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To Jennie Wilber ’17, interfaith and intercultural dialogue is important as a means to understand other people and build empathy across cultural boundaries. With its diverse group of immigrant and refugee communities, Utica is an ideal place to study intercultural interaction. Wilber is doing just that this summer through an Emerson Foundation research project. 

Thousands of refugees have arrived in Utica over the past couple decades. One thing that’s unclear however is how many refugees, particularly youth, choose to stay.

More than 17 percent of Utica’s population was born outside of the United States, and a drive through the city reveals numerous stores, churches and community centers built up by diverse ethnic groups. Despite the prevalence of immigrants in Utica, however, refugees face significant challenges to assimilating into the community. Understanding these challenges is the goal of a Levitt Research Group this summer. Erica Chen ’19, Audrey Nadler ’18 and Sofia Rachad ’18, with the guidance of Professor of Economics Erol Balkan, are researching the experiences of refugees in Utica.

In the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris, ‘the refugee question’ has received redoubled interest from the international community. However, this global refugee crisis is in no way a new phenomenon, and has its roots far outside of the Middle East. To clarify the current state of duress, Professor of Economics Erol Balkan, Henry Platt Bristol Professor of International Affairs Alan Cafruny and Professor of Africana Studies Heather Merrill held a panel discussion on Nov. 17 for an overflowing Red Pit of students, faculty and community members.

Four Hamilton professors will debate the global refugee crisis in a panel discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m., in the Red Pit, Kirner-Johnson Building. The panel is sponsored by the Government Department and is free and open to the public.

At Hamilton, research into how the city of Utica and its flourishing refugee population affect one another has been going on for over a decade. This summer Shannon Boley ’17 and Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate are studying the religious life of refugees in Utica as part of Harvard’s prestigious Pluralism Project.

Co-Director of the Digital Humanities Initiative (DHi) Janet Simons, Philippa (Pippa) Schwarzkopf ’16 and John Bartle, associate professor of German and Russian languages and literatures, gave an invited presentation of two short films on April 2 at Hartwick College.

Out of Utica’s some 60,000 residents, as many as a quarter of them could be refugees, Shelly Callahan, the executive director for the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees (MVRCR), revealed in a recent New York Times article. The Center is a not-for-profit organization that has helped resettle thousands of immigrants from over 30 countries since its founding in 1979. Today, Utica is truly a mix of cultures, reflected in the more than 40 languages spoken by the 2,700 students at Utica’s Proctor High School.

Genesee Lights, a  short documentary film that was a collaboration of students and faculty from Hamilton College, Utica College, the Digital Humanities Initiative, and the Levitt Center, will be screened as part of the Unspoken Human Rights Film Festival on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m., at the Uptown Theater in Utica.

Utica has the fourth highest concentration of refugees of all cities in the United States. Many of these immigrants struggle to adjust to American culture and language. Through a Kirkland Summer Associate project, Maggie Haag ’15 is trying new ways to use technology to teach refugees English and help them to understand American culture.