Testing the “triple imperative”: A drama-based exploration of migrant children’s views
Authors
Opfermann, Lena S.Affiliation
University of BedfordshireIssue Date
2015-10-16Subjects
unaccompanied migrant childrenundocumented migrant youth
South Africa
theatre-based research
triple imperative
research ethics
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In an effort to address challenges associated with unaccompanied and undocumented migrant children in South Africa, civil society and academics have been using a rights-based approach that largely overlooks the children’s own perspectives. In response to this shortcoming, this study explored the views of migrant children living in Cape Town. By applying a drama-based methodology, the study aimed to follow calls for a “triple imperative” in forced migration studies. This imperative demands that research with so-called vulnerable groups should comply with enhanced ethics standards in order to produce policy relevant academic knowledge. The article develops two main arguments. First, the study has shown that many migrant children lack a stable reference person and therefore see themselves in charge of their own lives, yet that the lack of a legal document hinders them from fulfilling their responsibilities and pursue their goals. Following from this I argue that documenting migrant children not only fulfills the purpose of providing a legal right to stay, but also constitutes a form of stability and recognition of the children’s dig- nity. Secondly, I propose that drama-based research fulfills enhanced ethics standards, as it results in a form of “social reciprocity” that contributes to participants’ wellbe- ing. Since drama-based research also produces policy relevant results, I conclude that this methodology meets the “triple imperative.”Citation
Opfermann LS (2015) 'Testing the “triple imperative”: A drama-based exploration of migrant children’s views', Transnational Social Review, 5 (3), pp.224-240.Publisher
Taylor & FrancisJournal
Transnational Social ReviewAdditional Links
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21931674.2015.1082777Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
2193-1674EISSN
2196-145XSponsors
Economic and Social Research Council through an Overseas Field Research Grant and by the World University Network’s Research Mobility Programmeae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2015.1082777