'University for all' in the Calais refugee camp and other contexts beyond university walls

The Narrative Enquiry for Social Transformation and the School of Human and Community Development will host a public lecture by Professor Corinne Squire.

Squire is from the Centre for Narrative Research at the University of East London, UK. 

The lecture is based on a paper which explores the borders of education, recognising that teaching, learning and knowledge-making happens in socio-political and cultural fields whose contours are shaped by who educates whom, about what, and why. These issues are explored in relation to contemporary refugee issues in Europe, specifically addressing the informal ‘Jungle’ camp in Calais, northern France, where UEL students and staff taught an accredited Life Stories short course from 2015 to 2016, and other living contexts for refugees in France and the UK.  The paper suggests, first, that this pedagogy, apparently beyond the borders of the conventional university, is in some ways precisely the terrain of the university and education more generally. Secondly, the paper argues that on this terrain, ‘education’ can be seen to operate in a number of different directions for different stakeholders – refugees, teachers, other volunteers, associations, NGOs, and state agencies. Lastly, the paper disassembles ‘education’ itself, in contexts where it is represented and practised as an ethical humanitarian response, one of a set of international human rights within both global and local contexts of inequality.

The talk will be followed by a round table discussion and workshop from 14:00 to 16:00 in the same venue for masters and PhD students.

Professor Squire will be in conversation with Professor Jill Bradbury and Peace Kiguwa to explore issues such as: conceptualising and designing qualitative research projects, the researcher’s role, how and why we decide to study particular things rather than others, the relation between data collection and analytic methods, ethical considerations, the relation between research and other forms of action and knowledge-making. Students will have the opportunity to discuss their own research proposals.

Add event to calendar