Crossings
Volume 10, Issue 1, 2019, Pages 129-147

Borders, risk and belonging: Challenges for arts-based research in understanding the lives of women asylum seekers and migrants ‘at the borders of humanity’ (Article) (Open Access)

O’Neill M.* , Erel U. , Kaptani E. , Reynolds T.
  • a University College Cork, Askive, Donovan’s Road, Cork, T12 DT02, Ireland
  • b Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
  • c Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
  • d School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Greenwich, King William Court, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London, SE10 9LS, United Kingdom

Abstract

This article critically discusses the experiences of women who are seeking asylum in the North East of England and women who are mothers with no recourse to public funds living in London to address the questions posed by the special issue. It argues both epistemologically and methodologically for the benefits of undertaking participatory arts-based, ethno-mimetic, performative methods with women and communities to better understand women’s lives, build local capacity in seeking policy change, as well as contribute to theorizing necropolitics through praxis. Drawing upon artistic outcomes of research funded by the Leverhulme Trust on borders, risk and belonging, and collaborative research funded by the ESRC/NCRM using participatory theatre and walking methods, the article addresses the questions posed by the special issue: How is statelessness experienced by women seeking asylum and mothers with no recourse to public funds? To what extent are their lived experiences marked by precarity, social and civil death? What does it mean to be a woman and a mother in these precarious times, ‘at the borders of humanity’? Where are the spaces for resistance and how might we as artists and researchers – across the arts, humanities and social sciences – contribute and activate?. © 2019 Intellect Ltd Introductory Article.

Author Keywords

Migration Necropolitics PAR Decolonial epistemologies

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85067577895&doi=10.1386%2fcjmc.10.1.129_1&partnerID=40&md5=9f093f501986a5bc3b046ccfcd6d3779
DOI: 10.1386/cjmc.10.1.129_1
ISSN: 20404344
Original Language: English