Shuttleworth, Sophie Rose (2018) Moving Language: the Language Geographies of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Glasgow

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Shuttleworth, Sophie Rose (2018) Moving Language: the Language Geographies of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Glasgow Shuttleworth, Sophie Rose (2018) Moving language: the language geographies of refugees and asylum-seekers in Glasgow. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/30964/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Moving Language The Language Geographies of Refugees and Asylum- Seekers in Glasgow Sophie Rose Shuttleworth Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Geographical and Earth Sciences College of Science and Engineering University of Glasgow Abstract Over the past five years the UK has seen an increased number of refugees and asylum-seekers arriving on its shores as a result of ongoing conflicts happening around the world. Refugees and asylum-seekers make up only a very small percentage of the country’s population, yet immigration concerns regularly make headlines and are a ‘hot topic’ for politicians seeking public support. Glasgow became home for a large number of refugees and asylum-seekers after it signed up to the ‘dispersal’ scheme nearly twenty years ago, and as a result the make-up of communities in the city is everchanging. It has increased multiculturalism and is a decidedly multilingual city. This thesis brings together work in language geographies and migration studies to explore the everyday language geographies of refugees and asylum-seekers in Glasgow. The central aim is to reveal the situated dynamics of ‘talk’; what languages are used, in what combinations, and with what kinds of ‘props’ as people seek to ‘get-by’, make friends and express themselves, all the while considering the implications of the spaces involved. Through the voices of refugees, asylum-seekers and associated professionals, this thesis explores different spaces of multilingualism and the associated emotional geographies of these spaces. Language is conceptualised in this thesis as an object in itself, engendering feelings of belonging (or not), and recognises that language is fluid and mobile, mutually constituted with the space in which it happens. The thesis explores four different sites of language use - journeys to the UK, the body, the classroom, and the community - to investigate the complex geographies of refugees and asylum- seekers as they seek to acquire English and settle in the city of Glasgow. Of importance is the part that language plays in positioning refugees and asylum-seekers in society, often relating to insider- outsider type dichotomies, but also thinking about how these divides may be overcome. Finally, the refugee and asylum-seeker body is conceptualised as the mobile linguistic stranger, simultaneously near and far, and the thesis uncovers how this figure comes to be and the implications of such a conceptualisation. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... 7 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ 12 Author’s Declaration… .................................................................................................................. 15 Definitions and Abbreviations… ..................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 17 Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in the UK ............................................................................... 17 The Place of Language ........................................................................................................... 20 Thesis Aims: Journeying through Language ........................................................................... 21 Chapter 2: Mapping Language: From the Border to the Body ......................................................... 28 A Linguistic Science .............................................................................................................. 28 The Politics of Language ........................................................................................................ 39 The Written Word vs. The Spoken Word ............................................................................... 48 The Social Characteristics of Language ................................................................................. 50 The Performance and Embodiment of Language ................................................................... 54 Beyond the Text ..................................................................................................................... 58 Conclusion: What’s Next for Language Geographies? ........................................................... 60 Chapter 3: Refugees and Asylum-Seekers: A Geographical Perspective… ................................... 62 Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and Im/mobility .............................................................................. 62 3 Routes and Roots to Home ................................................................................................................. 71 Debating Integration................................................................................................................... 81 Conclusion: Refugees and Asylum-Seekers as a Bounded ‘Other’ ............................................ 90 Chapter 4: “Nothing About Us Without us”: Methods for Doing Research with Young Refugees and Asylum-Seekers ......................................................................................................................93 Participatory Research with Vulnerable Young People .............................................................. 94 A Multi-Sited Ethnography ......................................................................................................... 97 Participant Observation (or Observant Participation?) ................................................................ 98 Keeping a Field Diary ............................................................................................................... 101 Workshop Interventions ............................................................................................................ 103 “I Can’t Talk Here, People are Looking”: Interviews with Refugees and Asylum-Seekers ...... 111 Leaving the Field ..................................................................................................................... 116 Documentary Analysis ............................................................................................................. 116 Data Analysis and Interpretation .............................................................................................. 117 Methodological and Ethical Reflections ................................................................................... 121 Conclusion: Finding ‘More than Just Data’ .............................................................................. 125 Chapter 5: “English is the First Language in the World, and Knowledge is Power” Policy and Practice of Migration and Learning in Glasgow ........................................................................... 127 Immigration in the UK ............................................................................................................. 131 English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Policy in Scotland ..................................... 146 ESOL Provision in Glasgow .................................................................................................... 158 4 Conclusion: Policy, Practice and the Gap Between Them ........................................................ 164 Chapter 6: “The Jungle is for Animals, We are not Animals, We are Human.” Mapping the Linguistic Journeys of Migrants from ‘Home’ to Glasgow .......................................................... 168 Language on the Move and Moving Languages ...................................................................... 179 Solidarities and Struggles of The Refugee Camp .................................................................... 182 Arrival in the UK ..................................................................................................................... 191 Conclusion: Between Liminality and Belonging ...................................................................... 201 Chapter 7: “Sometimes my Mind Gets Stuck”: The Embodied Language Geographies of the ‘Speaking-Self’ ............................................................................................................................. 204 Body Languages .....................................................................................................................
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