GRABS Blogposts

These blog posts are written by GRABS team members, partners and collaborators. The content thus reflects different positions and opinions both within and beyond the project. We want to make this blog, and the GRABS website, an open space for exchange and discussion with any person working with us along the project. If you would like to contribute in any form, please get in touch with us. It can be an article, a commentary or opinion piece, a report from an event, a photo-essay, an illustration, or any other audio-visual media. Enjoy your readings ! The GRABS team

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Articles de blog GRABS

Ces articles de blog sont rédigés par les membres de l’équipe GRABS, ses partenaires et ses collaborateur.rices. Leur contenu reflète donc différents points de vue et opinions, tant au sein du projet qu’au-delà. Nous souhaitons faire de ce blog et du site web GRABS un espace ouvert d’échange et de discussion avec toutes les personnes qui travaillent avec nous dans le cadre du projet. Si vous souhaitez contribuer sous quelque forme que ce soit, n’hésitez pas à nous contacter. Il peut s’agir d’un article, d’un commentaire ou d’un éditorial, d’un compte rendu d’événement, d’un reportage photo, d’une illustration ou de tout autre support audiovisuel. Bonne lecture ! L’équipe GRABS

 

When Excellence Is Not Enough: Experiences of Accessing Higher Education for Youth with forced migration backgrounds in South Africa 

Blogposts

By Aron Tesfai Neighbourhoods such as Yeoville, Rosettenville, and Hillbrow—dense inner-city areas in Johannesburg—are often described through a language of deficit: crime, poverty, overcrowding, and deteriorating infrastructure. Yet for thousands of migrants and refugees, these places are home. It is a place of survival, community, and aspiration, particularly for young people who have grown up…

Read more

Fieldwork and scoping visit to K’jipuktuk-Halifax, NS, Canada: A Comics-based essay

Blogposts, Comics, Illustrations

Fieldwork and scoping visit to K’jipuktuk-Halifax, NS, Canada: A Comics-based essay This comics-based essay is both a report and a methodological exploration produced during my fieldwork and scoping visit to K’jipuktuk-Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, between 18 July and 4 August 2025 K’jipuktuk, which means “Great Harbour” in Mi’kmaw language, forms part of Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral…

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Photo of pack of "Border" biscuits sits on anti-seagull spikes by the window. The port of Dover is visible in the background.

Borders Crafted With Care

BlogpostsLeave a comment

Borders Crafted with Care: Biscuits, Trains and Little Ships The title of this piece is inspired by the packaging of the biscuits provided to our team while staying in Dover during a scoping trip in the UK. The biscuits were called “Borders” with the tagline: “crafted with care”. Besides the irony of biscuits in Dover…

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Veils of silence

Blogposts

Veils of Silence : The Hidden Stories of Young Refugee Women in South Africa I have been a refugee in South Africa since 2013. As an activist for refugee rights I have participated in different platforms and events that  exposed me to traumatic experiences of refugees and women in particular. What struck me as different in…

Read more
Illustration of a right foot and clouds shapes made by starling birds flying over a sunset horizon. Title reads "On the move: troubling categories of (im)mobility". Text with categories all over the illustration is associated to birds with small arrows pointing at them. Colours black, grey, and blue over cream white background. Illustration signed by Juanchila, 30 January 2025.

On the move: Troubling categories of (im)mobility

Blogposts, Illustrations, Infographics

“On the move: Troubling categories of (im)mobility” is inspired from conversations within the GRABS project team, and the horrific, yet hopeful, sight of bird nests built on top of razor wire fences at the entrance of Calais, France. After the original illustration, I made a composite with a long list of these troubling categories and their definitions using various glossaries, encyclopedias, and dictionaries. Finally, I wrote a short commentary piece to accompany the illustration.

Read more
montage figure showing: 1. background: black and white map of bergerac, france. a straight diagonal dotted line crosses the top of map from left to right. 2. foreground: an unravelling green spiral cord wrap with a coloured worldmap printed on it

Balls of yarn

Blogposts

What are the trajectories of those who migrate? What are they like? I was recently asked to contribute my reflections for an arts-based and creative workshop on migrants’ trajectories focusing on the themes of work, family, and housing. I wrote about this influenced by my position and experiences as a male Latino-white, South American with…

Read more
Jan272026

When Excellence Is Not Enough: Experiences of Accessing Higher Education for Youth with forced migration backgrounds in South Africa 

Blogposts

By Aron Tesfai Neighbourhoods such as Yeoville, Rosettenville, and Hillbrow—dense inner-city areas in Johannesburg—are often described through a language of deficit: crime, poverty, overcrowding, and deteriorating infrastructure. Yet for thousands of migrants and refugees, these places are home. It is a place of survival, community, and aspiration, particularly for young people who have grown up…

Details
Dec132025

Fieldwork and scoping visit to K’jipuktuk-Halifax, NS, Canada: A Comics-based essay

Blogposts, Comics, Illustrations

Fieldwork and scoping visit to K’jipuktuk-Halifax, NS, Canada: A Comics-based essay This comics-based essay is both a report and a methodological exploration produced during my fieldwork and scoping visit to K’jipuktuk-Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, between 18 July and 4 August 2025 K’jipuktuk, which means “Great Harbour” in Mi’kmaw language, forms part of Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral…

Details
May232025

Veils of silence

Blogposts

Veils of Silence : The Hidden Stories of Young Refugee Women in South Africa I have been a refugee in South Africa since 2013. As an activist for refugee rights I have participated in different platforms and events that  exposed me to traumatic experiences of refugees and women in particular. What struck me as different in…

Details
Mar112025
Illustration of a right foot and clouds shapes made by starling birds flying over a sunset horizon. Title reads "On the move: troubling categories of (im)mobility". Text with categories all over the illustration is associated to birds with small arrows pointing at them. Colours black, grey, and blue over cream white background. Illustration signed by Juanchila, 30 January 2025.

On the move: Troubling categories of (im)mobility

Blogposts, Illustrations, Infographics

“On the move: Troubling categories of (im)mobility” is inspired from conversations within the GRABS project team, and the horrific, yet hopeful, sight of bird nests built on top of razor wire fences at the entrance of Calais, France. After the original illustration, I made a composite with a long list of these troubling categories and their definitions using various glossaries, encyclopedias, and dictionaries. Finally, I wrote a short commentary piece to accompany the illustration.

Details
Nov272024
montage figure showing: 1. background: black and white map of bergerac, france. a straight diagonal dotted line crosses the top of map from left to right. 2. foreground: an unravelling green spiral cord wrap with a coloured worldmap printed on it

Balls of yarn

Blogposts

What are the trajectories of those who migrate? What are they like? I was recently asked to contribute my reflections for an arts-based and creative workshop on migrants’ trajectories focusing on the themes of work, family, and housing. I wrote about this influenced by my position and experiences as a male Latino-white, South American with…

Details