Bringing lived experience of migration and racialisation into research

A collaborative approach from Media Education

Foreword by Mohasin Ahmed, Glasgow Centre for Population Health

Following on from our blogs for Black History Month (BHM) 2023 by WSREC, Health in Mind and Intercultural Youth Scotland, for BHM this year, we wanted to continue to platform and highlight the work of community organisations that are working closely with Black, and racialised, communities in Scotland.

In this blog, we hear from Macrine Haruna, a member of the Thrive Advisory Group at Media Education, on her experience of migration, racism and being involved in the Advisory Group. This group is for people from ‘global majority and migration-experienced communities’. It uses creative filmmaking, user-led research and community leadership to explore possible barriers people from these communities might experience in accessing mental health and wellbeing services in Edinburgh.

Macrine’s experience

In 2020 I responded to a flyer from Media Education asking for people to join an Advisory Group, which was set up as a result of a commission from the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership (EHSCP) to conduct research into the gap in access in mental health services for people from ethnic minority backgrounds. The term ‘ethnic minority background’ never sat easily with us and as the work went on we changed our language to ‘global majority and migration experienced’, taking some power back. I wanted to join because I wanted to be part of a diverse group, with a focus on global majority issues that had a platform to be heard and where we could tell our stories in our own words.

For this commission, Media Education formed a lived experience Advisory Group of people from the focus communities. After four years we have 21 members from 12 different countries and we have become a strong group who come together bi-monthly, both as friends and colleagues to share our work. Coming together with others means that it breaks your isolation and you understand that you are not alone, that others share your experiences and this gives you confidence to speak out. After discussions with EHSCP, they agreed that there would be no agenda or theme set for the research. People could follow their own line of enquiry into an issue affecting their lives and create papers and documentary films on the subjects. Media Education supports us to do this work by providing training on conducting fieldwork, ethics, data analysis and filmmaking, with opportunities to gain two formal qualifications. Participation in the project is also paid at real living wage to value the time and expertise we bring to the project.

When we were conducting our initial mapping exercise, we found that there was an assumption that research in this area had already been done and that the reasons why people don’t engage in services are a distrust of the medical profession, the stigma of mental health, and language barriers. However, these areas were not highlighted by any of the Advisory Group. This is an example of how we can assume things about communities, whereas, if we give people the freedom of choice to conduct their own enquiries, we can move beyond the assumed knowledge to something much deeper. I have three lines of enquiry, related to experiences that I have faced which have affected my mental health, that I have been working on with Media Education for four years. 

Experience of migration to Scotland

My first line of enquiry has been to focus on the insensitivity of the migration system and lack of support given to refugees and people migrating to this country to access services. It makes it hard to settle because of the demands on you when you don’t know what the solutions are. It is not all ‘uhuru’ (easy), as we would say in Swahili. To give an example of the issues faced by this community, when you arrive in Scotland  and you want to open a bank account, they ask you for three months proof of address – but you don’t have that yet and your access to renting a home is limited due to the need for a guarantor. In my research, I am contrasting this difficult landscape of the system with the welcome I felt from people in my stairwell. The warmth of the people who lived there is what made us feel at home. The system and the people are different, but the system can be made easier, that is the message I want to send.

Coping with experiences of war and displacement

The second line of enquiry that I am working on, with a colleague Zaki El-Salahi, is the split that people feel when they have come from a war-torn country and are now safe, but their friends and family remain there and are still in danger. You are in Whatsapp contact all the time, and you feel neither ‘here’ nor ‘there’. You are in a liminal space. You do not hear about the wars that go on in Nigeria and the dangers of Boko Haram in the British news, but we are in daily contact with families living in this danger. There was a massive flood due to climate change in Nigeria recently, which caused two million people to be displaced. My Uncle sat on his kitchen counter for three days, without food, waiting to be rescued. The Western bias and priorities in what is reported by the media here is difficult for me as I am part of the everyday life of those who are left behind. We are safe here but I am split and feel pressured and dislocated, which can send my mental health into a spiral. 

Experiences of racism in Scotland

The third line of enquiry I am working on is to highlight experiences of racism that people have in their daily lives in Scotland, and the impact that this has on mental health. There are many examples in my life of situations where a black person is singled out. For example, my son went swimming last week with five friends. He can swim better than the group, he has lessons, he is just a child, but he was asked to do a swim test and leave the pool. Even the adult who had taken them testified that he could swim fine. No other member of the group was asked to do a test or leave. This is plain racism. 

We have one more year of the project and I will be showing the film and research I produced to raise awareness on these topics and begin conversations. I hope this can lead to my life and the lives of others from similar backgrounds being better, so that society has more of an understanding of what is really going on for people who have migrated here, and for people from global majority backgrounds, day to day. 

If you are interested in hearing about my work and the work of others who are part of the Thrive Advisory Group contact Kate Deacon at kate@mediaeducation.co.uk

https://www.mediaeducation.co.uk/projects/thrive