{"id":204,"date":"2022-06-24T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T08:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/?p=204"},"modified":"2022-08-22T14:44:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T13:44:01","slug":"refugee-tales-the-walk-2022-2-6-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/public-engagement-case-studies\/2022\/06\/24\/refugee-tales-the-walk-2022-2-6-july\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugee Tales – The Walk 2022 (2-6 July)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The 2022 Refugee Tales Walk will take place from 2 to 6 July. This year\u2019s route will start in Merstham, Surrey, and end at The Stripe Theatre in Winchester, Hampshire.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Refugee Tales<\/a>\u00a0project, which began in 2015, centres on an annual walk designed to raise awareness of the situation of those held in\u00a0indefinite detention<\/a>\u00a0in the UK. It also calls for an immediate end to this system.<\/p>\n

The project was initiated by\u00a0Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group<\/a>\u00a0(GDWG) in collaboration with refugees and people who have experienced detention, alongside writers, poets, actors, musicians, filmmakers and other creative practitioners. It is co-organised by\u00a0David Herd<\/a>, Professor of Modern Literature at the University\u2019s\u00a0School of English<\/a>, and Anna Pincus from the GDWG. Its supporters include Jeremy Irons, Billy Bragg, Kamila Shamsie, Shami Chakrabarti and Christy Lefteri. Its patrons are Ali Smith and the\u00a02021 Nobel Laureate for Literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To date, the project has published\u00a0four volumes of tales<\/a>\u00a0of lived experiences of detention via Comma Press, with Professor Herd\u2019s most recent poetry collection (Walk Song<\/em>; Shearsman Books<\/a>) weaving in and out of the project.<\/p>\n

The Walk 2022 will include readings by writers Amy Sackville, Tessa McWatt, Bidisha, and Simon Smith, among others. Along the way there will be music and talks, including a briefing on the imminent publication of the report of Refugee Tales\u2019 \u2018Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention\u2019, to be launched in Parliament on 19 July. There will also be a talk by representatives of the project\u2019s Parliamentary self-advocacy group, describing how Refugee Tales\u2019 political strategy is led by people with lived experience of detention. Hosts include journalists Amelia Gentleman and Aida Edemariam, artist Ridy Wasolua, and actor Niamh Cusack, among others.<\/p>\n

Commenting on this year\u2019s walk, Professor Herd said: \u2018The theme of Refugee Tales 2022 is solidarity. In this first full-scale walk since the beginning of the pandemic, the project will again share stories of people who have sought asylum in the UK and who, in so doing, have been indefinitely detained. Talks by the Refugee Tales self-advocacy group, and about the Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention, will show how the project is looking to change the politics of asylum. As the government intensifies its hostility towards people seeking refuge in the UK, it has never been more important to call for detention to end.\u2019<\/p>\n

Anna Pincus commented: \u2018With GDWG recently working to support people threatened with flights to Rwanda, the work of the charity and its 70 volunteers has intensified with the strengthening of the hostile environment. Refugee Tales walkers, however, dismantle the hostile environment through walking and story sharing, through hospitality, welcome and joy in community.\u2019<\/p>\n

The final event in The Walk 2022 is sponsored by the University\u2019s\u00a0Migration and Movement Signature Research Theme<\/a>, a vibrant community of scholars and practitioner academics working in the field of migration and movement. Writer Kamila Shamsie was announced as its\u00a0inaugural New Imaginaries Fellow<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year<\/p>\n

Further information on The Walk 2022, including how to participate, is available\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Refugee Tales IV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This is a repurposed version of a blog post and may differ from the original.\u00a0View the original blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n