91ÑÇÉ«

November 2, 2023

12:30 - 2:00pm (EDT)

This is a virtual event.

Zoom:

Higher education (HE) receives increasing international recognition as a priority response to people experiencing forced displacement and the precarity imposed by exclusionary immigration regimes. The prioritisation of HE by young refugees and migrants has been well documented, as youth have successfully advocated for access in various different contexts (Murray & Gray, 2021; Abrego & Négron-Gonzales, 2020; Villegas & Aberman, 2019; Baker et al, 2018). This paper draws on extensive research, advocacy and grassroots campaigning across the UK and Canada in the area of HE access, in order to explore how shared similarities and noted differences can shape new ways of understanding sanctuary. Opportunities in HE, as a response to displacement, have been hard-won across both countries, yet significant gaps remain in ensuring that students have equitable access, are welcomed and protected in HE institutional settings. The sanctuary university is the site from which we have developed and offer new ways of understanding sanctuary situated in a conceptual framework that offers practical applications, and which transcend geographical and institutional boundaries. We explore the elasticity of sanctuary as a term primarily used to understand praxis, through positioning ideas on a spectrum, reflecting a continuum (as opposed to conflicting) perspectives transitioning from (re)bordering to abolition (Mitchel, 2023; Lenard & Maokoro, 2021; Paik, 2020; De Haene, 2018; Bagelman, 2013; Rotter, 2011). We draw on this spectrum and our practitioner expertise to (re)imagine sanctuary as a nexus of access, welcome and protection. This nexus is underpinned by abolitionist sanctuary principles, intersectional praxis and grounded in the lived experience of people who have experienced displacement and who feel the borders most acutely.

Guest speakers:

 is a Lecturer in Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield teaching across Sociology and Social Work, where she is a member of the institution's Sanctuary advisory group and the Migration Research Group. Rebecca sits on the UK national University of Sanctuary steering committee, following the merger of the, which she founded and directed. Rebecca’s extensive practice and research in relation to bordering and post compulsory education developed from young migrant-led grassroots campaigning and advocacy initiatives. Rebecca’s current project ‘(Re)imagining the Higher Education Border’, seeks to quantify the higher education border and facilitate a ‘(re)imagining of its scale and impact in participation with young migrants. 

Tanya Aberman (she/her) holds a PhD in Gender Feminist and Women’s Studies from 91ÑÇÉ«. Her research has focused on migration issues from intersectional feminist, critical migration and border studies perspectives. She also specializes in the area of access to education, having developed, coordinated and taught community and university-based education programs for newcomer and migrant students. Tanya is the coordinator of the Sanctuary Scholars programs at 91ÑÇÉ« and Toronto Metropolitan University, programs that provide access to the universities for students who have precarious immigration status. She is also one of the founders of the Sanctuary Students Solidarity and Support (S4) Collective, a member-led organization that strives to support migrant students with accessing and succeeding in secondary and post-secondary education and works with institutions to increase equitable access for these students.

Co-sponsored by the Office of Social Innovation, Toronto Metropolitan University