With our research project ‘Engaged Scholarship and Narratives of Change’, we are committed to building a community of people who dedicate their academic, professional and/or personal lives to engaged scholarship. To keep you up-to-date about the latest developments within the project, we have started this series of newsletters.

By Busi Ntsele

The field visit to Meraka Cultural Village reignited my passion for advocacy and transformation. When we arrived at Meraka, with our music playing from a small speaker connected to the phone, Mme Sebabatso came out in full smiles, moving to the beat, and teaching us how dance looked in the golden old days.

In the last issue (#4) of Errant Journal, Fabian Holle wrote an article about Creative Co-creation. In the article, Fabian tells about his personal journey and creative workshops in the LIMBO and their challenges in enabling and obstructing flow through creative co-creation. A full version of the paper in PDF.

For the last issue (#62) of FOAM Magazine, Fabian Holle and Alaa Ammar co-wrote a paper on building and holding safe(r) spaces. In their paper, they write more about co-organizing and co-creating LIMBO, and the different challenges and opportunities that arose in the process. A full version of the paper can be found here.

Join us for an evening of queer stories and interactions during the Queer Poetry Night at Framer Framed on the 6th of August. In commemoration of Pride, Unwanted Words and LIMBO present a stage for community engagement and a safer space for queer expression.

Since 2015, the study of refugee inclusion has become a booming business. However, research and policies are still quite disconnected from refugees’ lives. Reflective infrastructures can help refugees, other societal actors, and researchers collaborate on knowledge co-creation projects that address refugees’ and migrants’ real-life challenges and question taken-for-granted assumptions. Spaces like this, which include various perspectives, are essential to enable the reflexivity necessary to rethink policy and research to make a real difference.

In collaboration with Utrecht University, BOOST and Framer Framed cordially invite you to the final conference Refugee Youth, Public Space and Artistic Practice, a research project on the everyday experiences of young refugees and asylum seekers in public spaces. The conference will take part in BOOST and Framer Framed, with a two-day programme consisting of academic and artistic contributions, workshops, as well as food presentations.

On Monday June 27th, the LIMBO exhibition at VU Views at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam will be opened to the public. LIMBO is an exhibition created as an accumulation of content made during a workshop series for and by queer/refugee/migrant community organizers & artists. The exhibition is the always evolving result of a creative research collaboration between Framer Framed, Refugee Academy (VU Amsterdam), Alaa Ammar and queer/refugee/migrant community organizers & artists.

As the LIMBO series final presentation ends on the 8th of May, Framer Framed interviews the co-creators Fabian Holle, Noa Bawits and participating artist Ariya about their take on the experience.

I’m humble and welcoming. I’m the mother of 2 boys and I arrived in South Africa in April 2010. I’m a professional hairdresser with a constant ambition to learn new things. As we say, life is a fight, I’m trying my best to face my challenges with faith and a positive mind. I love doing my work, and I do it with passion. I’m also looking for more support to fulfill my expectations. I like to cooperate with others and my relatives, to persevere… Together we can!