We’re pleased to welcome four PhD fellows, each contributing to CONFINED’s ethnographic case studies on confinement and transnational family networks. Their research spans diverse global contexts: from (post)colonial and economic ties between the UK and Sierra Leone to migration between Malawi and South Africa, displacement from Myanmar into Thailand, and the experiences of Palestinians in urban marginalized and enclosed territories – such as refugee camps in Lebanon and urban marginalized areas in Denmark.
Anarim Chahabi’s research examines confined lives and transnational kinship among Palestinian families in Denmark and refugee camps in Lebanon. Her research explores how confinement—shaped by displacement, statelessness, and marginalization—is navigated across generations and borders.
Daphne Langwe’s research explores the experiences of Malawian labor migrants in South Africa, examining how transnational families cope with and navigate confinement between the two regions. This study builds upon her expertise in gender dynamics within families, migration, and urban poverty.
Nadine Coetzee’s study investigates how family networks navigate and experience the relationship between urban marginality, displacement and incarceration. Drawing on her experience in urban development, her research engages with those making home in the margins, both in and across Freetown, Sierra Leone and Southwark, London, UK.
Sai Hkur’s research explores the lived experiences of confined Shan migrants in Thailand. With a decade of experience in migration and refugee issues, his research focuses on social networks within the Shan migrant community, informed by his work with asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong.
Through their diverse expertise and project breadth, the PhD fellows will contribute valuable insights to the CONFINED project.