Culture, Arts and Refugees

Ethics & Purpose

PLN’s Sharing Session

In the day to day work with refugees’ communities, art practitioners, workshop leaders and project managers encounter a wide range of ethical issues that can’t be addressed in the same way or with just one mindset. After debating and sharing their work, the PLN group realised there was no unique way or ethical formula to engage with refugees, as the ethics of this engagement depend on its nature, purpose and moreover, on the needs and wants of refugees themselves.

From this perspective, the PLN group more than agreeing on a set of principles when working with refugees and asylum seekers, decided to approach the ethics & purpose dilemma with a set of questions that can be used to guide cultural organisations and practitioners in approaching ethical practice within the field. The set of questions focus on two aspects of the work: the use of personal stories to inspire cultural work, and the question of sharing cultural and multicultural art forms, taking into account who the work is for, when to draw on personal experience, and the use of the ‘refugee’ concept and ‘label’. This ‘questionnaire guide’ is in working progress and we hope that PLN participants will share it with the Refugee Arts sector when finished.

Sharing stories

One of the ethical issues discussed within the group, was the use of stories as cultural theft. Janna Eliot, a PLN participant, shared a story that can be used as a case study, example for debate or future studies on the subject. Click here to read Jana’s story.

Another aspect to consider in the ethics and purpose of cultural work with refugees and asylum seekers, is the way art practitioners, managers and organisations convey their messages and stories to a wider audience, such as policymakers, donors and community in general.

Jill Rutter, Senior Research Fellow for Migration, Equalities and Citizenship of the Institute of Public Policy Research (ippr) gave a presentation to PLN participants on ‘how to articulate and communicate purpose and impact’ of their work, sharing the recommendations of her work on migration and discussing how the pro asylum lobby could act strategically to better communicate its ideas. Her recommendations can be found here.

To guide the arts practitioner’s reflection of their own work with refugees and migrant communities, Jill Rutter shared a few questions from the cultural worker perspective:

Tension in our work between projects that aim to be therapeutic in relation to refugees, and those that aim to promote pro-asylum messages.
How do we relate to other migrant groups in our work?
How do we acknowledge the complexity of migration patterns and the asylum-migration nexus?
How do we avoid reinforcing difference in our portrayal of refugees?
How do we contribute to a recovering of the public sphere as a space where collective belongings and civic skills are formed?
How do we ensure that our interventions contribute to sustainable change in the institutions and communities where we work?

For more information on this issue, please contact the Peer Leadership Network participants directly.

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Culture, Arts and Refugees

Ethics & Purpose

Sharing stories

Ethics and Purpose Sharing Session

An Illustration of Exploitation and Cultural Theft

Questionnaire