School of Geography

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT
21st Century Citizenship
Dr Louise Waite and Dr Nichola Wood
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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Introduction
• 21st Century Citizenship impacts and challenges
• Leeds Geographers work on 21st Century
  Citizenship
• Integration experiences of Somali Refugee and
  Asylum Seeker Young People
• New Accession 8 Migrant Communities in Leeds
• Difference and Belonging British Asian
  Narratives of the City
• Group Discussion 21st Century Citizenship in
  the Classroom

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• 21st Century Citizenship Impacts and Challenges
• How do we live with difference in the UK?
• Events like 9/11, 7/7, 2001 urban race riots,
  race hate attacks in Belfast impact on and raise
  questions about
• The state of relations between Britains diverse
  ethnic and faith communities
• Peoples experiences of inclusion and exclusion
• The extent to which people feel as if they
  belong
• How people understand and live with difference

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Citizenship is often at the centre of debates on
  living with difference.
• Who belongs in the UK?
• insiders Vs outsiders
• Citizens Vs non-citizens
• What does it mean to be a British Citizen in a
  multicultural and multiethnic Britain?
• What shared rights and values do people have in
  common as British Citizens?
• What about rights for non-citizens living in
  Britain?

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• New Labours instrumental use of Citizenship
• Citizenship as a tool for promoting integration
  and mutual respect and civility across Britains
  diverse social and ethnic communities.
• Some examples
• Mandatory school-based citizenship education at
  key stages 3 and 4 of the national curriculum
  (introduced 2002)
• Citizenship tests for those wanting to become
  British Citizens (introduced 2005)
• Citizenship ceremonies for new British citizens
  (introduced 2004)

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT
RESEARCH CASE STUDY 1
Identities on the Move the Integration
Experiences of Somali Refugee and Asylum Young
People Prof. Gill Valentine, School of
Geography, University of Leeds with Dr. Deborah
Sporton, Department of Geography, University of
Sheffield
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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Introduction
• Little is known about the experiences of young
  asylum seekers.
• In 2006, UK received 23,000 applications for
  asylum, over a third were made by those aged 20
  or under.
• 3,245 were unaccompanied children.
• Background to Somali migration
• Migration to UK has occurred since early C20th.
• 18 years of civil war from 1991 -significant
  numbers of Somalis seek asylum in UK from late
  1980s.
• Estimated that approx. 75,000 Somalis live in the
  UK.

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Multi-Method Research
• Survey (n3313) all children in Y7, Y9, Y11
  (Y13) in 8 schools 1 FE College in Sheffield
• In-depth interviews 50 Somali children (aged
  11-18) parents/guardians. Sampled by arrival
  scenarios
• established community of labour migrants
• refugee/asylum seekers direct from Somalia via
  transit camps
• secondary European migrants
• Participant observation of local community spaces
• WebCT exercise on-line discussion forum
• Identity art workshops run by professional art
  therapists

Aim how do young asylum seekers negotiate and
position themselves within social narratives that
are not of their own making, that are
valued/judged in particular ways by society
according to particular constructions of -
asylum seekers - Muslims - What it means to be
British
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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• What it means to be Somali
• For some young Somalis who remember their
  homeland, it is a powerful part of their
  identity.
• Most left when very young or were born while
  their families were on the move.
• Their knowledge and understanding of Somalia is
  largely second hand through family (food,
  customs, cultural celebrations), and the media.
• They have to position themselves in relation to
  narratives of what it means to be Somali that are
  not of their own making.
• Those who return to Somali often find themselves
  out of place
• When we used to go to Somalia a lot of people
  used to say oh you lot, people from England.
  And I just said to my Mum how do they know? And
  My Mum goes thats how they are because of your
  walk and the way you talk. Cos I used to talk
  English to my brother in Somalia and they used to
  turn round and stare at us and they knew that we
  were not from here (female, 17 NASS arrival to
  UK via Ethiopia and Italy).

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Ambivalence about being British
• General wariness about publicly claiming a
  British identity.
• Concerns this would be read as shame at or
  rejection of their Somali heritage.
• Being British is imagined as a white idenitity
• Experiences of having their assertions of
  Britishness challenged by others.
• Its like sometimes it sounds weird coming out
  of my mouth oh yeah British Im British
  holding a passport and everything but when Im
  talking to my friends like the ones what have
  lived in the UK all their lives theyre like No
  youre Somali The thing is yeah, Somalia is
  always going to be my home in my heart yeah but
  if I go to Somalia I feel like a visitor there
  and when Im here in the UK I just feel, I
  dont know, at home Britain is where I feel
  comfortable but theyre going Oh youre not
  British, youre not from Britain youre not
  British (girl, aged 17)

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Belonging to a nation is not just about
  citizenship, its about the emotions that such
  memberships evoke (Yuval-Davis et al 2005).and
  the security that being in place provides.
• Sheffield Somalis feel as if they belong in the
  UK - even though they dont identify as British
  because at a local level they have defined their
  own community in terms of shared values, networks
  and practices made the place their own.

• Somali freedom to define their identities beyond
  narrow definitions of Britishness.
• Contrast with report of the Commission on
  Integration and Coherence (2007) that warns that
  UK policy of promoting respect for difference may
  lead to separation and calls for a shared
  national vision of Britishness as a unifying
  force.

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RESEARCH CASE STUDY 2
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• New Accession 8 Migrant Communities in Leeds
• Louise Waite, School of Geography, University of
  Leeds
• with
• Joanne Cook, School of Management, University of
  Stirling
• Peter Dwyer, Graduate School BLSS, Nottingham
  Trent University

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Introduction
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Recently completed study on new A8 migrant
  communities in Leeds
• - The experiences and needs of new A8 migrant
  workers in Leeds
• - The impact of new A8 migration on established
  communities
• 89 participants were interviewed
• 34 new A8 migrants
• Polish men women, Slovak mixed gender, Roma
  families
• 24 members of established communities
• Pakistani men women, West Indian mixed gender,
  White residents mixed gender
• 10 key informants
• 21 service providers
• Housing community relations, Health social
  care, Education and childrens services

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Background
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Estimated that in excess of 1 million central and
  Eastern European migrants have arrived in UK
  since EU enlargement in 2004
• May 1st 2004 Sept 30th 2007 saw 715,000 Worker
  Registration Scheme applications
• Low-skill labour sector concentration
  hotel/leisure sector, manufacturing/processing,
  construction industry in Leeds

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• Questions around what this growth and increased
  diversity of migration means for debates about
  integration
• Complex area focus on what facilitates processes
  of integration and the emergence of cohesive
  communities in diverse multicultural contexts
• The recent Commission on Integration and
  Cohesions report (20079) notes that
  problematic areas may occur in, ethnically
  diverse urban areas experiencing new migration,
  such as inner cities in the major metropolitan
  areas.
• The same report has emphasis on mutual respect
  and civility that may act as the basis for a
  shared national vision of Britishness with the
  potential to unify the diverse communities living
  side by side in contemporary Britain

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Generative and positive encounters
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Civil nature of banal encounters and kind acts
  of mutuality
• Sometimes we may have a chat with neighbours
  During Christmas time we shared the cards. (FG2
  men, Polish new migrants)
• Where we live now the whole street is English
  people and they are very polite, we are greeting
  each other and at Christmas Ive got cards from
  my neighbours. (FG1 Slovak new migrants)
• My neighbours have been very kind...They knew I
  could not speak English so she try to help me,
  slow speaking, hand movements so I could
  understand. (Roma family interview 3, mother)

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Exclusive encounters? Segregated places and
selective withdrawal
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Parallel lives?
• We are getting mixed as they are living in the
  same place, but they are not mixing upThere is
  segregation within the street. (FG5 men,
  established Pakistani community)
• I think they stick to their own little groups.
  Like with all new communities they stick to
  their own with people they know. (FG6 women,
  established Pakistani community)
• When I worked for the private agency they were
  giving me the worst hours, late nights,
  Saturdays, Sundays and they were saying if you
  want to make up your hours, you have to take
  these hours. (FG3 women, Polish new migrants)

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT
RESEARCH CASE STUDY 3

Difference and Belonging British Asian
Narratives of the City Deborah Phillips, School
of Geography, University of Leeds
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The multicultural city ambiguities and
contradictions
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Ethnic neighbourhoods as exotic spaces for
  excursion and entertainment
• Other ethnic spaces feared, places of
  avoidance
• areas that reproduce cultural otherness
• sites of social exclusion
• Minority ethnic segregation as a problem

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• But what does persistent ethnic segregation
  really mean?
• How do British Asians perceive, imagine and make
  sense of the urban spaces in which they are
  living and through which they are being told to
  disperse?

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT
BRADFORD 68,000 Pakistanis, 15 of total
population
LEEDS 15,000 Pakistanis, 2 of total population
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Narratives of the city and minority ethnic
segregation
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Perceived opportunities for, and a desire for,
  greater social and spatial mixing/integration
• A continuing racialisation of space frames
  opportunities and mobility. This has implications
  for
• perceived rights of access to space
• use of space within the multicultural city
• But readings, imaginings, experiences and
  opportunities differ between ethnic groups in
  complex ways

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Representations of minority ethnic segregation as
a problem
School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• The discourse on ethnic segregation is racially
  coded this problematises minority ethnic
  segregation, but not white segregation
• Minority ethnic segregation tends to be
  pathologized
• The association between residential segregation,
  the experience of social integration and feelings
  of belonging are complex

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School of Geography FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

• Themes covered by the research case-studies
• Living with difference
• Multiculturalism
• Citizenship

Questions to consider Can you see ways in which
you might be able to incorporate some of the
ideas that weve outlined into your teaching? If
so, how? Is there anything else that we could do
to support your teaching around the themes that
weve discussed today (or any other related
themes)?
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• Further Resources
• Post-Conflict Identities (Prof. Gill Valentine)
• Further details of this project including copies
  of the research report can be found at
• http//www.identities.group.sheffield.ac.uk/
• A8 Migrant Communities in Leeds (Dr. Louise
  Waite)
• Full research report available at
• http//www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/fileadmin/downloads/sc
  hool/people/academic/l.waite/Migrants08.pdf
• Racialisation of Space in Bradford (Dr. Debbie
  Phillips)
• End of project report can be found online at
• http//www.yorkshireuniversities.ac.uk/docs/Region
  alReviewpdfs/rr12_2.pdf
• Regional Review http//www.yorkshireuniversit
  ies.ac.uk/archive.php
• A free online journal that has articles that are
  potentially useful for your teaching. Volume 18,
  number 2 has articles by Waite and Valentine on
  the work featured in this session to be
  published online soon!

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• Questions to consider and some discussion
  points raised by the groups
• Questions
• Can you see ways in which you might be able to
  incorporate some of the ideas that weve outlined
  into your teaching? If so, how?
• Is there anything else that we could do to
  support your teaching around the themes that
  weve discussed today (or any other related
  themes)?
• Discussion points
• Importance/impact of the type of school on
  teaching geography.
• Differences between white groups as a route
  into exploring diversity in the classroom.
• Letter writing and emails between students in UK
  and in other countries as ways of learning more
  about living with difference.
• Different approaches to exploring integration
  in more ethnically mixed schools personalisation
  of topics sometimes reifies stereotyped
  perceptions of other ethnic groups.
• Experiences of white working class students in
  light of A8 migration.
• Segregation between ethnic groups and those who
  feel more British.
• Problems of working with children who come from
  areas that are characterised by prejudice towards
  others.