Settling in-between

The presence of the Migrant has become a widely felt one throughout the past 50 or so years, especially in "Western" societies. The image of the foreigner, possessions packed into suitcases or packing cases, alighting from a ship with looks of both anxiety and hope is probably one that is evoked for many by the mention or thought of the word. The movement of people across space is nothing new, of course, and those movements have been described in many ways: nomads, conquerors, refugees, diasporas, and migrants are just a few of these. What accompanies all movements of people is an encounter with Difference on the part of both those arriving and those already in Place. In a typical migratory context, the Migrant is expected - and probably wants - to adapt to the new Place and does so by adopting as many of the characteristics as possible in the shortest possible time period to ease assimilation into the new cultural context. What is of interest here is what happens in between the time of arrival and a time of belonging - the period of settling or settlement. The idea of in-betweenness as a transitory phase between one aspect of identity and its transformation into another is increasingly of interest. Arguably, we all are in a constant process of settling, in a permanent state of settlement as our senses of Self traverse the shifting tectonics and orogenies of identity. Perhaps one of the crucial questions of the contemporary period is that of the meaning of living in-between, in motion , in Zygmunt Baumann's liquid times. From this perspective, we are all migrants, perhaps settling but more frequently never quite feeling Belonging.

In a recent seminar, Kerry Taylor-Leech presented an insight into the experience of settlement of two migrants as they found some locations into which to anchor a feeling of belonging. It is an interesting starting point to think a little further about the broader implications of being migratory. An edited video recording of Kerry's seminar is available (see the link above).

Jon Austin