RGS-IBG Conference 2019, 2nd CfP: Geographies of stories, storytelling and migration
Conference theme: Geographies of Trouble/ Geographies of Hope
Session convener: Dr Olivia Sheringham (Geography, QMUL)
Stories about refugees and migrants are ubiquitous in the public realm, often depicting them as either pitiable victims or unwelcome intruders. In the context of the hostile environment in the UK and beyond, those arriving in search of a better life are often required to tell their stories in the intimidating contexts of an asylum or visa interview in which their words become burdened with the potential weight of determining a ticket to stay or being forced to leave. Narrative-based research in the form of biographical or ‘life story’ interviews has also long been a fundamental tool in migration and refugee studies, often with the intention of opening space for participants to tell their own stories and thus actively direct the research in some way (Fedyuk and Fentai 2018). At the same time, there has been a growing acknowledgement of the possibilities of arts-based and participatory forms of storytelling in research with forced migrants, refugees and asylum seekers through, for example, the (co)creation of graphic comics, poems, or biographical maps (see e.g. Burrell and Hörschelmann 2018; O’Neill 2008; 2018). As well as having the potential to open up counter-narratives that may challenge the prevailing anti-migrant rhetoric, such methods have been seen as allowing for more ethical and sensitive approaches, allowing for greater autonomy and collaboration among research participants.
Yet whilst stories and storytelling are an increasing focus in migration research and of geographical enquiry more widely (Cameron 2012), there is still a tendency to see migrant stories in terms of their content, and often with the implication that such narratives carry a greater degree of ‘authenticity’. Less attention, however, has been paid to the practice and process of storytelling itself as form of knowledge production as well as the role of the listener or the receiver of these ‘moving’ stories. This session seeks to critically interrogate the possibilities and pitfalls of storytelling – in a range of forms including visual, digital, and dramaturgical – as a way of breaking down barriers and allowing for the production of new knowledge. How might storytelling practice with migrants and refugees form the basis of new knowledge (co)production with and by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers? What is the potential of storytelling – and storysharing- for breaking down barriers and creating alternative narratives within an increasingly ‘brutal migration milieu’ (Hall 2016)? In what ways can a closer engagement with the politics and poetics of storytelling open up new theoretical and empirical possibilities for research with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers? Abstracts are invited which look at, but are in no way limited to, the following themes:
- Theorisations of stories and storytelling;
- Storytelling and trouble/storytelling and hope;
- Storytelling as a research method in migration and refugee studies;
- Forms of storytelling and stories;
- Storytelling and decolonising theory;
- Stories, welcome and hospitality;
- Storytelling and the art of listening;
- Stories, storytelling and policies and practices of integration
- Storytelling practice and new forms of knowledge production
- Storytelling and translation;
- Storytelling, gender and power
Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to Olivia Sheringham ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) by Thursday 14th February 2019.
Olivia Sheringham Lecturer in Human Geography
International Study Officer
Queen Mary University of London
Room: 107 Tel: 020 7882 3153
Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1-2pm; Thursdays 2-3pm
New paper: Home-City Geographies: Urban Dwelling and Mobility<https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132518786590> in Progress in Human Geography
Book: Encountering Difference<http://politybooks.com/author-books/?authid=Olivia%20Sheringham> available from Polity
########################################################################
To unsubscribe from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list, click the following link:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM&A=1
|