The Centre for Social Justice Research (CSJR) collaboration with the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID) and members of the Unchained Collective has provided undergraduate and Masters students with an opportunity to learn about the work of the charity and contribute towards a heritage project documenting the organisation’s 30 year history. Established in 1994, AVID was founded with a mission to advocate for those held in immigration detention, fighting for justice and dignity for those impacted by the UK’s bordering regimes. Standing alongside numerous other organisations dedicated to this mission, AVID’s national network represents an integral part of the advocacy landscape.
The collaboration was organised as part of the CSJR work-based learning programme, which provides students with opportunities to develop research and employability skills by working with key organisations within the social justice and civil society sector. A total of 10 students from across the School of Social Sciences took part in the project, which over the course of 12 weeks saw a series of workshops on the various aspects of AVID’s work and the importance of centring lived experience.
AVID's 2024 Spring Exhibition: The history of immigration detention
The focus of the 2024 project was a week-long public exhibition designed to educate new audiences about the history of immigration detention. Students pieced together key moments to build a comprehensive timeline spanning decades of immigration policy alongside AVID’s own impactful history. The timeline placed the evolution of detention practices in the context of the UK's colonial history and provided insights into how the use of detention (and removal of liberty) shifted from something used at a time of crisis in WW1 and WW2 to a practice formalised in legislation. The exhibition also situated this legislative history in the context of the systemic racism which shaped both the public and political imagination of who does and does not belong.
Within the timeline of detention, students highlighted AVID’s own history alongside the wider movement committed to advocating for migrants’ rights and detention abolition. Drawing on AVID’s archive, students showcased the impact of the organisation through a collection of testimonies and achievements. By amplifying the voices of individuals who have experienced immigration detention firsthand, visitors and activists, the exhibition shed light on the resistance and solidarity taking place at the grassroots level. Attendees had the opportunity to interact with objects in the exhibition throughout the week, immersing themselves in the stories, insights, and educational materials on display.
Immigration Detention, Solidarity and Resistance: Developing activist participatory research methods
As academic lead for the AVID project, Dr Francesca Esposito, working alongside Lou Armitt, members of the Unchained Collective with lived experience of detention, and University of Westminster students, has used this collaboration to further develop their activist participatory research on the intersectional impacts of immigration detention and grassroots forms of solidarity and resistance. This involved sharing a podcasts series developed with The Unchained Collective and collaboratively designing a themed blog post series, which was published this summer on the Border Criminologies blog (see here for the introduction, followed by posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8).
The blog series features contributions by students who took part in an social justice internship programme and shares their reflections while listening to specific episodes of the podcast. Each of these episodes features the powerful voices of people with lived experience of detention who critically unpack the reverberating harms of immigration detention across multiple ecological levels and scales.
The project with AVID is one of a number of collaborations that have been established through the CSJR work-based learning programme, which is funded by the Quentin Hogg Trust. Dr Francesca Esposito and Dr Jac St John would like to extend their thanks to Lou Armitt (Project Coordinator), Gee Manoharan, Miranda Reilly, Fiona Ranford, Aminata Kalokoh (AVID), Derek* and Flower* (Unchained Collective), Taylor Mills and Sophia Dias (student videographers).
CSJR x AVID interns 2024: Dayana Ahmadi, Dimitri Chong, Ishrat Choudhury, Cecilie Kvie, Omar Lobban, Monica Mistretta, Bruno Okafor, Doris Osemwengie, Tali Scheiner, Lucrezia Sperolini, and Angelika Wilinska.