Mitigating moral panics: Overcoming fear in host populations through conversation and engagement

Rachel Larkin (University of Sussex) and Bridget Ng’andu (University of Kent)

Solidarity is grounded in human-to-human connections but these are undermined by political and social narratives that dehumanise those who seek sanctuary.

This session will explore ideas of moral panic that construct migrant groups through a narrative of fear and consider how these may influence human interactions.

It will draw on learning from bringing together students, academics, campaigners and people with lived experience of forced migration to explore ways of creating and holding spaces where difficult conversations about migration can be had.

We will consider some of the challenges and tensions that can emerge in these spaces and how they could be navigated. Through our shared experience we will explore ideas of how to hear different narratives/conversations and how these could be challenged through interactive activities which seek to ‘re-humanise’ people who seek sanctuary.

• Rachel Larkin (University of Sussex) is an Assistant Professor in Social Work. Her research explores state responses to children and young people in forced migration and how this relates to professional frameworks and commitments to social justice and human rights. She has a particular interest in girlhood and how gender and sexuality impact the experiences of young migrants in social work services.
• Bridget Ng’andu (University of Kent) is a Lecturer in Social Work. Having worked as a frontline Social Worker and Senior Practitioner, her research interests now focus on children and families, specifically issues around child sexual exploitation and race, safeguarding and unaccompanied asylum seekers, social work activism, alternative ways of social work practice, social work diversity and international social work practice.