Movement, Migration and Manchester Celebration Event
Movement, Migration and Manchester is a collaboration between staff and students at University of Manchester, people from the community who have experiences of migration to the city, and Grass Routes Movement CIC in the form of a series of walks and creative workshops. As we move and create together, we are thinking through experiences of migration and movement, borders and boundaries, local and global and exploring links to the restrictions to the right to roam on domestic, bordered land.
The walks and workshops, facilitated by the project leads, aim to foster a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of culture, environment, and migration, additionally challenging negative stereotypes of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
Through conversation and activities on the walks, and, in response to the walks, through the creation of zines, poetry, stories, reportage and nature journaling in workshops, the group will share their stories and challenges, as well as their experiences, past and present, of free movement.
The project will address open questions including:
- How does global climate change impact the everyday lives of people in Manchester?
- How does it feel to live and move in the spaces and places of the city as a migrant?
- How is access to green space and the capacity for free movement in and around Manchester shaped by law, custom, habit and the limitations of the hostile environment?
- How does the exclusionary nature of the ‘right to roam’ with public/private land ownership connect with the prevailing and persistent hostile environment towards displaced people who experience curtailment of ‘free movement’?
- How might storytelling/narrative/art and culture shift perceptions and experiences of green space for people migrating to Manchester, a city rich with movements and a history of movement, and those who are long-term residents?
With support from Greater Manchester Outdoor Learning, Groundwork, Manchester Museum and Castlefield Gallery. Supported by UoM School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Social Responsibility Funds.
