Exploring children’s perceptions of self, difference and migration
Exploring children’s perceptions of self, difference and migration | School of Education
Dr Dimi Kaneva
Lead Academic
University of Huddersfield, School of Education.
Using participatory arts-based methods with children aged 8, this project captures migration experiences through storytelling, objects and artefacts. Exploring children’s perceptions of self, difference and migration in Global South and North contexts, it has ambitious plans for follow-on research.
The Project
This collaborative project between the University of Huddersfield’s School of Education and the University of Cape Town was funded to explore children’s perceptions of self, difference and migration across the Global South and North through participatory, arts-based research.
The team worked with children aged 7 to 8 in primary schools in Manchester and Cape Town, using object elicitation and storytelling supported by local artists to explore migration experiences within and between countries. Children brought special objects from home and crafted stories, drawings and artefacts that reflected their unique migration journeys and identities.
Partner Institutions
- University of Cape Town
- Dr Shannon Morreira
- Dr Rose-Anne Reynolds
International Partnerships
Working in collaboration with Dr Shannon Morreira and Dr Rose-Anne Reynolds from the University of Cape Town, Dr Dimi Kaneva and the project team shared their findings in Global Studies of Childhood: Children’s more-than-human encounters with migration in Global South and North contexts and are currently preparing a second article following a presentation at the Suffolk Storytelling Conference (University of Suffolk) in 2023.
Upon completion of the project, two exchanges were organised where members of the team visited participating schools in each country sharing research data and insight with children and staff. These opportunities to learn about the work in a different context were enlightening and were a celebration of the significant contribution of the participants to the success of the project.
Given the project’s success in capturing rich insights from participants and the importance of amplifying children’s voices about their lived experiences, the team is actively seeking additional partnerships to scale up this research and its reach.
This project was an opportunity to engage with the young child participants as co-researchers which is not as common as it should be in academia across two disparate settings, in the Global North and Global South. Being part of a research project which foregrounds children’s experiences and storytelling as co-storytellers, and therefore shapers of their own narratives, has been enlightening and encouraging.
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This project has revealed children’s illuminating insights about identity and migration, highlighting their unique perspectives across diverse national and cultural contexts. The international collaboration has been invaluable, enriching our understanding of how children navigate and express complex experiences of self and belonging.
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About the Researchers
Dr Dimi Kaneva joined the University of Huddersfield in 2018 and specialises in childhood studies, focusing on children’s voices, participation, agency and creative research methods. She leads multiple projects, including a British Academy-funded study on young children’s constructions of family life post-Covid, an ESRC Impact Accelerator Accounts project with Kirklees Success Centre’s Speech Stars developing and scaling up speech and language support in the early years and an international partnership exploring migration and identity.
Sustainability Development Goals related to this project
The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States.
The content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States.
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