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Project Description
The aim of our research is to explore the ways in which membership or association with a church community provides structures and opportunities to negotiate successfully the experience of migration - through the formation of new communities, access to information and support (material, social and/or emotional) and the practice of familiar devotions and customs.
Moroever, we are interested in the ways in which migrants use these communities and other local organizations to negotiate issues of self-identity, belonging, and understandings of 'home'.
As such, we aim to undertake two case studies - one of the Anglican/interfaith community connected with St Bartholomew's, East Ham and one of the Catholic/interfaith community associated with St Margaret and All Saints, Canning Town. We will undertake 'fieldwork' through participation in church services, rituals and community gatherings and research about the history and contemporary identity of the communities connected with these churches.
We also plan to undertake around 100 interviews with lay people and clergy associated with the church, people outside the congregation who have a connection with the community, and those working in East London within government organizations or community agencies supporting migrants.
At the end of this process, we will compare these case study findings with research on migration in other large cities throughout the world, so as to find out more about the processes of migration, the strategies that people use to integrate into a new location, and the ways in which religious identity and affiliation may operate in this process.
Funding for this project has been provided by a British Academy Research Development Award and the project will run until 31 January 2010.