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Journal of Refugee Studies 2008 21(3):326-346; doi:10.1093/jrs/fen026
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Let's Meet! Let's Exchange! LETS as an Instrument for Linking Asylum Seekers and the Host Community in the Netherlands

Peer Smets1 and Saskia ten Kate2

1Department of Sociology, VII University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands pgsm.smets{at}fsw.vu.nl
2STIPO, Centre for the Application of Knowledge for Multidisciplinary Urban Strategies and City Making, Antillenstraat 43, 1058 GZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands saskia.tenkate{at}stipo.nl

Dutch asylum seeker centres tend to greatly restrict the opportunities for asylum seekers to develop their talents. One project, which seeks to overcome the isolation suffered by such refugees, is the Local Exchange System Circle Woudrichem (LCW). This exchange circle has brought asylum seekers in Woudrichem into contact with the local community. This article illustrates how the LCW has developed over the course of time and how local people and asylum seekers have come to meet each other through the exchange of goods and services. Furthermore, it examines the nature of the interethnic reciprocal trust relations and the motivations of the various kinds of participants. The gap between asylum seekers and local people was bridged by stimulating contact between them in a structured fashion. The exchange circle under discussion appears to be a ‘modern’ form of organization, which can generate bridging social capital in present-day western society.

Key Words: asylum seekers • LETS • bridging • interethnic relations

MS received August 1, 2007 ; revised MS received May 1, 2008
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