Opening of Refugee Week

Join Professor Stephen Byrne, Deputy President and Registar, and members of UCC's Sanctuary Working Group, Fáilte Refugees and others as we open Refugee Week by raising a flag above the Quad at 10:30 on Monday morning, February 20th.

All Together

A European Solidarity Corps Project with UCC Fáilte Refugees Society, funded by Léargas.

In 2022, the Glucksman teamed up with UCC Fáilte Refugees Society to run a yearlong project with young asylum seekers called All Together. This is a project that provides creative opportunities for young asylum seekers living in the rural, isolated Direct Provision centre in Clonakilty, West Cork. The project supports young asylum seekers to work with third level students and with invited artists to create innovative artworks that will bring their voice and views into the public realm.

Meet the artists and see the ongoing creative activities at the Annual UCC Refugee Week Conference "Healing Cultures".

Following the European Solidarity Corps Art in Action project in 2019, UCC Fáilte Refugees Society worked with Cork Migrant Centre to identify the young people in the Cork region that are in the greatest need of extracurricular activities, positive opportunities and creative experiences. The All Together project has the twin objectives of providing meaningful, creative experiences for this disadvantaged community and increasing the visibility of refugees and migrants in society. The teenagers lead on all aspects of the project, making decisions on art mediums, themes and on the final outcome.

Meet the Artists

18:00 Thursday 23^rd February

Annual Refugee Week Conference "Healing Cultures"

Dora Allman Room, the Hub

Mother Language Music Day

Tune in at 11:00 on February 21st or have your coffee outside the Hub to hear our Mother Language music broadcast the Soundseekers!

DJ Golden Syrup will play a 30-minute set playing SA & ZIM beats from South Africa and Zimbabwe and DJ Durga will play a 30-minute blend of traditional classical Indian, folk and film music.

MaREI celebrate International Mother Language Day (Feb 21st)

Local Cultures, Languages and Knowledges in Migration Research

We are delighted to welcome you to the following event organised by the Centre for Global Development (CGD) with the University of Sanctuary Working Group/EDI as part of events planned for Refugee Week and in particular recognition of Mother Language Day.

 Time/date: 1-2:30pm Tuesday 21 February 2023

Location: Dora Allman Room

Light lunch will be available – please register here:  https://www.ucc.ie/en/edi/universityofsanctuary/events/rw/rw2023/

Speakers: Joy Uwanziga (PhD, French Department) and Louisa Esther Mugabo (PhD, French and SPLAS Departments)

Chair: Caroline Williamson Sinalo (UCC French Department)

1. “Migration Effects on the Social and Cultural Development” by Joy Uwanziga
2. “Staying ‘on air’ in exile: the changing practice, norms, and values of exile journalism from Burundi and Eritrea” by Louisa Esther Mugabo

Migrations are usually caused by a number of factors, and among them are; political unrests, civil wars, genocide, disease, and abject poverty. These situations have in no doubt led to mass migration of the people in the different parts of the world. In recent years, scholars, policy makers and development actors have become increasingly interested in understanding the role of migration in development. This interest is perhaps driven by our limited understanding of the effects of migration on both social and cultural development. It’s believed that migrants can affect cultural change by transferring host-country cultural values and norms back to their home communities. To probe deeper, and focus this understanding, the goal of my study will be to particularly study the role migration has had on the social and cultural development of countries in the Great Lakes region, using Rwanda and Uganda as Case Studies. The research will basically investigate the perceived development trajectory of Rwanda and Uganda, in the post genocide period from 1994 – 2020 and its relationship with migration flows. It is believed that, in addition to the great loss of life, the genocide in Rwanda led to mass migration of several citizens of Rwanda, to within the Great Lakes region, and outside the region. In Uganda too, the insurgency in the North as a result of the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army caused over 1.9 million Ugandans to migrate. The research will attempt to understand the impact of this migration on the social and cultural aspects of development on the people (and families) and in tandem their country of origin.

Joy Uwanziga is a mother of three, who enjoys exploring the differences that thankfully exist between different cultures. Joy speaks 7 different languages (kinyarwanda, Luganda, Swahili, English, French and Dutch). She has over 16 years of working in the field of diplomacy and international organisations. She’s also a seasoned author with book titles such as ‘Manners in Rwanda’ and ‘The Incredible Ways of Parenting’, already on the shelf. Joy is schooled both in Rwanda for her undergraduate studies in social sciences, and in Brussels for her Masters of Arts in International Protocol and Diplomacy. She’s currently an aspiring PhD student at the University College Cork (UCC), with funding from the Department of French. At UCC Joy will delve into understanding the migration effects on the social and cultural development of the Great Lakes region.

In times of globally deteriorating press freedom and raising numbers of attacks on the press, an increasing number of journalists have to flee. Exile journalism has become a modern, global trend. Yet, the author argues that the little existing research mostly compares the phenomenon to western, normative theories of journalism, which do not acknowledge the different rationale that exile brings upon journalists when fleeing from but still reporting on conflict and war. Consequently, the journalism, knowledge and expertise by exiled journalists is often not acknowledged for in the host countries and mainstream media outlets.

To understand exile journalism in a less normative way, the author proposes a new approach by foregrounding the real-life experiences of marginalised journalists exiled from Eritrea and Burundi, and presents the findings from seven in-depth interviews with journalists working from exile in two different settings: (a) an Eritrean radio station in Paris, which acts as a link between the people of Eritrea and the world while the country has been isolated for the last 20+ years; (b) journalists from Burundi exiled in Brussels, where they produce WhatsApp radio programmes for their home audience in the aftermath of a blackout in 2015, which triggered exile for three-quarters of Burundi’s journalists (first to Rwanda, since 2021 further to Europe). Based on these interviews, the author identifies how the organisational structures, journalistic conventions, norms, and values change in exile.

These two case studies form part of a PhD project that conceptualises exile journalism through a South-South comparison of East African and Latin American (Nicaragua, Venezuela) cases.  It applies methods of comparative journalism and grounded theory and engages with decolonial approaches to media studies.It becomes clear that exile triggers a normative realignment and practical changes in conflict journalism that can be embedded in larger frameworks of exile, journalism theory, and regional contexts. and argues that it is crucial to acknowledge the different rationale that exile brings upon journalism in order to respect their work.

Louisa Esther Mugabo is a PhD candidate in the French and SPLAS Departments at University College Cork and a freelance journalist. She holds two Bachelor degrees from Leipzig University in Political Science and African Studies, and a Joint Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in International Journalism, where she specialised in Conflict and War Reporting at Swansea University. Mugabo studies the phenomenon of exile journalism through interviews with East African and Latin American exiled journalists. Her further research interests are decolonial media studies, press freedom in (post-)conflict settings, and genocide denial. She has published articles and podcasts on a range of issues including local politics, forgotten humanitarian crises, journalism in times of war, and sports, gives talks and workshops about topics like conflict-sensitive journalism and anti-racism, and has previously managed campaigns in politics. Mugabo is funded by the German Episcopalian Academic Foundation, and she is an advisory board member of the Mundus Journalism programme, and a board member of Journey Media, the latter being a refugee journalism outlet in the Great Lakes.

Local Cultures, Languages and Knowledges in Migration Research

Time/date: 1-2:30pm Tuesday 21 February 2023

Location: Dora Allman Room

Light lunch will be available – please register here:  https://forms.office.com/e/B3B04FE7uB

Speakers: Joy Uwanziga (PhD, French Department) and Louisa Esther Mugabo (PhD, French and SPLAS Departments)

Chair: Caroline Williamson Sinalo (UCC French Department)

1. “Migration Effects on the Social and Cultural Development” by Joy Uwanziga

Migrations are usually caused by a number of factors, and among them are; political unrests, civil wars, genocide, disease, and abject poverty. These situations have in no doubt led to mass migration of the people in the different parts of the world. In recent years, scholars, policy makers and development actors have become increasingly interested in understanding the role of migration in development. This interest is perhaps driven by our limited understanding of the effects of migration on both social and cultural development. It’s believed that migrants can affect cultural change by transferring host-country cultural values and norms back to their home communities. To probe deeper, and focus this understanding, the goal of my study will be to particularly study the role migration has had on the social and cultural development of countries in the Great Lakes region, using Rwanda and Uganda as Case Studies. The research will basically investigate the perceived development trajectory of Rwanda and Uganda, in the post genocide period from 1994 – 2020 and its relationship with migration flows. It is believed that, in addition to the great loss of life, the genocide in Rwanda led to mass migration of several citizens of Rwanda, to within the Great Lakes region, and outside the region. In Uganda too, the insurgency in the North as a result of the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army caused over 1.9 million Ugandans to migrate. The research will attempt to understand the impact of this migration on the social and cultural aspects of development on the people (and families) and in tandem their country of origin.

Joy Uwanziga is a mother of three, who enjoys exploring the differences that thankfully exist between different cultures. Joy speaks 7 different languages (kinyarwanda, Luganda, Swahili, English, French and Dutch). She has over 16 years of working in the field of diplomacy and international organisations. She’s also a seasoned author with book titles such as ‘Manners in Rwanda’ and ‘The Incredible Ways of Parenting’, already on the shelf. Joy is schooled both in Rwanda for her undergraduate studies in social sciences, and in Brussels for her Masters of Arts in International Protocol and Diplomacy. She’s currently an aspiring PhD student at the University College Cork (UCC), with funding from the Department of French. At UCC Joy will delve into understanding the migration effects on the social and cultural development of the Great Lakes region.

1. “Staying ‘on air’ in exile: the changing practice, norms, and values of exile journalism from Burundi and Eritrea” by Louisa Esther Mugabo

In times of globally deteriorating press freedom and raising numbers of attacks on the press, an increasing number of journalists have to flee. Exile journalism has become a modern, global trend. Yet, the author argues that the little existing research mostly compares the phenomenon to western, normative theories of journalism, which do not acknowledge the different rationale that exile brings upon journalists when fleeing from but still reporting on conflict and war. Consequently, the journalism, knowledge and expertise by exiled journalists is often not acknowledged for in the host countries and mainstream media outlets.

To understand exile journalism in a less normative way, the author proposes a new approach by foregrounding the real-life experiences of marginalised journalists exiled from Eritrea and Burundi, and presents the findings from seven in-depth interviews with journalists working from exile in two different settings: (a) an Eritrean radio station in Paris, which acts as a link between the people of Eritrea and the world while the country has been isolated for the last 20+ years; (b) journalists from Burundi exiled in Brussels, where they produce WhatsApp radio programmes for their home audience in the aftermath of a blackout in 2015, which triggered exile for three-quarters of Burundi’s journalists (first to Rwanda, since 2021 further to Europe). Based on these interviews, the author identifies how the organisational structures, journalistic conventions, norms, and values change in exile.

These two case studies form part of a PhD project that conceptualises exile journalism through a South-South comparison of East African and Latin American (Nicaragua, Venezuela) cases.  It applies methods of comparative journalism and grounded theory and engages with decolonial approaches to media studies.It becomes clear that exile triggers a normative realignment and practical changes in conflict journalism that can be embedded in larger frameworks of exile, journalism theory, and regional contexts. and argues that it is crucial to acknowledge the different rationale that exile brings upon journalism in order to respect their work.

Louisa Esther Mugabo is a PhD candidate in the French and SPLAS Departments at University College Cork and a freelance journalist. She holds two Bachelor degrees from Leipzig University in Political Science and African Studies, and a Joint Erasmus Mundus Master’s degree in International Journalism, where she specialised in Conflict and War Reporting at Swansea University. Mugabo studies the phenomenon of exile journalism through interviews with East African and Latin American exiled journalists. Her further research interests are decolonial media studies, press freedom in (post-)conflict settings, and genocide denial. She has published articles and podcasts on a range of issues including local politics, forgotten humanitarian crises, journalism in times of war, and sports, gives talks and workshops about topics like conflict-sensitive journalism and anti-racism, and has previously managed campaigns in politics. Mugabo is funded by the German Episcopalian Academic Foundation, and she is an advisory board member of the Mundus Journalism programme, and a board member of Journey Media, the latter being a refugee journalism outlet in the Great Lakes.

Free English Lesson

The rise of the Far Right in Ireland: how big a threat does it pose?

A look at the historical background of the far right in Ireland, followed by a consideration of how the present ‘far right’ in Ireland differs from the earlier movements, and then, looking at issues like the use of social media, the importation of key current themes from the international far right as well the emergence of conspiracy theories as a key part of their beliefs, to pose the questions: Why has there been an apparently sudden and dramatic lurch to the right and who is behind the street activism and hate movements targeting asylum seekers and refugees? Are there practical measures which Government and civil society might take to address the real grievances behind some of the discontent while making it clear that hate and xenophobia are unacceptable?

Speaker Bios

Piaras Mac Éinrí is lecturer in Migration Studies in the Department of Geography and a researcher with the Institute for Social Studies in the 21^st Century, University College Cork. He has researched, published and taught extensively on topics of migration to and from Ireland, integration and identity, refugee and asylum issues. He is also a member of the leadership group of Cork Sanctuary Movement. Prior to taking up his present post he was a member of the Irish Diplomatic Service, with postings to the EEC in Brussels and Irish embassies in Beirut and Paris. His most recent (joint) publication is Coakley, L., Mac Éinrí, P. (2021) 'Ireland's White Paper to End Direct Provision (2021): Migrant Accommodation and Control' International Migration Review

Dr Amin Sharifi Isaloo is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology & Criminology at UCC. His fields of interests include race, ethnicity, migration, nationalism, development, politics, religion, arts and culture focusing on sociological and anthropological interpretations of symbols, images and ritual performances. He is the author of the book ‘Power, Legitimacy and the Public Sphere: The Iranian Ta’ziyeh Theatre Ritual’ (2017). His recent publications are ‘Liminality in the Direct Provisional system - Living under extreme rules and conditions’ (2020), ‘Liminality and Modern Racism (2021), Racism and the Far Right (in print).

Fashion Action

A Creative Agency exhibition exploring multi-issue activism through art and clothing

In Autumn 2022, the Glucksman invited teenagers from Clonakilty, Drishane Castle and Macroom Direct Provision Centres to take part in a project that creatively explored some of society’s most challenging issues through art and fashion. Working with artist Aoife Claffey, the group discovered a variety of artistic mediums and design approaches and worked collaboratively to create unique artworks.

This exhibition presents the artwork created by the teenagers and runs from 21st to 26th February as part of UCC Refugee Week 2023.

As part of the project, the group of 20 teenagers, aged 13-18 years, learnt about the Glucksman exhibition Fashion Show: Clothing, Art and Activism, they looked at issues facing society and considered how their own artworks could collectively address areas such as women’s rights, climate action, and the treatment of migrant workers. The group worked together to create dynamic installations that merge sculpture, printmaking, drawing and painting.

The teenager’s visits to UCC were supported by Cork Migrant Centre and Clonakilty Friends of Asylum Seekers.

Fashion Action is delivered as part of the Glucksman's Creative Agency programme funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.

Fashion Action runs at the Glucksman from Tuesday 21^st to Sunday 26^th February.

10am – 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday and 2-5pm Sunday

Gallery 2, The Glucksman

Podcasts by Soundseekers

Beauty of the Exiles

60-minute podcast with a strong emphasis on hope, compassion, personal growth, and the meaning of success, balanced with some of the challenging issues our Refugee/Asylum/Migrant Communities face globally. Told through story, song and poetry. This podcast is produced by a group of audio producers from the Soundseekers Audio Festival. 

Documentaries about Parenting & motherhood

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ3K_bI74yk&t=89s

Produced by Blue Tangerine. A personal story about the challenges of living in direct provision in Ireland as an asylum seeker whilst raising children

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBP4dpFSr60&t=3s

Produced by Nadoosha. A story about one woman's educational aspirations, motherhood and culture.

Immerse

IMMERSE YOURSELF! Poetry and Drawing Exhibition on the subject of “Belonging”.  Students aged 7-18, from schools and centres, contacted as part of the larger IMMERSE project, in all 6 participating IMMERSE countries, were invited to submit their drawings and their poetry that expresses what “Belonging” means to them. The campaign aimed to be inclusive and to highlight the voices of the children, who express in first person their feelings of integration through their drawing and writing skills.

IMMERSE is a H2020 research project that maps migrant children’s education across Europe and involves research in 6 European countries: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain. The Irish partners are based in the School of Applied Social Studies and ISS21, UCC.

Securitising borders and criminalising migrants inside the Schengen Area

Border Securitisation and the Criminalization of Migration Inside Schengen:

 The case of the Franco-Spanish border in the Basque Country

Hosted by: UNIC / ISS21, UCC

Friday 24^th Feb 2023

at

3pm-4pm (4pm-5pm CET)

Online Event: Join Meeting Here

Speaker: Dr. Gustavo de la Orden Bosch

Bio:

Gustavo de la Orden Bosch is associate researcher at the Institute of Human Rights Pedro Arrupe of the University of Deusto. His main research interests include border studies, migration, asylum, criminalisation and human rights, within the framework of International Law, Criminal Law and Criminology. His PhD research focused on the securitization and criminalisation of migration at the external borders of the European Union placing an emphasis on the impact on the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. A special focus was on Spanish systems of border control, migration and international protection. Gustavo is a member of the research team “Human Rights and Sociocultural Challenges in a World in Transformation”, financed by the Basque Government (RETOS IT-1468-22). His current research project is “The European Pact on Migration and Asylum and the Mediterranean States in the post-covid context (EURASYLUM II)” (DER 113999RB-100), led by Dr. Joana Abrisketa and financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Abstract:

Studies on EU border and migration management are usually focused on external borders. Likewise, academic research on cooperation on migration control tend to deal with agreements between EU Member States and third countries. One of the main reasons for this is the legal design and functioning of the Schengen Area. The logic of strengthening external border control to ensure freedom of movement leads to a neglect of what happens at internal borders, where controls are formally abolished. Similarly, not much attention is paid to migration control agreements between Member States. However, in practice, some internal borders are subject to reinforced control due to national security policies. As an extraordinary measure, non-EU migration and crossing internal borders is managed through immobility, rejection and expulsion. The proposals for the reform of the Schengen Area, announced in January 2022 by the French Presidency of the Council of the EU aim at “protecting European identity”, moving this agenda forward. Against this background, the paper analyses the situation at the Franco-Spanish border in the Basque Country. Since 2015, in the aftermath of terrorist attacks, France has temporarily reintroduced border control on several occasions and implemented strict police controls on non-EU migrants in the city of Hendaye. As a result, many people are being detained and returned to Spanish territory when trying to cross the border between the cities of Irun and Hendaye. The legality of returns is justified in the readmission agreement signed between both States in Malaga in 2002. However, the operational difficulties in the implementation of this agreement lead to border agents carrying out de facto returns without a legal procedure. “Hot returns” are executed in break of national and international legal framework. In addition, as a preventive mechanism, many migrants are detained by Spanish police. Trying to avoid the selective police controls performed on racial bias, people cross “clandestinely” the internal border swimming the Bidassoa river, 50 meters in distance between Spanish and French shores. Three migrants drowned in 2021. Another four lost their lives when hit by a train while sleeping on the tracks. The exceptionality of internal border controls poses a set of problematic issues: the inoperability of the Schengen Area in practice, the arbitrary enforcement of extraordinary measures, the suspension of Schengen rules at internal borders, the reinforcement of securitization and criminalization of migration, and the denial of rights to protection to asylum seekers.

Event organisers:

Cliona Maher, International Strategy Officer Latin America (cliona.maher@ucc.ie)

Dr Armida De La Garza, Senior Lecturer, College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences (adelagarza@ucc.ie).

Moderator: Dr Claire Dorrity, School of Applied Social Studies / ISS21 Migration and Integration Research Cluster (c.dorrity@ucc.ie)

Decolonising Parenting in Superdiverse Contexts

Let’s talk about how migrant parents negotiate an unfamiliar parenting framework in Ireland. 

Let’s talk about how well service providers and/training curriculum has managed/not managed to create an enabling environment for these migrant families to practice their adaptive indigenous child rearing abilities with confidence and/or to facilitate access to services that support healthy families.

What knowledge about parenting framework is prioritized – brought to the centre and what knowledge is marginalized.

Let’s commit to critically evaluate and deconstruct concepts about parenting frameworks and the power imbalances embedded therein towards a process of reconstructing what a strength-based parenting framework for parents would look towards Empowering Migrant Families.

Join Dr Naomi Masheti, author Dr Colletta Dalikeni, Dr Jacqui O’Riordan and Deborah Oniah of the Saoirse Project to talk about Decolonising Parenting in Superdiverse Contexts at The Dora Allman Room, The Hub, UCC on Friday 24^th Feb from 1-2 p.m.

Or ONLINE - join here

Speaker bios:

Deborah Oniah is a writer and a mother of four. She is a Graduate of Law in her home country, Nigeria. She is a University College Cork Sanctuary Scholar with a Postgraduate Diploma in Trauma Studies. An important voice for the migrant community in Ireland, Deborah is trained in and facilitates intercultural dialogue. She is also a trained facilitator in Culturally Relevant Parenting Programme and have been delivering this training across direct provision centres in Cork. She is one of the founder members of the CMC Women Coffee Morning group that is now running for 5 years. She is a member of Sanctuary Runners and Saoirse Ethnic Hands On Deck, a registered social enterprise project run by migrant women living in Direct Provision Centres in Cork. She also studied Global Youth Work and Development at University of Maynooth, Kildare. Deborah currently advocates for adult learning and women’s mental health.

Dr Colletta Dalikeni is an expert and educator in Cross-Cultural Social Work, Anti-Racist Practice, Critical Whiteness, Racism, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. She is a lecturer in Social Care in Dundalk Institute of Technology and an author, her most recent book "Child Protection Social Workersand Asylum-seeking Families in Ireland: Issues of Race, Culture, Power, Relations and Mistrust" came out in 2021.

Dr Naomi Masheti is a Psychologist and a three-time graduate of UCC; she graduated with a BA in Applied Psychology in 2007, an MA in Forensic Psychology in 2008, and a PhD specializing in the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Sub-Saharan African Migrant Children in 2015. She is a Psychosocial Practitioner at CMC, and a guest lecturer at the School of Psychology, University College Cork. Naomi was the recipient of UCC 2020 Athena SWAN Equality Award. Spends leisure time watching medical and crime dramas, supernatural and futuristic movies and couch time reading fictional novels.

Dr Jacqui O'Riordan is a lecturer in the School of Applied Social Studies in UCC. Her research interests embody the activist and academic and focus on a range of issues concerning gender, equality and diversity in local and global contexts. She has a particular interest in examining intersections between lives and livelihoods, women's studies and gender, and a critical analysis of care, drawing on the feminist ethics of care. Drawing on these interests, her research contributions include analyses of aspects of child trafficking, care for children, migrant children's experiences and interactions of education, community supports for people, younger and older, living with disabilities, as well as analysis of care and family carers in Ireland, and she a founder-member of the Child Migration and Social Policy Research Group in the School of Applied Social Studies.