A study by the Faculty for Social Well-being at the University of Malta has exposed a number of interesting pointers to the Maltese attitude to foreign migrants living in their midst and the state of their integration in Malta.

The study was based on an examination of so-called “acculturation” attitudes of a number of ethnic groups in Malta. Acculturation is defined as one of several forms of adapting to different cultures. It has two closely related terms: “assimilation” and “amalgamation” (or “integration”).

Acculturation is often applied to the process of changing beliefs or traditional practices that occurs when the cultural system of one group displaces that of another. Assimilation refers to the process through which individuals of different cultures acquire the habits, attitudes and way of life of the host culture. And amalgamation, or integration, is the blending of cultures, rather than one group replacing another.

The faculty’s study focused on the attitude and expectations of six socio-ethnic groups in Malta – the Maltese themselves, Western Europeans, Eastern Europeans, South Asians, East Asians and the Arab communities. The study indicated that while the Maltese acknowledged that integration was the best way to settle in a host country – as, indeed, thousands of Maltese have successfully done – they were the least likely, out of all the ethnic groups questioned, to favour integration for others settling here.

This appears to show that while foreigners living here are trying to integrate, the Maltese, perversely, are not allowing them to do so. They prefer to see migrants, regardless of nationality, “taking on Maltese characteristics”, presumably by assimilation. However, according to the research, those Europeans who did expect integration once they were in Malta (which is ostensibly a European country) did not fare very well in settling down in Maltese society. The more they were in favour of integration, the less they succeeded.

Migrants in Malta, especially Arabs, are instead trying to assimilate by behaving, speaking and socialising like the Maltese. The study indicated that the Arabs are not “faring well when it came to social well-being”. It expressed concern that this would provide fertile ground for a “spiral of conflict between the Arab community and the rest of the population”. There has always been tension between the Maltese and their southern, Arab neighbours and, given existential threats from Muslim jihadis, this is clearly a matter for concern.

The word ‘xenophobia’ does not appear to feature in the study. But it is an attitude that is almost endemic to the Maltese and lies deep in Malta’s psyche, history and culture. It is a perverse phenomenon, since, on a personal basis, the acts of friendship and kindness shown by Maltese to foreigners are legion.

The Faculty for Social Well-being has clearly produced a thoughtful study that highlights areas of concern, the principal one being how Malta deals with migration in all its forms.

While there are inevitably - as always in such studies - very fine academic distinctions of definition as between “acculturation”, “assimilation” and “integration”, the study points a stern finger at successive governments which – despite Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli’s fine words on the subject – have failed to confront the issue of the migrants in our midst with the energy, commitment and financial resources the subject requires.