forced migration, care and family relations

LIMITLESS POTENTIAL | LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES | LIMITLESS IMPACT LIMITLESS POTENTIAL | LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES | LIMITLESS IMPACT Copyright University of Reading

Ruth Evans

A Participation Lab project

[email protected] @DrRuth_Evans

1

FORCED MIGRATION, CARE & FAMILY RELATIONS: translocal family geographies in the South East of England

Department of Geography & Environmental Science

LIMITLESS POTENTIAL | LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES | LIMITLESS IMPACT

THE PROJECT

•Funding to develop new exploratory interdisciplinary project & grant application

•Building on existing collaborative relations with:

• Eleonore Kofman, Rosa Mas-Giralt, Gudbjorg Ottosdottir

• Third sector organisations: AAF; SRS; RRSG; TVPS, Children’s Society Include project

•Develop new collaborations with refugee and BME organisations

2


CONTEXT • Complex links between forced migration, care, chronic illness

and bereavement

• Migrants have an equal or higher risk of experiencing chronic or life-limiting illness, but often have differential entitlements to care support in settlement countries

• Language barriers to accessing support, health and legal literacies

• Little research about emotions `on the move‘

• Multiply-located senses of self and translocal emotional connections and caring responsibilities which may vary between generations

• Hybrid cultural and linguistic forms, belonging and 'superdiversity'

3


RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• How is people’s sense of self and belonging shaped by translocal emotional connections and/or multilingualism?

• How do people care for themselves and others? How are caring relations stretched across space?

• How do people respond to the death of a family member or friend?

• What barriers to support do people experience? How do they negotiate language and communication issues?

Gender, age/ generation, ethnicity, immigration status,

chronic illness, disability, caring responsibilities,

multilingualism. 4


PARTICIPATORY QUALITATIVE METHODS

• Informal interviews with third sector partners

• Participatory art workshops with different groups:

• Body mapping with African refugees and migrants with chronic illness

• Personal community and caring mapping with young people and adults

• Digital language portraits with young people

• Sewing world map of refugee women’s translocal connections and caring relations in Slough

• Interviews with adults and young people

• Interviews with health and social care professionals, third sector organisations

5


DATA COLLECTION TO DATE… Participatory art workshops with:

• 9 adults with chronic illness who are seeking asylum, have LR or British citizenship

• 2 mothers of young children with leave to remain

• 7 young people (aged 6-17)

Interviews with:

• 3 adults with chronic illness who are seeking asylum, have LR or are undocumented

• 1 adult carer

• 1 young carer

6

Informal conversations with sewing group


TRANSLOCAL BELONGING & CARING ACROSS SPACE

7

•Multiple connections to people in different places through family, friends, teachers •Some families quite isolated


LANGUAGE PORTRAITS (BUSCH, 2012)

8

• Multiple senses of belonging, multilingual identities • different family language policies • differing levels of identification with English/ Britishness

Amina, aged 16 Robert, aged 16: J’aime ma pais


LANGUAGE PORTRAITS

9

Dancer, 8 yrs: Invincible 2

Hope, 16 yrs: Growth within existence

Sarah, 17 yrs: Me, myself and I


BODY MAPPING WORKSHOPS

10

“Living with X” Body mapping

journey (Solomon,

2007)


BODY MAPPING WORKSHOPS

•

11

• Embodied experiences of loss, chronic illness, trauma, mental health, immigration • Where you come from and what you’re moving towards • People you care for, who supports you and how you look after yourself • Personal power point and identity • Languages • Message for the public/ authorities • I see a person living with X…and X……

•Creating safe spaces to acknowledge and work with emotions • Caring for ourselves and others • Being reflexive and participating on an equal basis


KEY THEMES • Complexity of multiple losses, chronic illness, mental health and

care needs

• Immigration status: living in limbo, surviving, confusion, fear of deportation, risk of losing access to healthcare, pushed further into the margins

• Having to forego Home Office support due to dispersal policy and intimidation from officials

• Relocation to be close to peer support networks once gained refugee status

• Conflict and estrangement from family members and relatives

• Importance of peer support and caring for others – become ‘like family’

• Refugee and BME organisations: key sources of support and advice, volunteering opportunities

• Churches and homelessness charities: key sources of support for some

12


CHALLENGES

• Exploratory PAR approach - keeping open research agenda shaped by participants’ and organisations’ concerns

• Time needed to build trust and negotiate informed consent with key gatekeepers & potential participants

• Emotions and ethic of care for participants and researcher

• Importance of reflexivity

• Working with interpreters

• Interdisciplinarity – incorporating new disciplinary perspectives

13


PLANS FOR COMING MONTHS….

•Migration-Research Network at Reading

•Completing and writing up pilot research

•Discussing findings with key stakeholders – how to ensure participants’ voices are heard by Home Office and statutory professionals?

•Large research grant application with key partners (submission: Spring/Summer 2017)

14


15 [email protected] @DrRuth_Evans BLOGS.READING.AC.UK/PARTICIPATION-LAB

forced migration, care and family relations

Education