Refuge: Home-making in the context of refugeeness in the United Kingdom PhD

Dmitri Hui Ken Chong [PhD year 4]

Supervisors: Davide Deriu & Maja Jović

My research project investigates the importance of home-making in the context of refugeeness in the United Kingdom. While my work is situated in architecture, I draw heavily from the social sciences to allow for a more comprehensive discussion on home, migration, security and violence. In so doing, my research project investigates architecture through spatial analysis. One objective of this approach is to expand our understandings in the field architecture to investigate homes as spaces of resistance against State violence by cultivating feelings of belonging, comfort and community.

I use the term ‘refugeeness’ to problematise the State system of managing migration, to enumerate all challenging journeys, and to advocate for autonomy in migration. 

My research is conducted with LGBTQ+ migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, using creative research methods to facilitate difficult conversations. Through focused group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews, I use an adapted ficto-critical approach to architecture to develop avenues of exploration and communication with individuals. This approach is a form of experimental free writing combined with collaging to access non-verbal tools, to communicate ideas. In the context of this research project, participants explore what an idealised utopian home for queer migrants may be.

KEY WORDS: home; utopia; queer migration