Inside. Outside. And Beyond explored the lived experiences of young people from refugees backgrounds living in Ireland during the 2020 lockdown. The project is part of a bigger study, Sorgente, a research focused on motivation to belong, language learning and performative language pedagogy. The name Inside. Outside. And Beyond mirrors the structure of our storytelling activities, related to the experience of being inside one’s home; looking outside a window, and imagining life beyond lockdown.
Inside. Outside. And beyond. aimed to examine whether, and how, the 2020 lockdown restrictions have re-written the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion, and perceived sense of belonging, in young refugees and migrants recently arrived in Dublin, Ireland. The participants are 10 young students, aged 16 to 18, from Syria, Congo, China, Albania, Somalia, Afghanistan and Guinea, enrolled in the Access Programme run by Youth and Education Services (YES) for Refugees and Migrants.
The research team employed a range of arts-based research methods to give voice to minority ethnic groups about their experiences of COVID-19 lockdown 2020 in Ireland. The project involved two weeks storytelling workshops, followed by one-on-one interviews conducted through drawing games, mime, singing, photography and dance, to elicit stories and memories from lockdown.
How did the current 2020 lock down in Ireland affect refugee students’ sense of belonging and motivation to speak English?
The Migrant Access Programme (MAP), which prepares young people from refugee background to be mainstreamed into Irish schools, administered by the Youth and Education Service (YES) for Refugees and Migrants (City of Dublin Education and Training Board)
RESEARCH TEAM
- Erika Piazzoli (Assistant Professor, Arts Education, Trinity College Dublin)
- Garret Scally (Researcher, Practitioner, Lecturer, The University of Kiel)
- Kathleen Warner Yeates (Writer, Actor, Director, Flying Turtle Productions)
- Rachel Jacobs (Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, Western Sydney University)
Image Credits: Migrations. Artwork by ISOL in ‘Migrations. Open Hearts, Open Borders’
L-R: Erika Piazzoli, Kathleen Warner Yeates, Rachel Jacobs, Garret Scally