Strand A: Refugee and Asylum-seeking Childrens’ experience and integration into Irish Society.

Dr. Allen White

Introduction:
Despite being in a numerical minority refugees and asylum seekers have probably gained more attention from academics, policy makers and legislators than any other group of immigrants into Ireland. Refugees and asylum seekers have had the lion’s share of research time and attention over the last decade. Throughout interest in children and refugees has been scant. For the most part research on refugee children in Ireland has concentrated on the impact of public policies on refugee children as dependent family members.
This research aims to contribute to our understandings of the experiences of children of refugee and asylum seekers through exploring their understandings of key issues and themes.

Research themes:
Drawing on key ideas and theoretical debates the research themes that shall be addressed will explore:

• the domestic sphere and family life of refugee/asylum seeker children
• friendship, local (and non-local) social and spatial networks and leisure activities of refugee/asylum seeker children
• refugee/asylum seeker childrens’ experiences of school (and other statutory) services
• refugee/asylum seeker childrens’ perceptions of their refugee experiences, memories of/knowledges about their parents’ country of origin and understandings of ‘Irishness’

Methods
Children themselves are the best source of information about what concerns them, therefore the intention in this project is to collect data directly from refugee and asylum seeker children. The research uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including exploring 2006 census statistics, one to one and group interviews, as well as participatory research using photography and artwork. Research is carried out with both adults and children

If you would like to become involved in this research project, I would love to hear from you. My contact details are:

Dr. Allen White
Department of Geography
University College Cork
Cork

Email: allen.white@ucc.ie
Telephone: +353 - 21- 490 3842