Half the people displaced worldwide are under 18 yet their voices are rarely heard. This presentation will draw on research into child migration and the subsequent book Child Migrant Voices in Modern Britain: Oral Histories 1930s - Present Day published by Bloomsbury 2024. The book opens with children's experiences of arriving in Britain from Hitler's Europe on the Kindertransport in the 1930s and ends with those escaping war in Ukraine in 2022. Some followed their parents to the motherland from the former British Empire - Jamaica, India and Pakistan. Others came with their parents from Syria to a Scottish island or from Mogadishu to Mile End. Some came independently to escape forced marriage or military conscription.
The talk will examine the impact of war on children and of early disruptions in family relationships including on adult life. It will explore child migrants’ journeys - ‘toing’ and ‘froing’ across cultural and linguistic borders, the welcome they receive in both urban and rural settings, their rights and resilience including the role of creativity in processing and communicating trauma. It will link these historical stories of child migration with contemporary issues such as the Home Office Windrush scandal, Brexit, Britain’s Nationality and Borders Bill 2023 and what the present government should do to meet the needs of child migrants. It will also include clips from award wining films co-produced with child migrants.
Dr Eithne Nightingale is part of the Childhood, Law and Policy Network at Queen Mary, University of London. She has over 40 years experience of equality/diversity issues in the education & cultural sectors. As V&A's Head of Equality and Diversity she co-edited Museums, Equality and Social Justice (Routledge 2012). She gained a PhD in child migration at QMUL and published Child Migrant Voices in Modern Britain: Oral Histories 1930s - Present Day (Bloomsbury 2024). She is a freelance writer & filmmaker.
Presenter: Dr Eithne Nightingale
Wednesday 13 November 2024, 17:00 - 18:30