Research within the Centre is concerned with ensuring a better understanding of the experiences of refugees and migrants, the circumstances that have led to their decision to move and the factors that facilitate -  or act as a barrier to - economic, social and political integration. We approach integration as a two-way process which places demands on both the receiving country and the migrant. For the migrant it requires a willingness to adapt to the lifestyle of the host society without having to lose his or her own cultural identity. In return, the host society should be prepared to accept refugees and migrants as equals and work to ensure they have the same access to resources and decision-making processes as the national population. Research within the Centre explores the ability of migrants to access the resources and opportunities necessary for their integration and the factors that underpin attitudes towards, and understanding of, asylum and migration issues. 

Our research and work with local communities also explores the increasingly recognised role that the arts and cultural expression can and do play in shaping shared identities and a common sense of belonging. Work by members of the Centre aims to enable arts and cultural expression by refugees and asylum seekers to flourish, so that they are able to contribute to the artistic and cultural vibrancy of Wales and beyond.

 

Projects

Attitudes to asylum and immigration

Cities for the Local Integration of Migrants (CLIP)

Homelessness amongst Eastern European migrants in Wales

Livelihood strategies and destitution in South Wales

Novels of Turkish German settlement

Parenting in a multi-cultural European city

Refugees in Wales: a survey

Refugees writing in Wales

Welcome to Swansea

 

Publications

Bekers, E., Helff, S. and Merolla, D. (eds.), (2009) Transcultural Modernities: Narrating Africa in Europe. Special Issue Matatu: Journal for African Culture and Society, Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.

Crawley, H. and Crimes, T. (2010) Intercultural policies and intergroup relations: CLIP Case study: Kirklees, United Kingdom, Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

Crawley, H. and Crimes, T. (2010) Intercultural policies and intergroup relations: CLIP Case study: Dublin, Ireland, Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions,

Crawley, H. and Crimes, T. (2010) Intercultural policies and intergroup relations: CLIP Case study: Malmo, Sweden, Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

Crawley, H. (2009) Understanding and Changing Public Attitudes: A Review of Existing Evidence from public Information and Communication Campaigns, London: The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, 

Crawley, H (2005) 'Evidence on Attitudes to Asylum and Immigration: What We Know, Don’t Know and Need to Know', COMPAS Working Paper No. 23, Oxford: University of Oxford

Cheesman, T (2007) Novels of Turkish German Settlement: Cosmopolite Fictions, New York: Camden House

Cheesman, T, Davies, G and Hoffmann, S (eds) (2006) The Festival of the Wolf: Refugee Writings in Wales 4, Swansea: Hafan Books 

Helff, S., Korte, B. and Pirker, U (eds.). (2010) Facing the East in the West. Images of Eastern Europe in British Literature, Film and Culture. Amsterdam/New York: IFAVL 138, Rodopi.

Helff, S. (2009) 'Refugee life narrative: the disturbing potential of a genre and the case of Mende Nazer', Special Issue Matatu 36: Transcultural Modernities: Narrating Africa in Europe. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 331-346

Helff, S. and Woletz, J.(2009) 'Narrating Euro-African Life in Digital Space' in: Story Circle: Digital Storytelling Around the World. John Hartley und Kelly McWilliam (eds.). Oxford/New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 131-143.

Williams, J. and Guémar, L. (eds). (2008). Fragments from the Dark: Women Writing Home and Self in Wales. Hafan Books