New Routes, Old Roots

CITIZEN RESEARCH OPPORTUNTIY

Norfolk’s history as place of sanctuary

We are looking for volunteers interested in becoming citizen researchers and exploring Norfolk’s rich history as a place of sanctuary.

Norwich Schools of Sanctuary, New Routes Old Roots (Anglia Ruskin University), The Common Lot and Amnesty International are collaborating to organise a day of action in schools across Norfolk on Friday 20th April 2018. Norfolk Welcomes will kick off the Amnesty International Football Welcomes weekend.

Norfolk Welcomes will see schools across the county deliver assemblies and lessons to raise awareness of the experiences of displaced people such and to connect pupils with Norfolk’s rich history as a place of sanctuary and refuge.

For the day of action, a team of citizen researchers will work alongside teachers to conduct new research, and to develop educational resources for primary and secondary schools.

The research will centre on three themes:

• Canaries, books and beer: the legacy of the Strangers (16th century Dutch and Flemish refugees)
• Norwich’s history as a city of sanctuary: an examination of different waves of refugee migration over the centuries
• The Canaries & Tony Gallego: Norwich City FC’s links to local refugee history (Spanish Civil War)

Research process

The project has a relatively tight deadline and will require some commitment by participants. Citizen researchers will:

During Phase 1: Dec-April 2018

• Work as part of a citizen research team assigned to 1 of 3 specific areas of Norfolk migration history.
• Begin development of an online Heritage Hub which will, in the first instance, house documentary research about, and creative responses to, the three historical areas.
• Work with teachers and other citizen researchers in the development of lesson plans for KS1, lower KS2 and upper KS2 underpinned by the 3 research areas.

During Phase 2, April-June 2018

• Develop further the Heritage Hub by adding new research about Norfolk’s diverse history as a city of sanctuary. The Heritage Hub will be launched as part of Refugee Week in April 2018.

Phase 1: Dec-April 2018.

This will be broken into 2 stages:

Stage 1: Dec-January 2018

• Conduct team research on 1 of the 3 designated areas of Norfolk migration history

Stage 2: Feb-April 2018

• Develop lesson plans underpinned by your research into 1 of the 3 research areas.

By early April you will also have:

• Begun development of the Heritage Hub

Commitment:

• Attend 2 large group meetings for citizen researchers (in Dec and Jan)
• Work in a small team and individually to research 1 area of migration history
• Work with teachers at a workshop to develop lesson plans

Phase 2: April-June 2018

• Continue to develop the Heritage Hub by generating new research or curating existing research (i.e. if you were a researcher on Come Yew In, you can develop that research).

The Heritage Hub is an on-going project and will be launched during Refugee Week, 2018.

Commitment:

• Attend 2 large group meetings for citizen researchers (May and June)
• Individual research and/or creative response – this can be carried out at home or in small teams. We can be flexible about this research model.

We will have a meeting at the Garnett Wolseley (Norwich Market Place), from 7.30-9.30 on Wednesday, 6^th December, where we will:

• Discuss research teams
• Discuss research strategy. J Baxter will present this in advance of meeting via email and discuss it in detail with the researchers so they can also shape it. But it will include:
  • Setting research parameters
  • Developing basic research questions
  • Stages of research: opening out and drilling down
  • Working systematically but following our noses
• Fix dates for second large group meeting in January. This will be useful for discussing progress and any issues arising.
• Have a drink and share our ideas about this exciting new project.

If you are interested in taking part please get in touch with Jake Brown info@norwichschoolsofsanctuary.org

For more information about Norfolk Welcomes please visit www.norwichschoolsofsanctuary.org