The formative intersections of ‘race’, nation and generation

In this talk, Rachel and Veena will explore how ‘race’, nation, and generation make and mark the category of the ‘unaccompanied minor’ in the UK’s border regime and in so doing, shape their conditions of ‘care’.

Drawing on participatory research with young unaccompanied migrants and interviews with adult professionals involved in their care from Children Caring on the Move (ESRC 2019-2023), they consider how ‘unaccompanied minors’ are rendered unchildlike, unknowing, and undeserving via neo-colonial and generational logics of development, civilisation, and normality. These discourses breed inaction from the state and often result in the substandard provision, or even absence, of statutory children’s services for unaccompanied young people.

Their analysis will offer insights into the ways that ‘race’, nation and generation are made ‘real’ in their everyday enactment, how the subjugation of unaccompanied children roosts in the routine and produces contemporary childhoods in a context of rising ethno-nationalism.

This in-person event will be particularly useful for those interested in the subjects of race, nation, migration and unaccompanied minors.

Related links

• Children Caring on the Move (CCoM)
• Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU)
• TCRU seminar series
• Social Research Institute