other. The Cooking Workshop organized by the University acted as a good ice breaker where we all bonded while preparing Belgian cuisine. Well to be honest, I didn’t like the food, but the connection we built was something which wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

The course was a perfect blend of theoretical knowledge and practical exposure. Apart from learning about the theoretical aspect of the Migrant Crisis, I also got an opportunity to work on a Group Assignment where we tried to answer the question, “How can Sports unite people from diverse backgrounds?”. I worked with a local football club called City Pirates which works with migrant kids and helps to integrate them into the Belgian society. Interviewing the young kids and hearing their stories was an eye-opening experience. In between this hectic schedule, we also managed to visit Paris for a day and see the much-hyped Eiffel Tower.

After the classes were over, we used to go to the nearby cafés and socialize for hours. That was probably the best part about the whole course - conversing with the other participants and realizing just how different your culture is from the other cultures and yet finding similarities in unexpected places.

To sum it up, the whole summer school experience has been amazing. From watching World Cup matches amidst thousands of crazy Belgium fans to trying all possible varieties of beers- this trip has been full of first-time experiences.”

MS. KANAYA MAHANTI

“I went to Antwerp, Belgium for attending the second edition of the summer school, Europe: Migration and Diversity. The course was from 25th June – 6th July. The summer school consisted of 22 interdisciplinary and international participants from across the globe.

The entire summer school was distributed over 2 weeks. And it covered course topics like; Demographic projection: data on European and Regional Level, Migration to European cities from a historical perspective, Queer Muslims in Europe, Migration, Diversity, and Non-Discrimination, Return Migration: theories and policies and many more.

Apart from the above, there were city walks in the city of Antwerp, where we were explained about the cultural diversity. We were also taken to the European Parliament where we were an audience for the panel discussion on the topic ”Improvising and protecting Europe’s new challenges against its views?” which was moderated by Gie Goris, the editor in chief of Mo Magazine. In EU parliament we were given a lecture regarding the major achievements of the European Union to date. We were also given group assignment and I being a part of Social Food Lab, worked upon “How Moroccan Food is taken as a perception of ‘the other’ in Antwerp. Hence, I learned a lot about Moroccan lifestyle and eating habits.

Europe’s demography in terms of ethno-cultural composition is rapidly diversifying in an unprecedented way.  Antwerp, having a population of 5,13,570 and is the most populous municipality in Belgium which houses almost  170 nationalities. The majority group in urban areas is morphing into a minority amidst other minorities because of the recent inflow of a large number of refugees. Europe’s population will be shrinking if the rate of migration does not increase in the coming decades. There is a great concern from a different ideological perspective on how to deal adequately with super-diversity as it affects all realms of society and as continuing inequalities seem difficult to transform.

 On 28th June 2018, we visited the EU Parliament in Brussels. A meeting was held for two consecutive days which focused on migration. Since 2015, a number of measures have been taken to achieve the control of the EU’s external border. As a result, the number of detected illegal border crossings into EU is reduced to 96% from its peak in October 2015. The EU leaders agreed to take further actions on main migratory routes in EU especially the Mediterranean routes. The EU leaders have also supported the proposal of UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency and IOM(International Organization for Migration) for the development of a concept of regional disembarkation platforms which should allow rapid distinction between economic migrants and asylum seekers. EU leaders have also been reforming and finalizing the EU asylum rules for tackling the situation.

All in all, the whole European experience was an eye opener to multi-ethnic culture persistent in Europe and the growing intolerance towards migrant population. But it had its fun part too, the escapade was something which I had never seen or felt before. The historic city gave off a nostalgic vibe with a blend of modern-day extravaganza.”