Today’s increasingly diverse and complex cities produce new and dynamic ways of relating to one another. Globalisation, migration and societal change on the one hand produce contested understandings of caring for each other. On the other, opportunities arise to (re)define caring in relation to changing economic conditions, social meanings and cultural norms. In many capitalist societies, however, existing unjust social structures and conditions continue to reinforce uneven geographies of care. Rather than a focus on how economically competitive cities are, this project explores the ‘caring city’ by investigating how cities ‘work’ and are understood as places that intersect with interpersonal caring, care relations and care work.
 

By bridging urban migration studies, youth geographies, feminist care theory and critical men and masculinity studies, you will investigate how young migrant men and masculinities are understood as subjects of urban care/ing. Young males with a migrat ion background are increasingly seen in the public opinion as 'idle’, ‘disorderly’ or ‘aggressive’ subjects, and therefore a social problem and a matter of ‘urban security’ that needs addressing. In the spirit of finding alternatives based on social justice, and by challenging and complicating public discourses that link masculine migrant youth with 'aggression’, ‘backwardness' and ‘dominance’, this project aims to promote social cohesion and the creation of a more caring and tolerant urban life for all.

• dr. Dora Martins Sampaio
• dr. Ilse van Liempt

Refugee youth and young asylum seekers often find themselves in precarious positions: insecure housing, lack of social networks and employment restrictions, coupled with a lack of money. Many occupy the public spaces of cities and towns where they seek refuge. Their presence in these spaces has been strongly problematized in European immigration debates. There has, by contrast, been far less debate on how young refugees can contribute their own histories, voices and agencies to the development of convivial public spaces and to what extent this can enhance their integration and participation in society.

In many European cities, it is often arts and cultural initiatives that provide a platform for refugee and migrant voices, playing an influential role in their encounters with public space and other people. This study identifies the importance of these initiatives and uses them as the entry-point to researching the personal geographies of young refugees and asylum seekers in four European cities, mapping their migration histories, exploring their post-arrival experiences and asking how their place-making and artistic practices contribute to the transformation of urban public space.

The research focuses on the everyday experiences of refugee youth in Newcastle (UK), Leipzig (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Brussels (Belgium). The methodological approach is primarily qualitative and draws heavily upon the principles of participatory research. It includes extensive participatory observation in each of the localities. Refugee youth will be offered a suite of creative methods to choose from for tracing and representing their personal geographies. Whilst being attentive to the migration histories of our participants, we acknowledge the importance of understanding how these align with the particular urban histories of each city. This means that we analyze the discursive constructions and representations of refugee youth in the local media as well.

• dr. Ilse van Liempt

Refugee youth and young asylum seekers often find themselves in precarious positions: insecure housing, lack of social networks and employment restrictions, coupled with a lack of money. Many occupy the public spaces of cities and towns where they seek refuge. Their presence in these spaces has been strongly problematized in European immigration debates. There has, by contrast, been far less debate on how young refugees can contribute their own histories, voices and agencies to the development of convivial public spaces and to what extent this can enhance their integration and participation in society.

In many European cities, it is often arts and cultural initiatives that provide a platform for refugee and migrant voices, playing an influential role in their encounters with public space and other people. This study identifies the importance of these initiatives and uses them as the entry-point to researching the personal geographies of young refugees and asylum seekers in four European cities, mapping their migration histories, exploring their post-arrival experiences and asking how their place-making and artistic practices contribute to the transformation of urban public space.

The research focuses on the everyday experiences of refugee youth in Newcastle (UK), Leipzig (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Brussels (Belgium). The methodological approach is primarily qualitative and draws heavily upon the principles of participatory research. It includes extensive participatory observation in each of the localities. Refugee youth will be offered a suite of creative methods to choose from for tracing and representing their personal geographies. Whilst being attentive to the migration histories of our participants, we acknowledge the importance of understanding how these align with the particular urban histories of each city. This means that we analyze the discursive constructions and representations of refugee youth in the local media as well.

• dr. Ilse van Liempt

Making Home in Forced Displacement challenges dominant and often hostile social discourses on young Syrian male refugees’ everyday practices in the Netherlands. In particular, Syrian men’s attitudes towards gender and partner roles tend to be considered problematic and detrimental to imagined gender identities and relations. In search of a counter-narrative, this PhD project provides novel insights into the homemaking practices of young Syrian male refugees in everyday places. It illustrates that forced migration and resettlement disrupt many facets of Syrian men’s daily lives and their identities. They complicate previously developed feelings of home, and prospects for a safe and meaningful life. Throughout, the thesis analyses a repertoire of masculinities young Syrian men employ in their articulations of everyday experiences to overcome these challenges. It further discusses the essential role of places and local opportunities in carving out spaces of home in new and unfamiliar societies. Despite the categorical construction as undesired subjects, the empirical evidence foregrounds various responses of young Syrian men to participate and actively construct a home. As a result, the diverse, heterogeneous and multifaceted nature of Syrian men’s everyday practices disrupts simplistic understandings as to how everyday life is organised.

• Helga de Valk
• Bettina van Hoven