Project aims and overview :

Context

Children and young people have been at the very core of some of the key public debates and concerns at national level surrounding migration, eg, the 2004 citizenship referendum debate and the issue of lack of provision of school places, and of language tuition, for children of migrants. Migrant children have tended to be constructed in these debates in terms of ‘difference' and as having different needs to Irish children; indeed often, their very presence is viewed as problematic in itself. In this context, the need for research and initiatives which allow their own voices to be heard is extremely important.

Gap in research

Despite this need, however, and reflecting general trends in migration studies, the perspectives and experiences of children and young people are all too often overlooked in research on immigration to Ireland . During the past ten years, there has been a proliferation of research on immigration issues in Ireland , but, with a few exceptions, very little focusing on children or young people. This is not unusual in a global context, as migration research in general tends to be highly adult-centric. Our research project, Migrant Children , aims to address these gaps and to provide a children's and young people's perspective on issues relating to recent immigration to Ireland .

Conceptual framework

The Migrant Children project is a team-based research project centred on an investigation of children's and young people's experiences of immigration and integration in Irish society. The project aim is to explore the social worlds of migrant children and youth in Ireland from their own perspectives. Therefore the research draws on current developments in social studies of childhood by recognising children's and young people's own subjectivities, and their role in creating and interpreting their own worlds. So, we aim to place children at the centre of the research, to provide an alternative perspective on migration, integration and exclusion in Irish society.

The research also recognises that children's and young people's subjective experiences of migration and of living in Ireland are shaped by the wider context of family, household, institution, school, as well as the migration regimes within which children and young people move to Ireland. Children's experiences are profoundly shaped by their own or their parents' rights and status as migrants. So in our research, we focus on the ways in which migration regimes intersect with family, class, gender, childhood and youth in an Irish context, by conducting research with children and young people who have moved to Ireland as part of different migration contexts.

We explore the ways in which migrant children in different contexts negotiate the dynamics of inclusion/exclusion involving family, peers, and others, in different social and spatial contexts, including urban and rural, and public, private and institutional spaces. We also explore the ways in which they construct and negotiate their own identities – how they relate to local, national, familial, global and transnational frames of reference, and how they negotiate any gaps and tensions between the private/domestic sphere and the public sphere.

Specifically, the research explores the following questions:

• the ways in which different migration regimes shape the lives of migrant children
• the extent and nature of social integration among migrant children and young people in Ireland
• the social worlds and identity constructions of migrant children and youth
• how the dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion are negotiated at the local level by migrant children, youth and parents
• constructions of parenthood, childhood and youth among different migrant and non-migrant groups within Irish society and the ways in which these shape the experience of childhood/youth
• The dynamics of interaction and negotiation with peers, parents and other adults , as well as the ways in which these dynamics shape the social and spatial worlds of migrant children
• The ways in which migrant children and youth negotiate the gaps, conflicts and tensions between the private/domestic sphere of the immigrant family and the public sphere

Methods

Our methodology is driven by a desire to allow the voices of children and young people to speak through the research, by using children-centred research approaches. This involves spending time with children and young people who have moved to Ireland, and talking with them about their lives and their migration experiences, incorporating participative techniques such as artwork, photography, mapping and participant observation. The idea is that these techniques allow the participants to actively participate in the research, by allowing children/youth to communicate in ways with which they are comfortable. For example, children draw pictures of an aspect of their lives and talk to us about it, they take photos and talk to us about them, draw mental maps, etc. We also simply spend time with them, build up relations of trust and get to know them. The research also recognises the very important role of the family and other contexts (educational, institutional) in the lives of children and young people, and research is also conducted with parents and other key stakeholders.

Four Strands

Since the completion of a pilot project in a number of primary schools, we have been pursuing in-depth research through four projects or strands of research, each one corresponding to a specific immigrant group or migration context.

Strand A: African-Irish Children's Experiences of and Integration into Irish Society

(Dr. Allen White)

Strand B: From Central and Eastern Europe to Ireland : Children's Experiences of Migration

(Dr. Naomi Bushin )

Strand C: Latin American and Asian Migrant Children Growing Up in Ireland

(Dr. Fina Carpena-Méndez)

Strand D: Children and ‘Return' Migration: Children's and Young People's Experiences of Moving to Ireland with their Return Migrant Parent(s)

(Dr. Caitríona Ní Laoire)

Dissemination

A final report will be produced for each strand, together with an integrated synthesis of all four. This will also be made available in a version which is accessible to project participants including children, schools, families etc. Other outputs will include articles in peer-reviewed academic journals and an edited book. Emerging findings were discussed at the 2008 conference, while the final report will be launched at an event at the end of the project in September 2009.