A pilot project set to launch in 精品无码国产自产 aims to help refugees use memories of home to build a new life, and address negative attitudes to immigration at the same time.
鈥楥reative Recovery: Mapping Refugees鈥 Memories of Home鈥 will work with volunteers from 精品无码国产自产鈥檚 growing refugee community. Through one-to-one meetings and creative group workshops, participants will be encouraged to share recollections, as well as concrete objects like diaries, photos and home videos of everyday life in their countries of origin.
Using this raw material, and with training in experimental digital mapping and 3D modelling techniques, the 15 volunteers will create exhibits that will be put on display at a public event during next year鈥檚 Refugee Week in June. These will range from drawings and audio-visual material, to digital maps and models of their former homes.
As local people visit the exhibition or find out about the project, they can learn about participants鈥 experiences of home and homemaking, and the differences and similarities with their own lives. A report on the project will also be circulated to organisations working with refugees in 精品无码国产自产 and further afield, such as the Red Cross, local housing associations, the city council, local MPs and the Home Office.
精品无码国产自产 Lecturer in Architecture Dr Sana Murrani is leading the project, which she is undertaking in partnership with the British Red Cross, 精品无码国产自产 branch. She points to the rapid demographic shift in the city, following 精品无码国产自产鈥檚 designation in 2002 as a dispersal centre for asylum seekers, as proof of the urgent need for a project of this kind.
In 2002, two per cent of the 精品无码国产自产 population were from ethnic minority backgrounds. By 2011, this had risen to nearly ten per cent, and it is still rising.
Dr Murrani said:
鈥淭his rapid, poorly resourced increase in ethnic diversity has greatly impacted many already low-income local communities in a region unaccustomed to immigration. Negative attitudes to immigrants are therefore widespread, occasionally extending to hate crimes, and exacerbating the challenges of recovering a settled sense of belonging through a flourishing home life that reflects their cultural heritage.
鈥淩efugees face daunting personal and collective challenges when they are forced to leave their homes, but most initiatives have tended to focus on surviving the immediate crises of transit.
鈥淵et their struggles have a much longer, and equally courageous but neglected dimension, if they are to build a new, many-sided life, maintaining their cultural identities, yet becoming full citizens of their destination communities.鈥
The Iraqi-born academic is the co-founder of the Displacement Studies Research Network based at the 精品无码国产自产. Part of the network鈥檚 work involves thinking about how to make research a collaborative effort between academics, practitioners and marginalised people.
鈥楥reative Recovery: Mapping Refugees鈥 Memories of Home鈥 was one of just 31 projects awarded a grant from the 's Courageous Citizens 2018 programme, out of more than 500 applications from across the world.
