Migrant Voices in London
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Migrant Voices in London
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Culture
Words By: Luc Hinson
Artwork: Tom Shotton
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Luc Hinson Sat down with Dr Leonie Ansems De Vries and Koto Akiyoshi, the pair behind the Migrant voices in London research project. The project consists of a series of Workshops curated to document migrants experiences, through various mediums - film, art, drama - in the nations capital and understand the borders they encounter on a daily basis. But importantly, these lived experiences are shared from the perspective of migrants, they shape thei rown narratives. The workshops create a space for expression, a safe space to share and collaborate through creative projects. Their series of workshops ran from June-August this year, to hear more about the workshops check out our full in depth interview below:
BB: When did you two decide to set up this series of workshops and why?
LA: This series of workshops are part of a programme we are running this summer thats called migrant voices in London what we are interested in is getting a better understanding of what migrants experiences are, we are interested in all migrants, processed, undocumented, so called settled whatever. But doing that by not representing them and speaking for them, but creating a platform where people can create and tell their own stories.
KA: in or workshops, we try as researchers to not impose anything, we are trying to not only run workshops for migrants but by migrants as well.
BB: Why do you think self-expression is so important, why is important to let migrants tell their own stories?
LA: I think obviously, there are several reasons, on the one hand there is a lot of research that speak from a kind of expert lead voice towards the people and we find that very problematic. But specifically, when le look at the way that migrants and migration are currently represented there are different discourses different narratives, one is around the securitization discourse where migrants are viewed as a threat a dangerous threat And the other is around victimhood and victim status, so it Is either viewed that these migrants have too much agency and become a threat or they have no agency and we think the best way to counter that is to let people tell their own stories their own experiences which are often complex and rich in many ways
KA: I guess we are just drawing on the feminist theory perspective of speaking for others, we view speaking itself as an empowering act, speaking for people even with good intentions has implications upon who’s voices are authorized and amplified
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"This kind of mind-set that there is one group of people that are established and anther that must work to integrate, to assimilate with them is problematic, I think that is a big obstacle, integration in itself"
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BB what do you hope to achieve through hosting these workshops?
LA: I think partly It is about just creating that space where people can speak and feel free and safe. That in itself is a great outcome, but then also we want to share that more broadly, create a broader platform whereby people that might not think about these things gain a better understanding. One thing we are especially interested in is this concept of borders people might encounter on a daily basis, so there are so many societal borders whether that is in education, healthcare or just in the street that people encounter, that affect some people much more than others and that might be completely invisible for some, and directly affect others. And it Is trying on the one hand get a sense of what these borders are, but also show people who might not understand this how this is happening.
BB: What do you think is the biggest obstacle to integration in Britain in the 21st Century?
LA: I have an issue with this notion of integration because it creates this impression that there is this one group of people who are settled and this other group of people who have to comply with this. This kind of mind-set that there is one group of people that are established and another that must work to integrate, to assimilate with them is problematic, I think that is a big obstacle, integration in itself
KA: I feel like it has the underlying norm that people can be bound to certain territories, and feel some sort of settled feeling there which I feel like having moved around in my life I don’t really associate with that term it doesn’t really feel like I am integrated in places where i have my passport but that doesn’t mean I don’t belong there.
BB: When I say the word Britishness what is the first thing that comes to mind?
LA: The thing is it can be so many things that I wouldn’t know where to start, at the moment the idea of Britishness is very dominated by what has happened in the last 2 years in the Brexit vote, this kind of imperial wish that has resurfaced, I don’t think that’s what Britishness is because it can be so many things
KA: I don’t know how to answer that, because by experience of living here for the last 3 years it has been all sort of mixed, ive seen people from all walks of life, all backgrounds
LA: But I think what has been really interesting is that the question of Britishness has become so important and the question of being English as well that was for such a long time assumed and now it’s becoming this question that everyone is grappling with in some way, and there are strong forces trying to define it in certain ways.
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"The idea with our workshops Is that they are open to all... the idea is about sharing and reflecting our stories with everyone"
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BB: Tell me a bit more about what will be going on in today’s workshop?
KA: Anna is an artist I met through my volunteering at CARAS down in tooting, she is new to our woman’s group but brought in all her artwork from day one, and she was really into sharing her life experiences through her talent. So through this series of workshop we are working
LA: I think it’s about narrating ones’ story and expressing ones feelings and ideas through art and in this case we have charcoal and paper that we will be using and Anna will be guiding us how to do that
KA: and how she describes her process is amazing she says I hold any sort of pencil or charcoal, I start off with one thing and let it constantly change and develop, whether it’s any emotion or feeling of excitement happiness or stress she just lets it come out on paper, I’m excited.
LA: The idea with our workshops Is that they are open to all, of course we are interested in migrants but everyone is welcome the idea is about sharing and reflecting our stories with everyone
BB: what does the future hold for this programme after the workshops?
LA: Initially this was a quite small project we were just going to run over the summer, its now expanding and extending in various ways, the film project is where we ask people to film their own lives for a couple of days and after that we wil have open discussions about what was filmed and how that reflects their lived experiences in London, and together with a film editor we will compile it into a short film to share. We are interested in reaching out to other platforms and organisations to share with others, I think the project will carry on with different people in different places to create some sort of archive where all these experiences are kept.
You can keep up with the work of the Migrant Voices in Londoncresearch group here, Over the coming weeks they will be putting the final touches to the Migrant Voices Film, which you will be able to catch in full through Between Borders.
Peace.
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Words By: Luc Hinson, 21st October 2018
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CONTEMPORARY CONVERSATIONS
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