LOCAL Houston | The City Guide JANUARY 2016 | Page 60
Y
By Yan Digilov
...IS FOR YEHUDA SHARIM + YAN DIGILOV
Is it possible for a duo of Houston immigrants to change the way our
neighborhoods interact with migrant communities? DR. YEHUDA SHARIM,
an artist and professor at Rice University, and YAN DIGILOV, a strategist at
the local nonprofit Firestarter, are hoping that their unique perspectives
as immigrants can do just that.
The pair is leading a team of community activists building connections
between migrant communities from across the globe in a project called
Houston in Motion. By combining tools for community inquiry with creative methods of social advocacy, their team is exploring the impact that
boundaries – both visible and invisible – make on local populations.
Yehuda, who was recently named as a Kinder Scholar at The Kinder
Institute for Urban Research, has been compiling an archive of digital
content depicting the daily experiences of refugees and migrants as they
navigate the complex path towards integrating with newly neighboring
communities. In parallel, a systems analysis of the organizations offering
support services along that path is being conducted through survey and
visioning techniques developed by Firestarter.
This comprehensive approach encourages the expression of polyvocal
viewpoints to build modern tools for bridging the gap between previously isolated groups. Advocates from a diversity of migrant communities
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are invited to host open events to discuss shared experiences, helping to
coordinate and strengthen collaboration between local community support institutions. A digital resource map for local support services, a documentary film entitled Portraits of Displacement and an annual report
helping the local philanthropic community to fill service gaps are all
being developed through this innovative process.
As a global conversation emerges about the desperate circumstances of
a rapidly growing refugee population, Yehuda and Yan have been challenging the status quo by championing the simple idea that our communities stand to benefit from fluid boundaries and that we should question
the need for borders serving to artificially divide us.
While a complex geospatial, socioeconomic and cultural landscape
presents unique challenges to movement across boundaries in Houston,
the model being developed here has promise of being adapted for local
communities across the country. By reframing the conversation about
race, religion and communal identity, organizers from across the city are
making a statement about the multicultural values embedded in the fabric
of our society.
For information on future events, to join the community organizing team
or to contribute visions for Houston in Motion, visit www.houstoninmotion.org.