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Making connections: Ethno-mimesis, migration and diaspora

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Abstract

This paper presents a 10-year trajectory of research in the United Kingdom exploring the asylum-migration nexus and processes of belonging using participatory and arts-based methodologies. The relational dynamics involved in exploring the space between ethnography and arts-based practice (ethno-mimesis) are viewed through the work of critical theorists Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin. These psychoanalytic critical theorists provide a framework for thinking through the relationship between art and society, participatory research and the politics of representation.

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Notes

  1. Miller (1992) draws on Walter Benjamin's work to illustrate the way works of art make culture.

  2. Some of the images can be seen in gallery 1 and gallery 2 at http://www.qlboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/global_refugees/galleries.html and also at http://www.maggymilner.com/bosnian%20web/index.html.

  3. For example, see John Perivolaris's walk with Thaer at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_john2005/sets/72157605115882016.

  4. The exhibition can be seen at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/global_refugees/galleries.html and also at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/gallery/2009/jan/13/sense-of-belonging-exhibition?picture=341562670.

  5. Two examples of the walks are available online at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/global_refugees/image_makers.html.

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  1. Loughborough University, Epinall Way, Loughborough, LE11 3BU, UK

    Maggie O'Neill

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  1. Maggie O'Neill
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Correspondence to Maggie O'Neill.

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O'Neill, M. Making connections: Ethno-mimesis, migration and diaspora. Psychoanal Cult Soc 14, 289–302 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2009.5

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