Dr Amy Grant

Postgraduate Research Associate

‘This 4-year project is an amazing opportunity for critical in-depth research and meaningful engagement to enable us to understand and reimagine Britain’s relationship with refugees. Us researchers all have different specialisms, preferred methodologies and perspectives which we combine in this truly unique project.

We’re all putting refugee voices at the heart of our work. How we do this differs between the research strands, including through in-person conversation, archival documents and oral histories, theatre, literature and the arts and linguistics. These personal accounts of lived experiences are critical alongside established historical narratives.’

 

Amy will lead on Strand 2 of the research: Refugee movements to Britain in the 1970-90s

Amy’s research examines refugees’ experiences in Britain during the 1970s-1990s. She compares their personal, lived experiences with how they were received and perceived in Britain. Amy will do this by examining government, media and public narratives about specific refugee movements during this time period.

 

I’m excited about the opportunity to:

• Contribute my knowledge to this project as a migration historian focused on late 20^th century Britain.
• Giving space to marginalised voices who have traditionally been overlooked but are essential to inform refugee policy. For example, I worked with Tamal refugees, recording life story oral histories – a group who are far less talked about or understood than other refugee movements within that time period.
• Bring together, through the project, dispersed refugee archive material to gain a more holistic understanding of the refugee experience and Britain’s reception and perception of them.