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Ann Marie Cunanan, member of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum: Finding understanding through travel and intergenerational dialogue
Integration
11 feb 2026
Migration often reshapes family life, especially relationships between generations. For Ann Marie Cunanan, strengthening dialogue between parents and children is key to building resilient communities. As a member of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum, she promotes intergenerational dialogue as a core integration strategy.
In my view, the family is the basic unit of society. When families are strong and functional, society follows. That’s why some initiatives should focus on the whole family, not just individuals.
As the Managing Director of Meaningful Ventures, Ann Marie Cunanan is an entrepreneur and community developer who works to promote cultural integration through tourism, entrepreneurship, and skills development. Her work and personal experience supports the extra focus on cultural integration. Ann Marie Cunanan’s policy recommendations as a member of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum centre on intergenerational dialogue as a resilience strategy. Families, she argues, hold deep knowledge, shared memories, and moral grounding. The family is a cultural focal point. At the same time, they are shaped by migration, change, and loss. When dialogue between generations weakens, gaps in the culture marked by silence, misunderstanding, or conflict may emerge. Strengthening trust across generations, Cunanan says, not only supports families; it also builds resilience across entire communities.
It’s about the stories and examples parents pass on to their children, how they help them stay rooted in their culture of origin, and how they guide them through their integration journey in the new country’s culture. Initiatives that support both the younger generation and the family as a whole are essential for building healthier immigrant communities.
Rootlessness can weigh heavily on young immigrants
Ann Marie Cunanan is originally from the Philippines. As a Filipino, she belongs to one of the largest foreign-born communities in Greenland, a society that remains relatively homogeneous overall. The Inuit constitute the largest group in Greenland’s population, followed by Danes; migrants account for only a small share of the total population. There are a total of 56,542 residents in Greenland: 3,931 born in Denmark (7%), 49,738 born in Greenland (88%), and other migrants (5%).
First-generation migrants are often firmly connected to the culture of their country of origin, while second-generation youth can feel more rootless. This is true in most migrant communities.
In her policy recommendations, Ann Marie Cunanan advocates for creating safe and supportive spaces in the country of residence where parents and young people can talk honestly about their hopes, struggles, and identities. She also calls for more balanced public stories. Stories that respect cultural traditions while recognising how families adapt and integrate across generations.
Interventions are needed. As the migrant community grows in Greenland, some young people struggle with integration, facing language barriers, identity challenges, and experiences of bullying and conflict that can undermine their confidence and sense of belonging. For young people already navigating identity, adapting to another culture adds an extra layer of difficulty. While policymakers are becoming increasingly aware of the challenges, sustained awareness and action remain essential.
Travel and meaningful interaction combat racism and prejudice
Bridging cultural gaps has long been part of Ann Marie Cunanan’s work. She started her tourism business before moving abroad herself. In a country where roughly 90 percent of the population identifies as Christian, Cunanan saw firsthand the gaps and biases that can shape relations between different groups. In response, she created community immersion tours that brought participants into direct dialogue with Muslim and Indigenous communities, encouraging deeper connection, learning, and mutual respect.
– Intercultural dialogue has always been a big theme in my life. Meaningful experiences foster cross-cultural understanding and help break down biases between communities. It makes us more open, less judgemental, and more empathetic towards other cultures.
Ann Marie Cunanan observes that in communities where people rarely engage with outsiders, stereotypes tend to become more rigid and judgements more easily formed. It is easy to hold preconceptions about people you don’t know.
Imagine a foreigner moves into your neighbourhood. You might hold preconceptions about them. But if that person invites you into their home, shares their story, and offers you their food, something changes. You begin to see that this person is not so different from you. They may look different, but they are navigating many of the same challenges in life. That is how understanding is built. Travel matters for the same reason: you see, you experience, and your perspective shifts.
For Cunanan, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue are deeply connected. Her goal is to bridge gaps and foster understanding among different subgroups—across cultures, ages, and backgrounds—by creating safe spaces where people can engage in meaningful conversations, share their experiences and vulnerabilities, and truly listen to one another.
Light-hearted gatherings to combat loneliness
Today, Ann Marie Cunanan develops experiences designed to foster understanding and mutual respect. She creates and organises local events and tourism products for cruise companies and travellers.
– As a foreigner working in the tourism industry, I am able to notice and appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of local Greenlandic culture; the things that may feel ordinary or familiar in daily life, yet visitors often find special, interesting, and enriching.
Like many migrant stories around the world, she says that loneliness and isolation are common experiences among newcomers in Greenland—a country shaped by harsh climate conditions, significant geographic separation between settlements, and limited flight connections.
Many migrants arrived in Greenland through work opportunities.
– The first few months were definitely exciting, as I was getting to know the people, culture, and places. But as time went by and routines settled in, I began to feel lonely. That was when I thought, ‘If I am feeling lonely, there must be other foreign nationals who feel the same.’
Together with friends Anna Marie Cunanan hosts gatherings for migrants, expats and locals. The gatherings are at each other’s homes and at a cafe in Nuuk that she co-owns.
We invite international workers, migrants, and locals to learn more about each other’s cultures through shared experiences, including Greenlandic food, stories, and traditional dances. These interactions do not always need to be formal; sometimes, connecting through food or dance is easier.
Turning policy into action
As a member of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum, Cunanan contributes with practical, on-the-ground perspectives to Nordic policy discussions. For her, true integration does not end in reports or strategies, but in how migrant families feel supported in their daily lives. She hopes that insights gained through dialogues and research will provide a strong foundation for future collaboration and translate into meaningful initiatives on the ground, becoming visible in schools, community spaces, and family support systems. Ultimately, she hopes that greater awareness will lead to lasting action, allowing migrant families to feel supported, understood, and truly part of the community.
Text: Sebastian Dahlström
Foto: Martin Thaulow
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