Inside Out, Outside In: Storytelling with
Asylum-Seekers and host communities in Oxford (2012-2015)

Sef Townsend, a veteran storyteller and I worked on a project with asylum-seekers in detention and the local community of Oxford, with the idea of creating connections between the two groups through gathering traditional tales from each group and telling them. The stories worked with themes of displacement, incarceration, freedom and the journeys of settling down. We published a collection of 2 years of our work with the detainees. As part of the project in 2014, we ran two one-day long masterclasses - the first one was an experiential workshop on 'Exile' exploring the places of exile within participants and the journey of exile of those seeking asylum. The second masterclass was on the theme of 'Sanctuary' and explored the ways in which traditional stories can create a space of sanctuary for those who have been incarcerated or those seeking shelter and sanctuary. It explored the ways that visual media work alongside storytelling as well as telling stories in languages that may not necessarily be shared by the listeners. 

The project closed with two workshops open to the public that reviewed our work in the past 3 years. Stories and discussions with participants on the theme of working with asylum-seekers and refugees were recorded, and were published via a monograph and CD in 2016.