By Nicholas Bailey (@imnickbailey) and Nando Sigona (@nandosigona), University of Birmingham https://www.facebook.com/unibirmingham/videos/310858256686260/ BLM became something very different from its previous incarnation on the day George Floyd died. It transitioned from social organisation to symbolising a societal ideal. By any definition, 2020 has been a dramatic year. It was already the year of Australian bushfires, the... Continue Reading →
Care work and domestic labour is the main theme of this episode of Conversations with IRiS. Our guests are two scholars who have investigated closely the intersection of gender and migration for many years. https://youtu.be/Hwr7eXmxqvU "Care workers, our heroes: a double edged sword", Episode 11 of Conversations with Iris Nina Sahraoui is a Post-doctoral Researcher... Continue Reading →
By Bircan Ciytak (PhD student, University of Birmingham) On April 15, 2020, the Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that, as part of the Covid-19 return program, around 25 thousand Turkish citizens from 70 countries, the majority of whom are students, were flown back to Turkey and kept in quarantine upon arrival for 14 days... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/x4ndXtrSMyI Melash Zeleke is originally from Ethiopia, not sighted asylum seeker currently living in a reception centre in Rome, Italy. He tells Natasha Nicholls and Annavittoria Sarli (IRiS) about his story and his life in Rome before and after the lockdown. This conversation took place on Thursday 7th May 2020. On 4th May, after a... Continue Reading →
The Covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating the existing vulnerabilities of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people, according to a report by theInstitute for Research into Superdiversity at the University of Birmingham and Refugee Women Connect. Research has revealed that many undocumented migrants were anxious about seeking medical help – fearful of being reported to immigration... Continue Reading →
According to the government, we are now supposed to be getting back to work. But what does “work” mean in the time of Covid-19? Lyndsey Stonebridge asks in her latest contribution in The New Statesman.
This is the recording of a conversation between Espoir Njei and Dawn River. The conversation took place on Tuesday 28th April 2020 - approx. one month into lockdown. Espoir and Dawn built a friendship through their shared commitment to supporting LGBTIQ migrants fleeing persecution. Espoir is a lesbian asylum seeker from the Cameroon currently in... Continue Reading →
In the follow up to our first Conversations with Iris episode, Lyndsey Stonebridge (IRiS) talks to Les Back (Goldsmiths, University of London) about the future of universities. https://youtu.be/fUTB8-iE-6U
Today we are launching the first episode of IRiS new Zoomcast series on mobility and immobility. "Conversations with Iris" will be a space where we will be in dialogue with fellow researchers, teachers, writers, migrants, refugees, activists, community organisers, artists and policy makers on issues related to the current pandemic and much more. It is... Continue Reading →
Conversations with Iris: Podcast on migration, diversity and displacement
The Age of Superdiversity 