scholarly journals Theorising narratives of exile and belonging : the importance of Biography and Ethno-mimesis in “understanding” asylum

2022 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Maggie O’Neill ◽  
Ramaswami Harindranath

The article explores the use and importance of taking a biographical approach to conducting participatory action research (PAR) with asylum seekers and refugees in order to: better understand lived experiences of exile and belonging; contribute to the important field of Biographical Sociology; provide a safe space for stories to be told; and in turn for these stories to feed in to policy and praxis. The authors’ combined work on the asylum-migration nexus, the politics of representation and participatory action research methodology (PAR) as ethno-mimesisi argues for the use of biography to contribute to cultural politics at the level of theory, experience and praxis, and is constitutive of critical theory in praxis. PAR research undertaken with Bosnian refugees in the East Midlands and Afghan refugees in London will be the focus around which our analysis develops. We develop a case for theory building based upon lived experience using biographical materials, both narrative and visual, as critical theory in practice towards a vision of social justice that challenges the dominant knowledge/power axis embedded in current governance and media policy relating to forced migration. The dominant power/knowledge axis related to forced migration is embedded in current (New Labour) governance and re-presented in some media texts as identified below. New Labour governance is symbolised in the competing discourses of a) strong centralised control and b) more open systems, network and partnership based governance (Newman, 2003: 17-23; Clarke, 2004; Lewis, 2000). Open systems are made up of partnerships and networks – “joined up government”, “that transcends the vertical, departmental structures of government itself” (Newman, 2003: 20). to develop or foster a consensual style of governing. Progressive governance is defined by Newman (2003:15) as involving a significant shift from governance through hierarchy and competition to governance through networks and partnerships with an emphasis upon inclusion. Progressive governance involves the production of techniques and strategies of responsibilisation of citizens operationalised through the development of networks, alliances, and partnerships, with a strong focus upon active citizenship. Thus, spreading responsibility for social control to non state agencies and “communities” (Garland, 2001). In relation to forced migration/asylum discourses around the exclusion of the “other” (involving criminalisation, detention and deportation) and the maintenance and control of borders (developing ever more tighter controls on entry and asylum applications) exist in tension with discourses that speak of human rights, responsibilities and possibilities for multi-cultural citizenship especially in the community cohesion literature. There is a conflict at the heart of New Labour’s approach to asylum policy linked to the “alterity” of the asylum seeker that promulgates hegemonic ideologies and discourses around rights to belonging and citizenship, perceived access to resources (redistribution) and misrecognition fostering suspicion of the “stranger”. Alongside discourses of fairness and rights to enter and seek refuge, there exist regressive discourses that water down the vitally important actual and symbolic 1951 UN convention, and foster a split between “bogus” and “genuine” refugees, making it extremely hard to seek asylum in the UK.

Author(s):  
Claire Louise Needler ◽  
Jamie Fairbairn

Scots is one of three indigenous languages in Scotland, alongside English and Gaelic. In recent History, it was considered ‘slang', or ‘bad English'. Following legislative and policy changes, Scots is now recognized as a language and is recognized as a valuable part of the cultural heritage and lived experience of many who reside in Scotland. Further, in 2014, the Scots Language Award was introduced, and Scots is now taught in some schools. This chapter outlines a school-university research partnership that aimed to investigate the influence of teaching Scots on pupils' self-esteem and wider achievement. Using Participatory Action Research and creative arts to explore attitudes to Scots in school, the research highlighted the transformative power of home language (Scots) education.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104420732110554
Author(s):  
Benoît Eyraud ◽  
Iuliia Taran

In this article, we present findings from a participatory action-research program in France on the exercise of human rights and supported and substitute decision-making, inspired by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”). Bringing together persons with the lived experience of disability, academics, and health and social care and support professionals, the project used the method of “experience-based construction of public problem” to transform experience into collective expertise. This enabled the exploration of support that people in vulnerable situations, whose capacity to exercise their human rights has weakened, need to make decisions in their lives and participate meaningfully in public debate. The relationship between the awareness of rights and exercise of rights is discussed. We argue for the need to balance out the positions of different contributors in participatory action research, in a reasoned manner, by recognizing the scientific and citizen-based participation of all partners.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesel Dawson ◽  
Jimmy Hay ◽  
Natasha Rosling

This collaborative project aimed to represent the embodied experience of grief in a fiction film by drawing on research, and on the personal and professional experience of all involved: academics; an artist; bereavement therapists and counsellors; and professional actors, cinematographers, sound engineers and other film crew. By representing grief in a more phenomenologically minded manner, the project sought to capture the lived experience of loss on screen while contributing meaningfully to the discourse on practice-as-research. Hay, Dawson and Rosling used a collaborative fiction film and participatory action research to investigate whether storying loss, and representing it through narrative, images and embodied movement, is therapeutic. Participatory action research was beneficial in facilitating changes in the co-researchers’ thinking, feeling and practice, and in enabling participants to inhabit multiple roles in a manner that expanded their disciplinary boundaries. However, while the project’s effect on some of the participants demonstrated the ways that creativity and meaning making can support adaptive grieving, it also revealed the risks of using participatory action research and fiction film to investigate highly emotive topics such as grief.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004208592110231
Author(s):  
Amy Hillier ◽  
Kel Kroehle

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) provides a model for youth leadership in research aimed at tangible improvements to their lives. We employed YPAR with queer and trans young adults in a qualitative study about trans high school youth. In this paper, we highlight the importance of relationships, dialog and reflexivity to ensuring ongoing critical reflection on the ethical nature of what often appear as methodological and operational issues. Our research underscores the tensions, contradictions, and limitations of sharing power that emerge in collaborations across age, race, educational attainment, and lived experience.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1061-1077
Author(s):  
Kenta Asakura ◽  
Jess Lundy ◽  
Dillon Black ◽  
Cara Tierney

Given that promoting social justice is one of the central organizing principles of social work, it comes as no surprise that participatory action research has gained much attention among social work researchers. While much has been written about promising practices of participatory action research with various marginalized communities, there remains a dearth of participatory action research literature that focuses on trans* people, a population often under attack in current socio-political climates. In this paper, we report on a participatory action research project, in which a trans* artist worked closely with trans* youth participants (n = 5) to assist them through a creative project. Using a queer theoretical lens and drawing from the concept of “queer world-making,” the participants recast cultural representations about what it means to be trans* in their chosen artistic medium. This paper suggests that art can serve as a transformative research practice with trans* youth. Our findings suggest that the rhetorical binary of trans* vulnerability and resilience does not adequately represent lived experience. We make this argument by demonstrating the following processes through which youths engaged art in this participatory action research project: (1) countering normative discourses of what it means to be trans*, (2) promoting self- reflection and expression, and (3) facilitating “queer counterpublics.” In so doing, we make an argument for art as a qualitative research process that holds much promise in uncovering and challenging the normative discourse and developing a much more complex and nuanced understanding of what it means to be trans* youth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Fiona McDonald ◽  
Katie Robinson ◽  
Aoife L. Gallagher ◽  
Judith Pettigrew

Background: Participatory action research (PAR) provides an opportunity for academic researchers and adolescents to co-conduct research within an area of shared interest. Reciprocal learning occurs as co-researchers acquire research skills and knowledge, and academic researchers gain understanding of the issue being examined, from the perspective of those with lived experience. All members of the research team have a shared responsibility for the research and decision-making processes. PAR has predominantly involved adults as co-researchers. However, in recent years more effort has been made to co-conduct research with adolescents. The aim of this review is to interrogate the practices of academic researchers employing a PAR approach when working along-side disabled adolescents. Methods/design: A critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) will be conducted, allowing for a diverse range of evidence to be drawn from. A systematic search of nine databases, from 1990 onwards, will be conducted first. Reference checking will occur to elicit further relevant data. Following screening, further purposive sampling will be completed to facilitate the development of concepts and theory in line with the on-going analysis and synthesis of findings. Data analysis will involve interpretation of included papers in relation to the principles of PAR and a ‘best-practice’ framework will be developed. During analysis particular emphasis will be given to the identification of potential social barriers to the participation of disabled adolescents in PAR.    Discussion: PAR is widely employed but little is known about its use when working with disabled adolescents. This current CIS will critically question the current practices of academic researchers employing PAR when working along-side disabled adolescents and future research through the best practice framework we will develop.


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