Embedded Files
Project Mission
Project Mission
Thousands of Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh in response to ethnic violence in their home country, Myanmar. Among those are children who have experienced horrific violence and adversity along their journey. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms that children are entitled to freedom of expression and, in particular, Article 13 recognizes that this right includes “freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.” In accordance with these principles, the main goal of this project is to capture Rohingya children’s perspectives on their migration experience by documenting and publicizing their artwork and by engaging people in the discussion of human rights and forced migration. Therefore, this project also aims to raise public awareness of the realities that Rohingya refugees face during migration in order to promote the acceptance of migrant communities worldwide.
This project was supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society under Grant reference No. NGS-62052E-19.
Storytelling and participatory Geospatial mapping with Rohingya refugee youth
Storytelling and participatory Geospatial mapping with Rohingya refugee youth
Goal: National Geographic Society funded project which aims to document Rohingya refugees’ perspectives on their migration to Bangladesh.
What We Do
We worked with Rohingya youth in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The Rohingya, are a stateless ethnic minority group who fled to Bangladesh in 2017 in response to ethnic violence in Myanmar (Burma). They currently live in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
We aim to record their stories by empowering them to document and tell their own stories.
How?
Through draw-and-tell exercises.
Participatory mapping.
Process
Process
We worked with Rohingya teaching artists with Artolution who helped us to interview Rohingya youth so that we could collect qualitative data on their migration stories and then map it using Google Earth.
We held a remote Zoom training session during COVID-19 with Rohingya artists to introduce them the concept of the mapping process and storytelling.
Had hands-on learning on mapping while our team visited the refugee camps (July 2022).
Also conducted draw-and-tell exercises and responses were added to the map to better narrate their journey.
Draw and Tell
Draw and Tell
The participatory mapping, draw-and-tell exercises, and subsequent interviews collected geographical information and spatial narratives from participants. Draw-and-tell questions included the village and township names of where participants migrated from; the number of members in their family; the people whom they migrated with; the number of days it took them to travel to Bangladesh; what their migration experience and journey was like to come to Bangladesh; and their favorite memories from home to help us gain insights into their migration experience.
Trauma-informed Approach
Trauma-informed Approach
When working with refugee populations, there is a risk of retraumatizing survivors when asking them to recount their stories. Our project employed a trauma-informed approach which focused on being mindful and recognizing the importance of empowering people with choices. Thus, we didn’t prompt or push too hard to get answers.
Questions were mostly open-ended and allowed participants to tell us whatever they wanted to tell us about their migration experience and journey to Bangladesh. They could choose to tell us as much or as little of their story as they want to.
Other Challenges
Other Challenges
Working in refugee camps, there is limited cellular network or internet connection available and limited electricity.
We used Google Earth Pro (desktop app) because it does not require internet connection as long as the interviewer caches the mapping data ahead of time for use offline. Google Earth Pro also has the ability to view historical imagery which was important because many Rohingya villages had been burned down by the Myanmar military - so the landscape looked different than before they fled.
Finally, we later transferred the data to Google Earth web (online) in order to get broader dissemination. (click on the Map page to see the map)
Impact
Impact
“From the very beginning they [the Myanmar government] removed our names from the past. Since 1942, we were not allowed to do many things. When we came here [to Bangladesh] we learned how to draw, and how to use a pencil, and how to use colors. And now we are learning how to draw our own maps. The military tried to remove our names but now we are making our own map so that people will know our names. I am very happy. The Myanmar government is not able to remove our names from the history because we are learning how to do maps right now.”
“When I see my house here, I am crying on the inside. It’s like being home again.”
~Mandolin player and Rohingya artist, age 66
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