‘I Was Waiting and It Was June and the Warmth Never Came’: Immigrant Notions of ‘Integration’ in North-East Scotland

Integration is often put forth as the desirable endpoint for immigrants settling in a foreign society, though rarely is the term defined or rationalized. By presenting audio recordings of immigrants recounting their impressions of the places and people to which society expects them to integrate, this paper inverts the current power balance from local residents, media, and policy makers to the people who experience living in another country firsthand. These recordings emphasize the central role of narrative expression in contending with new personal and environmental interactions, while giving essential texture and context to our understanding of immigrants’ everyday lives.