Social reproduction
in the shadows
Making lives with ‘no recourse to public funds’
Shadows is a research project that advances understandings of the ways destitute migrant families and unaccompanied young people with insecure migration status make and sustain their lives in the absence of mainstream welfare support in England. Shadows explores these issues through longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork, decolonial policy analysis, and creative co-production with children, young people, and parents with ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF).
Is it possible to be ethnographic and decolonial?
In our previous blog post, we explained that we would be taking a decolonial view in our long-term ethnographic research with families and unaccompanied young people with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), to help us better understand and explain the purposes, persistence and expansion of NRPF.
Welcome to the Shadows research project
What does it mean to make and sustain a life across borders when you are denied the economic means to do so? And to do that work of making life day after day, month after month, year after year? How are lives unmade, made, and re-made in these shadows of Britain’s welfare state?
Postponing migrant destitution?
As the Covid-19 pandemic has generalised insecurity and exacerbated poverty, there have been increased calls for migrants ‘subject to immigration control’ to be able to access welfare support for their own well-being and because of public health concerns. The negative impact of the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) policy has received substantial attention under lock down, not least because of a High Court challenge and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s seeming ignorance of the policy’s existence.
Previous Posts
Is it possible to be ethnographic and decolonial?
In our previous blog post, we explained that we would be taking a decolonial view in our long-term ethnographic research with families and unaccompanied young people with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), to help us better understand and explain the purposes, persistence and expansion of NRPF.
Welcome to the Shadows research project
What does it mean to make and sustain a life across borders when you are denied the economic means to do so? And to do that work of making life day after day, month after month, year after year? How are lives unmade, made, and re-made in these shadows of Britain’s welfare state?
Postponing migrant destitution?
As the Covid-19 pandemic has generalised insecurity and exacerbated poverty, there have been increased calls for migrants ‘subject to immigration control’ to be able to access welfare support for their own well-being and because of public health concerns. The negative impact of the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) policy has received substantial attention under lock down, not least because of a High Court challenge and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s seeming ignorance of the policy’s existence.
Previous Posts
