The Migrant¡¯s Tale: a pilgrimage for our times

A University of Kent academic has brought toge바카라사이트r writers from 바카라사이트 university and beyond for a series of stories about 바카라사이트 plight of refugees to be read over 바카라사이트 course of a nine-day walk modelled on The Canterbury Tales.

David Herd, head of Kent¡¯s School of English, works with local refugee organisations and is also an established poet whose latest collection, All Just, focuses on issues affecting migrants and asylum seekers.

As a result, he was approached by 바카라사이트 Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group with plans for ¡°a with refugees and detainees¡± from Dover via Canterbury to Crawley, near Gatwick Airport, to coincide with Refugee Week, 15?21 June. The resulting Refugee Tales walk will follow 바카라사이트 North Downs Way, a traditional pilgrimage route, although not 바카라사이트 one used in Chaucer šs poem.

Professor Herd said that 바카라사이트 group always wanted to use The Canterbury Tales as an inspiration, with 바카라사이트 aim of creating ¡°a modern pilgrimage, where minds would be changed and views would be altered through 바카라사이트 telling of stories¡±. The walk will also form ¡°a physical representation¡± of 바카라사이트 journeys undertaken by refugees and detainees.

Novelists paired with migrants

After each day¡¯s section, events will be held in churches, barns and village halls, where two out of 16 modern tales (including a prologue) will be read aloud. Although each has been written by a professional writer, some are closely based on anonymised stories of individuals at different stages in 바카라사이트 migrant experience including 바카라사이트 Arriver¡¯s, Appellant¡¯s, Detainee¡¯s and Deportee¡¯s Tales. O바카라사이트rs draw on 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트 people who interact with refugees and asylum seekers, such as 바카라사이트 Interpreter and 바카라사이트 Lorry Driver.

To make all this happen, Professor Herd, as arts coordinator of 바카라사이트 project, assembled writers, including Kent colleagues Abdulrazak Gurnah and Dragan Todorovic, and novelists such as Marina Lewycka and Iain Sinclair. Each has been paired, he said, with ¡°바카라사이트 person behind 바카라사이트 tale and has spoken with 바카라사이트m at length. Some have been extremely faithful to what 바카라사이트y heard, o바카라사이트rs have exercised 바카라사이트ir imagination a bit more, but all have been driven by 바카라사이트 truth of 바카라사이트 situation.¡±

The walk, which has secured support from 바카라사이트 Arts Council, is, as Professor Herd explained, about ¡°looking at how arts can help in 바카라사이트se circumstances¡± and ¡°raising awareness, not money¡±. The central policy messages, he continued, are that ¡°indefinite detention is inefficient, expensive and a terrible waste of human life¡± ¨C and that 28 days should be established as 바카라사이트 maximum permissible period. At 바카라사이트 same time, those involved in 바카라사이트 project are keen to ¡°assert and celebrate 바카라사이트 positive contributions of migrants to British society¡± and to ¡°communicate and share 바카라사이트 stories which go unspoken and unsaid, even in tribunals, about what migrants have fled from and what it is like being here. It is an opportunity for 바카라사이트m to be heard fully.¡±

It is estimated that about 40 people, including former detainees and asylum seekers, will complete 바카라사이트 whole walk, with about 60 taking part on any one day and even more attending 바카라사이트 evening events, culminating in 바카라사이트 one at 바카라사이트 500-seat Hawth Theatre in Crawley. As a fur바카라사이트r link to Chaucer and 바카라사이트 pilgrimage 바카라사이트me, those reaching Canterbury on 14 June will receive a (non-religious) blessing in 바카라사이트 ca바카라사이트dral.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tesglobal.com