Refugee Women’s Volunteering as Resistance Practices to Micro‐Aggressions and Social Exclusion in the UK

In an increasingly hostile environment for refugees in the UK and the “everyday bordering” that creates exclusionary effects for refugees and migrants, this article examines how refugee women of diverse backgrounds enact resistance practices through volunteering to challenge everyday microaggressions and social exclusion. We draw on in‐depth qualitative research with members of a support group for refugee women established by a local charity in England. We find that the support group not only allows the refugee women to foster a strong sense of solidarity in the face of everyday microaggressions; it also facilitates the women’s volunteering activities in the local community. Applying the concept of “differentiated embedding,” we argue that such activities enable these women to build wider social connections and skills for future employment and, crucially, develop emotional and linguistic resources to critique dominant exclusionary discourses and policies towards refugees through the idea of “contribution” and “giving back.” In so doing, we contribute to renewed interest in the concept of integration to highlight the agency of refugee women in creating differentiated embedding in a hostile environment

Disciplinary perspectives on archiving qualitative data

This webinar was organised by QUEST (Qualitative Expertise at Southampton) in collaboration with the National Centre for Research Methods and the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership. It was held on 23 June 2022. The speakers were: Dr Rachel Ayrton (chair), Carolynn Low, Dr Susie Weller and Professor David Zeitlyn

The making of alternative business support for migrant and refugee entrepreneurs in the UK: filling the void of formal support

Extensive research on migrant and refugee entrepreneurship has revealed a disconnection between the needs of migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to set up and grow their businesses and the available business support offerings. The austerity measures implemented in post-2010 Britain further exacerbated the lack of business support. Moreover, migrant and refugee entrepreneurs often perceive mainstream support as catering mainly to white, middle-class male future business leaders. In this chapter, we present three case studies in the form of vignettes to argue that alternative knowledge-sharing and skills-building opportunities, such as community mentoring networks, informal and social networks, churches, charities, and self-made strategies, have filled the gap left by the lack of business support. These alternative sources of support have emerged against the backdrop of neoliberalism and austerity measures in Britain. By engaging in debates on migrant entrepreneurship and business support, we illustrate how these shifts in the support landscape feed further fragmentation and unequal access to resources for vulnerable groups whilst simultaneously fostering the emergence of new support networks across different communities

It’s an old boys’ club’: the making of alternative forms of business support for migrant and refugee entrepreneurs in the UK

The increasingly extensive research on migrant and refugee entrepreneurship has demonstrated an enduring disconnection between the needs of migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to set up and grow their businesses and business support offerings. The scarce business support available has been reduced even further in post-2010 Britain due to the cuts implemented as part of the austerity measures. In addition, mainstream is at times perceived by migrant and refugee entrepreneurs as catering mainly to the white, middle-class male future business leaders. Drawing on three case studies in the form of vignettes, we argue in this chapter that this lacuna of business support has been filled by alternative sources of knowledge-sharing and skills-building opportunities such as community mentoring networks, informal/social networks, churches, charities, and self-made strategies, against the backdrop of neoliberal (post)austerity Britain. By engaging in debates on migrant entrepreneurship and business support, we illustrate how shifts in the support provision feed further fragmentation and unequal access to resources for vulnerable groups whilst simultaneously fostering the emergence of new support networks across different communities