Migrant youth activisms: de-bordering practices and urban solidarities in re-imagining the city

The research I am conducting in my PhD focuses on the experiences of young migrant women and their political engagement in community organisations. My research asks how and why young migrant women become politically engaged in the city. Understanding the contributions of underrepresented, underresearched groups to our cities is important because their contributions are ultimately dedicated to the course of justice. Rather than focusing on the much-publicised forms of political engagement like street protest, this research seeks to investigate the everyday, quiet civic contributions that young migrant women make every day. 

It has been a long and colourful journey for me to get to the position of becoming a postgraduate researcher doing a PhD. Geography is an important discipline because it can bring us all together and think about this incredible world we share (Rose, 2012). Primarily a painter, I was a Fine arts and English teacher before coming to Sheffield University.  I am interested in the experiences of being in the world, the challenges faced in adversity and the role places play in these experiences. I want to mobilise the creative process further to cultivate insights into these experiences.

Thesis title: Migrant youth activisms: de-bordering practices and urban solidarities in re-imagining the city

Supervised by: Ryan Powell, William Mason and SJ Cooper-Knock