Sensing Wales: conflicting identities and belonging of young ethnic minority people in Wales

Context & Rationale: The recent "Migrant Crisis," Windrush Scandal, and "Black Lives Matter" campaign
have prompted the Welsh Government and other progressive organizations to tackle, with renewed vigour,
social exclusion, discrimination, and racism, and to create fairer and more cohesive communities, as
exemplified by the Government's ambitious "Nation of Sanctuary" plan. However, the contested and
conflicted feelings of identity and belonging of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) migrants are often
overlooked. Indeed, many reject the BAME term, claiming that it reinforces social exclusion and negative
perceptions, and has been all-too-easily weaponized by far-right groups and anti-migrant discourses. This
project will focus on young ethnic minority migrants in Wales, and study their feelings of belonging and
sense of identification with Wales and the BAME terminology, better to understand the significance of
youth, race, and ethnicity for community cohesion. The project is a partnership between the ESRC Human
Geography Pathway at Swansea and Aberystwyth Universities, and the Ethnic Minorities & Youth Support
Team Wales (EYST).
Project Aims, Research Questions & Scope: The project will critically re-evaluate the 'national' identities
and experiences of ethnic minority young migrants in Wales, with a particular emphasis on their feelings
about and engagement with Welsh Government policies and public discourses that presume a univocal
BAME voice, unified BAME perspective, and common BAME experience. It will go beyond a politics of
identity and difference, of semblance and otherness, by considering how the identities, feelings, and
experiences of ethnic minority young migrants are heterogeneous, complex, and mutable, and will thereby
enable the PhD researcher to pose more relevant and nuanced research questions, better to address the
intractable problems of systemic racism, structural marginalization, and social exclusion in a nation that
proudly proclaims its hospitality to refugees and asylum seekers, amongst others.
Research Methods & Design: In keeping with the participatory action research approach of CMPR at
Swansea University, and the young-person-led research ethos of EYST, the PhD researcher will employ
appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods (survey, ethnographic, visual (photo diary, content
analysis), action research methods). This will enable a range of ethnic minority young migrants living
throughout urban and rural South Wales to take an active part in the co-production of the project, to ensure
that the research process and research findings are of maximum value to both ethnic minority young people
themselves and the organizations that endeavour to advance their interests as active and valued citizens of
Wales.