Calais Again

Abstract

Calais Again is a digital story recounting a young man, Anas’ experience of returning to France for the first time after migrating to the United Kingdom as a separated asylum-seeking child. Produced using biographical narrative and participatory arts-based research approaches, Calais Again was created as a rare self-authored contribution to Anas’ personal archive of migration documents, and as a resource for communicating the multiple and multi-layered journeys of asylum-seeking young people. In the context of COVID-19, the story additionally highlights how the pandemic is just one of many forces of ontological insecurity and constrained mobility in the lives of young forced migrants. While the project was commenced pre-pandemic, the editing and launch of the digital story took place remotely, presenting ethical, methodological and relational challenges, but also unanticipated affordances. In particular, the spectrum of options for differentiated presence enabled by online events – from anonymous observation to co-presentation – offers unique opportunities for navigating safeguarding and agency for youth researchers.