Narrative exchange and intercultural encounter between forced migrants and receiving communities in Torino (Italy) and Edinburgh (Scotland)

This thesis undertakes a comparative study of community education projects in Torino (Italy) and Edinburgh (Scotland) which use narrative exchange to facilitate intercultural encounter between people who are forced migrants and those from receiving communities. It investigates the effectiveness of narrative exchange as a tool for addressing, interpreting and challenging the dynamics of intercultural encounter and community integration in contemporary urban contexts. The thesis presents a unique interdisciplinary contribution to academic debates around migration and integration, drawing on insights from social science combined with a narrative inquiry methodology and a deliberately narrative form. It addresses the epistemological tension between the qualitative, narrative-based work and knowledge embodied in community education projects and the more quantitative requirements of funding criteria which must be met to continue such work. Furthermore, it offers a series of practice-based findings and learnings intended as a resource of practical use in the field of community education. Taking ‘journey’ as a founding metaphor, the thesis is cast in the form of a travel narrative moving through the phases of a PhD, the lives and stories of people and projects encountered, and processes of learning, unlearning and relearning. It is presented as a journey narrated through the voice of the researcher as traveller or wayfarer. The thesis employs qualitative research methods and is conducted multilingually, with maps and poetry occurring and recurring. Material is gathered through conversations and participant observation. Narrative inquiry is the overarching research methodology, employed to analyse material gathered and identify which types of narrative exchange can facilitate dialogical intercultural encounter in urban migratory contexts

The role of stories in the design of an online language course: ethical considerations on a cross-border collaboration between the UK and the Gaza Strip

This article discusses the process of negotiating the storyline for videos developed as part of an online Arabic language course. The project was guided by a social-justice-through-education agenda, explicitly aiming to redress the high unemployment rate of language graduates in the Gaza Strip. We illustrate how the international team designing the course gradually moved from talking about intercultural communication to doing intercultural communication during the process of creating the course materials. We also explore the meanings that the stories of the language course carry from the distinct perspectives of the teams based in Scotland and in the Gaza Strip

The New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy: A report on the local and international dimensions of integrating refugees in Scotland

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