Heimatunes Helps Refugees Adapt to Local Cultures

This month, Travel Massive Berlin discussed how prejudices can be overcome with the help of travelling.

Heimatunes, a campaign initiated by Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development used this event to encourage residents to reflect on their “Heimat” and facilitate the arrival of newcomers.  In order to help support their challenge, we’re sharing a little more information about their project to inspire you!

Who does Heimatunes help?

On the one hand, HeimaTunes helps refugees – we consider them as newcomers – with their first steps to get in touch with the culture of their host countries. On the other hand, the campaign helps inhabitants of host countries to overcome their fear by making contact with the newcomers via music.

What inspired you to create this initiative?

Our multi-disciplinary team at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development is participating in the Peer-to-Peer Challenge (P2P), initiated and sponsored by the US State Department and Facebook. This year’s motto is “Challenging Extremism” and students from 45 universities around the globe are developing digital media and social network campaigns to raise awareness about violent extremism and to counter-act extremist tendencies.

Since the refugee crisis is one of the most pressing and current topics in Germany, our online campaign deals with Heimat, immigration, and right-wing extremism. Our goal is to create counter-narratives and stories to the current tendencies of racism and violence towards refugees.

What is your main goal?

Our main goal is to reach as many people as possible with our campaign through different channels. We aim to create an atmosphere where newcomers feel welcome and where they will develop a feeling of “Heimat” in the long term. In our campaign, reciprocity is key – we aim at facitlitating a mutual understanding that goes both ways: residents get to know newcomers, newcomers get to know residents. 

Can you share an inspiring story when you felt your project was most fulfilling?

During the travel trade show ITB we asked the different tourism country representatives what their Heimat sounds like. The reactions were enthusiastic and many shared their songs with us on video. We discovered that the first songs that came to people’s minds were about love – no matter which culture they came from. In the end doesn’t it all come down to this? Isn’t feeling safe and at home what everyone seeks?

What do you hope your initiative will accomplish in the future?

In the future we would like to change people’s perceptions not only about the newcomers but also about themselves. Of course, music is only one piece of a culture, so we can not change the whole situation. On the other hand, music evokes emotions hence, it is a powerful mean of reaching people’s minds and influence their way of thinking. To be more specific we would like people to continue sending us their HeimaTunes but also we would like to  contribute to a change of perception.

Are there any myths or misconceptions you think people may have?

Yes of course. Myths and misconception often originate in fear of the unknown and the foreign. People tend to be afraid of what they don’t know and what they perceive as not understandable.  

Worries and fears are the biggest motivators for people to join right-populist movements at the moment. At the same time, we don’t want to excuse xenophobia with fear. Racism and xenophobia go way beyond a simple fear of the unknown. At the moment, refugees in Germany serve as a welcome projection surface for a range of social, political and economic problems – as we have seen with the sexual assaults in Cologne. Instead of simply being afraid, people start blaming a specific group of people. Stereotyping and generalizations are also a key feature of xenophobia. For example, thinking that all muslim men are sexual predators is a very misleading and Islamophobic generalization. Or saying “all muslims are like that…” is a widespread misconception about Islam, which is, like Christianity a very heterogenic religion.

Our campaign makes a very clear statement against racism and xenophobia by facilitating a creative and artistic exchange between newcomers and refugees.

How can Travel Massive members help Heimatunes?

For those who would like to do more, they can record a short video and upload it on Heimatunes.rocks. Show us what your “Heimat” sounds like! If you like you can also get in touch with a newcomer and learn their “HeimaTune”. You do not need to be a professional musician or be a perfect singer, just let us know why this songs moves you.

Purposeful Traveler is a series that profiles inspiring people or projects making a purposeful change to the way we travel. You can get involved and connect with Heimatunes on Youtube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.