Creatively Chronicling Covid-19

UWTSD’s Dr Jeni Williams is part of an interdisciplinary research project into the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees during the COVID-19 lockdown that has focused on their creative responses. Usually presented as dependent beneficiaries of a benign state, the project highlights their role in local and translocal networks as active, pragmatic and creative agents.

The project team is led by Professor Marie Gillespie, (Professor of Sociology in the OU’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), supported by academics Dr Helen Hintjens, (Assistant Professor in Development and Social Justice at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague), and Dr Jeni Williams, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Literature at University of Wales Trinity Saint David together with 3 migrant researchers and community activists Carlos Ibarra Rivadeniera (Venezuela), Thanuja Hettiarchchi (Sri Lanka) and Ahmad Al-Rashid (Syria).

Rather than focusing on factual documents the project is co-creating an archive of digital cultural artefacts. The creativity of image and film, written text and voice allows the human responses of those who are often invisible or silenced to be seen and heard. These artefacts are part of the contemporary history of responses to Covid-19. Dr Williams has been running creative writing workshops with women asylum seekers and refugees for the past 14 years. She chairs the Swansea Women’s Asylum and Refugee Support Group who are actively engaging in the project.

Dr Williams said:“The work produced by the women and children contributors demonstrates their ability to respond flexibly to the challenges of this new situation. We can all learn from contributions which highlight the creativity and potential of the migrant families in our midst.”

The project began in March 2020 and has captured the views of 70 asylum seekers and 20 support group volunteers and workers in South Wales. Early findings reveal that these groups see lockdown as an opportunity for the mainstream population to relate to their experiences, such as being a virtual prisoner in the house, frightened to go out. That is what many asylum seekers have gone through, often for years on end.

“Being suspended in limbo, in an incomprehensible state, where time stands still, with no control over what is going to happen. Being isolated from family and friends. And in a different country. Being resourceful. Surviving adversity. These are all everyday experiences for asylum seekers but which many more of us have experienced in this enforced lockdown period,” said Professor Gillespie.

The project, which is funded by The Open University and the International Institute of Social Studies (Netherlands), involves co-creating a digital archive, website and exhibition that chronicles the impact of COVID 19 through the use of smartphone tools.

Further Information

Rebecca Davies

Swyddog Gweithredol Cysylltiadau â’r Wasg a’r Cyfryngau

Executive Press and Media Relations Officer

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Corporate Communications and PR

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Email: Rebecca.Davies@uwtsd.ac.uk