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Project Activities in South Africa: Exhibitions, Workshops & Community Engagement

Activities, Exhibitions, Workshops

At the heart of the GRABS Project (Grandir aux frontières)—funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and Université Paris 8—lies a deep commitment to collaboration, participatory research, and elevating community voices. Moving away from extractivist academic models, our recent activities in South Africa used creative methodologies—specifically photography and youth-led podcasts—to allow young people to narrate their…

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GRABS in South Africa: Dialogues at ACMS (Joburg) and Future Africa (Pretoria)

Activities, Conferences, Seminars

Our team recently returned from an impactful research trip to South Africa, where Jane Freedman, Glenda Santana de Andrade, and Aron Tesfai had the opportunity to share our ongoing work and engage in vital dialogues with academic partners. 1. Panel Discussion at ACMS (Wits University) We kicked off our series of exchanges with a panel discussion at ACMS. Prof. Jane…

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Une Rencontre Inspirante : Le Cinéma s’invite au Projet GRABS

Activities, Workshops

Le 20 avril dernier, le projet GRABS a eu le privilège d’accueillir une invitée de marque : Carolina Sourdis, cinéaste et chercheuse attachée à l’Université Pompeu Fabra de Barcelone. Explorer, Cadrer, Créer Spécialiste de la production filmique, Carolina a partagé son expertise et sa passion avec nos jeunes participants lors d’une séance de rencontre riche en échanges. Bien…

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Retour sur la journée du 8 avril 2026 : Regards croisés sur le projet « Grandir aux Frontières »

Activities, Exhibitions, Seminars

Le 8 avril dernier, le site du CNRS Pouchet à Paris a accueilli un événement marquant pour le projet de recherche « Grandir aux Frontières » (Growing Up Across Borders – GRABS). Cette rencontre, qui s’est tenue au CRESPPA, a réuni chercheurs, acteurs associatifs et jeunes participants autour d’une ambition commune : valoriser la parole…

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Vernissage à Paris de l’exposition ‘Grandir aux frontières’

Activities, Events, Exhibitions, Exhibitions, Workshops

La première exposition à Paris du projet Grandir aux frontières s’est ouverte le 26 février à la Maison des Réfugiés. L’événement, inauguré par la Professeure Jane Freedman, de l’Université Paris 8, et financé par le Conseil européen de la recherche, a réuni les jeunes artistes et le public dans un moment de convivialité et d’échange. À destination…

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GRABS Interview on FRANCE 24

Activities, Workshops

Glenda Santana de Andrade and Israel Wabikamba (one of the young GRABS participants in South Africa) were recently interviewed by France 24 about our recent photo exhibition at the KZNSA Gallery in eThekwini-Durban. Glenda explained to international viewers the origins and objectives of our project, whilst Israel spoke about his photographs and what participating in…

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Participatory Photography and Podcast Workshops with In-School and Out-of-School Youth in Johannesburg

Activities, Fieldwork

From 8 to 25 January, Glenda Santana de Andrade conducted a field trip in Johannesburg as part of the Growing Up Across Borders (GRABS) project, in close collaboration with our local partners RCP – Refugee Children’s Project and Aron Tesfai. The visit focused on participatory creative workshops using photography and podcasting with young people. The objective was to create…

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Photo Exhibition at KZNSA Gallery

Activities, Exhibitions, Workshops

The GRABS project organised our first photo exhibition in a public art gallery, the KZNSA Gallery in eThekwini-Durban in South Africa. The exhibition, a culmination of our photography workshops,  brought together a series of photos taken by young refugees on the theme of belonging/difference. The young people involved brought their own imagination to interpret what…

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Paris: Participatory Photography with Young Women on the Move

Activities, Fieldwork, Workshops

Jane and Glenda led a second phase of participatory research activities in Paris involving participatory photography workshops with two groups of young women. One photography workshop was carried out in partnership with the Utopia56 association. All participants were minors, some of them currently awaiting recognition of their status as unaccompanied minors. The second photography workshop,…

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Workshops and an Exhibition in South Africa – Cape Town & Durban (November 2025)

Activities, Fieldwork, Workshops

Two of our team — Jane Freedman and Glenda Santana de Andrade — conducted a two-part trip to South Africa between 11 and 29 November 2025, working closely with young people on the move and with our valued local partners, Africa Unite and Refugee Social Services. Cape Town (11–24 November): Podcast & Photography Production with Africa Unite From 11 to…

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First GRABS Photobooks with Youth in Athens, Greece

Activities, Artworks & Illustrations, Fieldwork, Photobooks, Publications

In January, the young people we work with in Athens, Greece, were presented with a printed copy of their photobooks! These books were created from a series of photovoice workshops in October, organised in collaboration with Velos Youth and Melissa Network. Participants took fantastic pictures, discussed each other’s work meaningfully and categorised their photos. The…

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GRABS at SOCIN 2025

Conferences, Events

The GRABS team took part in the SOCIN Conference in Macerata, Italy (23–26 September 2025). We presented a paper entitled “Innovative Research with Young People on the Move: Challenging Coloniality and Extractivism in Knowledge Production.”

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Photograph of workshop participants

Creative Workshops with Young People in South Africa 

Activities, Workshops

In July and August 2025 two members of our team, Jane Freedman and Glenda Santana de Andrade travelled to eThekwini (Durban) South Africa. Working in collaboration with colleagues from the HEARD team at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Refugee Social Services (RSS), we organised participatory photography/photovoice and podcasting workshops with five groups of young people.…

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GRABS at the 2025 IMISCOE Annual Conference

Conferences, Events

On 2nd July, the GRABS team hosted an online panel part of the 22nd IMISCOE Annual Conference Decentering migration studies, organised by the Institute Convergences Migrations, at Paris-Aubervilliers, France. Our panel Growing Up Across Borders: Experience of Young People in Forced Migration was chaired by Jane, and the three papers presented included: Discussing the use…

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Jessi at “Reimagining Migration: Decolonisation and Identity Across Time and Space” PhD Conference

Conferences, Events

On 20th of June, Jessi took part in the PhD Conference ‘Reimagining Migration: Decolonisation and Identity Across Time and Space’, organised by the Migration Research Group at the University of Sheffield, UK. Jessi contributed to the panel on Temporalities and Geographies with a presentation entitled ‘Temporality and Geographies’ with a presentation titled Temporality and Borders:…

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GRABS project presentation at Manchester University

Events, Seminars

On 20 May 2025, Izzy and Jane from the GRABS team presented our project to the Asylum and Refugee Research Group at the University of Manchester. The presentation was followed by a discussion and questions. We were delighted to engage with other researchers working on similar topics and exchange about our research in progress. Thanks…

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Online survey for young people on the move

Activities, Surveys

We’re launching a survey to see what kinds of activities young people would like to be involved in. If you are concerned (young person on the move/young migrant aged 15-25) please reply. For others feel free to share in your networks Thank you https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScgijVGRfQtfH2e-rQMwrcPbNBTOPRXaWLPet0RQnibVjTEJA/viewform?usp=headerhttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScgijVGRfQtfH2e-rQMwrcPbNBTOPRXaWLPet0RQnibVjTEJA/viewform?usp=header

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JOINT WORKSHOPS with a fellow ERC research team

Activities, Workshops

The GRABS team, collaborated with GENDEREDCLIMATEMIG (CGM) team for a series of brainstorming workshop sessions from October to December addressing various topics. The introductory workshop session was held at Campus Condorcet, Université Paris 8. It provided an opportunity for both teams to introduce their research, share experiences, and discuss the integration of intersectional and feminist approaches to…

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