Conclusion

Abstract

Throughout this discussion, I have emphasised how integration is a flexible two-way process through which the immigrant communities and the receiving societies are both constructed and transformed. The challenge therefore is to ensure that this construction takes place in such a way that minorities and majorities meet, as much as possible, under one generally integrated national entity. The constructive nature of the integration process was clearly visible throughout this book and particularly in the previous three core chapters covering culture, society and economy. Integration as a constructive process is clear, for example, in the cultural sphere, where immigrant literature can potentially redefine national culture into a more inclusive understanding. The constructive nature is apparent in integration’s social sphere, where the public realm is affected by the increased presence of immigrant literature and authors, with space being made for the migrant communities in national public debate. The constructive process is also apparent in the economic sphere, whereby the national literary market grows or shifts to include immigrant literature in the pursuit of market niches and profits, with the perhaps unintended consequences of greater cultural, social and economic benefit overall.