Abstract
This multi-stakeholder case study examines experiences and responses to refugee settlement at a city and neighbourhood level in Liverpool, UK. As a site for this research, Liverpool has a unique history, particularly regarding migration, settlement and race relations. Further, the city plays an important role within the administration of the asylum system and the settlement of refugees and asylum seekers in the contemporary era. However, despite the intrinsic value of research within Liverpool, to date, there has been limited research seeking to explore experiences and responses to refugee settlement in the city. Given that this research has a specific focus on the way that refugee settlement plays out at a local level, the study is situated within a ‘local turn’ in migration and refugee studies. There is a strong body of literature that explores the distinct ways migration and settlement play out in different local settings. However, there is limited understanding of refugee settlement as a lived and negotiated dynamic. This research addresses this limitation, adopting a multi-stakeholder approach to examine the lived experience of refugee settlement from multiple perspectives.Employing a combination of methods, including 71 semi-structured interviews, this research explores the way that refugee settlement plays out in a city that is rapidly diversifying. In this regard, the study draws upon the concept of Everyday Multiculture as a way of thinking through both the experience of settlement and the practices employed as a way of learning to live with and negotiate difference. This study contributes to existing writing on multiculture, gaining empirical insight into the quiet tensions that multiculture can obscure. Furthermore, the study points to these tensions not only as hidden by multiculture but as simultaneously fracturing yet informing the practices which underpin it.
Date of Award | 13 Jan 2021 |
---|---|
Original language | English |
Awarding Institution |
|
Supervisor | ZANA VATHI (Director of Studies), RUXANDRA TRANDAFOIU (Supervisor) & MARIAGIULIA GIUFFRE (Supervisor) |
Keywords
- Refugee
- Asylum Seeker
- Migration
- Multiculture
- Conviviality
- Super-diversity
- Welcome
- Encounter