Giving a voice to Bedford refugees

Maya Pindar, an MPhil Social Anthropology student at the University of Cambridge, and a local Bedfordian, is conducting research with refugees with the support of BRASS. Maya is working with Syrian Refugee Support Officer Nadia Laribi as part of an anthropological research project with other organisations in the country. Maya is currently following Nadia in her work with refugee families, gaining first-hand experience of the situations and events that refugees face as part of their new lives in the UK. The study aims to gain an understanding of refugees’ imaginations and ‘lived realities’ of sanctuary in Britain.

Research with Nadia will be conducted through interviews and participant observation over the course of the year, following refugees in their day-to-day life in the multicultural town. The study aims to shed a light upon refugees’ individual and collective search for ‘stability’, while retaining the anonymity of all refugees engaged in the project. Maya is optimistic that through such informal and ‘unofficial’ research settings, the project will offer a voice to refugees. It is hoped that insights gained from the study will support BRASS in their invaluable and ongoing work with local refugees and asylum seekers in Bedfordshire.

Maya will be working with Nadia on the project until August 2018.