Cultural Chameleons and Rootless Flowers

This thesis examines the way that migrants have created and maintained their cultural identities through formal and informal integration in Rotterdam. As a country with a long and strong history of migration, the Netherlands has seen various developments in its legislation to control and organise its migrant population. These laws have affected the way in which migrants are expected to integrate into Dutch society and in turn are able to express and define themselves, but how exactly this occurs remains unclear. Using semi-structured interviews with migrants who arrived between 1989 and 2020, this study reveals that migrants see their identities as fluid and, more often than not, split between two cultures. Social connections are crucial in their ability to become independent and self-reliant, but also to connect to the cultures they interact with. Meanwhile, integration programmes are well organized and have positive effects on the self-sufficiency of migrants, but is solely focused on assimilation rather than integration. These findings provide practical guidelines and possible outlooks for integration programmes that account for migrant experiences to achieve more successful participation and a sense of belonging in Dutch society. The research suggest that integration programmes strengthen their networking guidance so that migrants can develop strong social bonds together with the native population and through that explore their cultural identities to better adapt.