Introduction
Breaking new ground in public understanding
People, ideas and objects have always been on the move. Despite this historical trajectory, issues around immigration and identity politics (in host and sending societies) are never far from media and public policy debates.
Background
This five year £5.5 million trans-disciplinary programme was launched in response to the need for a multi faceted insight into the culture of diaspora and migratory communities. The programme presents the opportunity to bring together research on traditions, languages, religions, material culture, visual and performing arts.
The Programme
Programme higlights and outputs
The challenge for this research programme was two-fold: to further our historical and cultural knowledge about diasproas and migratory communities, and to break new ground in how we study, theorise and model them.
Forty-nine projects, networks and workshops, and three studentships were funded. Many of them involved collaborative teams using interdisciplinary approaches, as well as working with strategic partners in the cultural and public sectors, and with voluntary and community organisations. Some thirty early career researchers gained experience from working within the programme. Theoretical and conceptual advances were made, and innovative methods were developed and employed, particularly those involving participants directly in the research process. Traditional boundaries between researchers in universities and non-academic stakeholders, research and practice, research and policy, and between different disciplines, were productively breached.
Diasporas: Concepts, Intersections, Identities (edited by Kim Knott and Seán McLoughlin, Zed Books, 2010) featured the research of selected projects alongside essays by internationally renowned scholars from within and beyond the programme. Over four hundred academic publications and many others directed to a wider public audience resulted from the programme, and more than six hundred events of various kinds were held. Some fifty public performances and exhibitions, a similar number of art and other creative works, as well as resources and events targeted at children and young people were also produced. Award holders have gone on to obtain more than £3 million of additional research funding from UK and EU sources for projects on related issues.
Final Report and Impact
‘Diasporas, Migration and Identities’ drew to a close in mid-2010. The Final Report is available from the programme website, www.diasporas.ac.uk, along with project findings, details of publications, and interviews with award holders on the value of collaborative engaged research. Further programme outputs with public impact will be completed in 2011 in association with the Director’s Impact Fellowship.
Programme Contacts
Enquires about the scholarly content of the Diasporas, Migration and Identities Programme, its aims, objectives and themes should be directed to:
Professor Kim Knott, Programme Director, 0113 343 3646
Find out more
All funding for Diasporas, Migration and Identities has now been allocated but full details about the programme, including contact details and past funding opportunities are on the Diasporas, Migration and Identities programme website.
About AHRC Initiatives
This programme is one of the AHRC programmes which opens up opportunities for research that has intellectual and wider cultural, social or economic urgency and that the Council considers is best supported by concentrated investments. It will also assist researchers working on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary areas which do not fit into conventional funding opportunities.