ROOTS OF BELONGING AS SPACES FOR INTEGRATION. POTENTIALITY OF GEORGIAN IDP SCHOOLS IN INTEGRATION PROCESSES

Elena RUSSO

Abstract


This article supports the idea that anthropology offers practical contributions towards more effective and co-participated development and cooperation processes. The work addresses institutions and those active in the context of integration of the displaced Georgians of Abkhazia. I propose the so-called Abkhazian School, which is usually stigmatized as a metaphor for the failure of integration process, as a space for a successful encounter and meaningful exchange between the community of the displaced (IDPs) and local people, by fuelling the interests and needs of them both. My position sets on the ethnographic terrain I have been researching and working in the last three years; furthermore develops through the presentation of crucial anthropological concepts such as identity, memory, space, belonging and socialization. Specifically, I focus on the connection between identity of IDPs and the land of Abkhazia during their dislocation in Tbilisi. 


Keywords


Anthropology of Cooperation and Development, Georgian Internal Displacement, Abkhazian Schools Roots,Integration

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References


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