R Benchekroun
Biographic Data
| ID | 55624 |
|---|---|
| NAME | R Benchekroun |
| GIVEN NAMES | R |
| FAMILY NAME | Benchekroun |
| SIGNATURE | BENCHEKROUN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6911-9910 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Friends in precarious spaces: How enforced proximity and social infrastructure shape trust and friendship practices among migrant mothers
Women and mothers subjected to legal and financial precarity after migrating are likely to experience particular kinds of support needs, which new friendships may help to address. This article brings together two ethnographic studies: a study of mothers who, with their children, had fled war in Ukraine and were living in an emergency reception centre in Belgium; and a study of mothers from different countries living in the UK with insecure immigr…
Movers, returners and stayers: The role of place in shaping the (im)mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns
This article focuses on the role of place in shaping the (im)mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns. In the Global North, youth mobility has become a normalised part of the journey to higher education and ‘cosmopolitan’ adulthood. However, we argue that this is only part of the story for young people in coastal towns in England. Many of these coastal towns now face persistent socio-economic and infrastructural challenges. Against t…
Residence in coastal communities in adolescence and health in young adulthood: An 11-year follow-up of English UKHLS youth questionnaire respondents
We used the UK Household Longitudinal Study to examine whether community type (inland or coastal) in adolescence (10-15 years) was associated with five adult health outcomes assessed over 11 waves of follow-up (2009-22). When the analyses were stratified on area deprivation, four of the five health outcomes - self-rated, long-standing illness, psychological distress and mental functioning - showed worse health in increasingly more deprived commun…
Mothering in hostile environments: Migrant families negotiating the welfare and immigration regime nexus
This article examines the production, working and impact of the UK's hostile environment on migrant families with precarious legal status. Our approach is informed by two bodies of scholarly work: critical border studies and research on migrant families. We bridge these literatures to show how the hostile environment is neither a singular, neatly bounded space, nor limited to a set of interactions between immigration enforcement and a clear-cut g…
Participation for protection: New perspectives on the value of young people's involvement in research addressing sexual violence
Within our research to address sexual violence, we have developed an approach supporting collaboration between young people and academic staff called YRAP (Young Researchers Advisory Panel). YRAP exists to support young people's influence in research addressing sexual violence - both in our university and beyond. In this article, current and former YRAP members, as well as current and former academic supporting staff, reflect on our experiences a…
Mothers Experiencing Legal and Financial Precarity Post-Migration: Solidarity Practices, Everyday Resistance and the Role of Social Infrastructure
Restrictive immigration policies across Europe intersect with socio-economic structures, increasing the risks of precarity, exploitation and abuse faced by many women and mothers. This can be understood as 'structural' or 'slow' violence, and in the UK particularly affects racially minoritised mothers with insecure immigration statuses experiencing financial hardship. Drawing on my ethnographic research in London, UK, this article explores how pr…
Mothers Doing Friendship in a Hostile Environment: Navigating Dialectical Tensions and Sharing Support
Increasingly hostile immigration policies in the UK produce insecure immigration statuses and exclusion from public services and mainstream welfare benefits. Little is known about how this precaritization affects racially minoritized mothers with insecure immigration statuses and 'no recourse to public funds'. The ethnographic study on which this article is based explored the impact of hostile policies on mothering, and found that precaritization…
Strategic mothering in a hostile environment: How hostile immigration policies shape mothering, belonging and citizenship in the UK
Immigration and citizenship policies in the UK have long been experienced as hostile and restrictive, particularly by groups who are racially minoritized. Since 2012, “Hostile Environment” policies have further restricted access to residency rights and citizenship status, generating legal and financial precarity for many families. Whilst research on state bordering practices is growing, little is known about their impact on mothering. Drawing on …
Shrinking social spaces: The role of nurseries as social infrastructure and brokers of support in times of crisis
COVID‐19 produced temporary closures and changes to organisational practices in nurseries, which shrank social spaces and presented challenges in providing and accessing parental support. Limited attention has been paid in early childhood literature to the role of nurseries. We explored how one nursery mediated the impact of the pandemic on mothers. Our London case study showed that mothers valued it as social infrastructure and as a broker of su…
Reflecting on Crisis: Ethics of Dis/Engagement in Migration Research
This article offers a collective “gaze from within” the process of migration research, on the effects the pandemic has had on our interlocutors, our research fields, and our positionalities as researchers. Drawing from our experiences of researching a field in increasing crisis, and following the methodological reflections of the article written by our colleagues in this issue, we discuss a number of dilemmas and repositionings stemming from—and …
Caring through a screen: Caring for kin under lockdown
COVID-19 and UK-wide lockdown measures in spring 2020 confined people to their homes, with implications for exchanging care. In a small-scale qualitative study, I examined the impact on individuals’ everyday caring practices with adult kin beyond the home. In this article, drawing on empirical evidence from my study, I argue that lockdown restrictions on in-person interactions and the increased reliance on ICTs shaped interactions and how relatio…
Sociograms in Critical Methodologies
Movers, returners and stayers: The role of place in shaping the (im)mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns
This article focuses on the role of place in shaping the (im)mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns. In the Global North, youth mobility has become a normalised part of the journey to higher education and ‘cosmopolitan’ adulthood. However, we argue that this is only part of the story for young people in coastal towns in England. Many of these coastal towns now face persistent socio-economic and infrastructural challenges. Against t…
Mothering in hostile environments: Migrant families negotiating the welfare and immigration regime nexus
This article examines the production, working and impact of the UK's hostile environment on migrant families with precarious legal status. Our approach is informed by two bodies of scholarly work: critical border studies and research on migrant families. We bridge these literatures to show how the hostile environment is neither a singular, neatly bounded space, nor limited to a set of interactions between immigration enforcement and a clear-cut g…
Mothers Experiencing Legal and Financial Precarity Post-Migration: Solidarity Practices, Everyday Resistance and the Role of Social Infrastructure
Restrictive immigration policies across Europe intersect with socio-economic structures, increasing the risks of precarity, exploitation and abuse faced by many women and mothers. This can be understood as 'structural' or 'slow' violence, and in the UK particularly affects racially minoritised mothers with insecure immigration statuses experiencing financial hardship. Drawing on my ethnographic research in London, UK, this article explores how pr…
Mothers Doing Friendship in a Hostile Environment: Navigating Dialectical Tensions and Sharing Support
Increasingly hostile immigration policies in the UK produce insecure immigration statuses and exclusion from public services and mainstream welfare benefits. Little is known about how this precaritization affects racially minoritized mothers with insecure immigration statuses and 'no recourse to public funds'. The ethnographic study on which this article is based explored the impact of hostile policies on mothering, and found that precaritization…
Residence in coastal communities in adolescence and health in young adulthood: An 11-year follow-up of English UKHLS youth questionnaire respondents
We used the UK Household Longitudinal Study to examine whether community type (inland or coastal) in adolescence (10-15 years) was associated with five adult health outcomes assessed over 11 waves of follow-up (2009-22). When the analyses were stratified on area deprivation, four of the five health outcomes - self-rated, long-standing illness, psychological distress and mental functioning - showed worse health in increasingly more deprived commun…
Participation for protection: New perspectives on the value of young people's involvement in research addressing sexual violence
Within our research to address sexual violence, we have developed an approach supporting collaboration between young people and academic staff called YRAP (Young Researchers Advisory Panel). YRAP exists to support young people's influence in research addressing sexual violence - both in our university and beyond. In this article, current and former YRAP members, as well as current and former academic supporting staff, reflect on our experiences a…
Sociograms in Critical Methodologies
Caring through a screen: Caring for kin under lockdown
COVID-19 and UK-wide lockdown measures in spring 2020 confined people to their homes, with implications for exchanging care. In a small-scale qualitative study, I examined the impact on individuals’ everyday caring practices with adult kin beyond the home. In this article, drawing on empirical evidence from my study, I argue that lockdown restrictions on in-person interactions and the increased reliance on ICTs shaped interactions and how relatio…
Reflecting on Crisis: Ethics of Dis/Engagement in Migration Research
This article offers a collective “gaze from within” the process of migration research, on the effects the pandemic has had on our interlocutors, our research fields, and our positionalities as researchers. Drawing from our experiences of researching a field in increasing crisis, and following the methodological reflections of the article written by our colleagues in this issue, we discuss a number of dilemmas and repositionings stemming from—and …
Strategic mothering in a hostile environment: How hostile immigration policies shape mothering, belonging and citizenship in the UK
Immigration and citizenship policies in the UK have long been experienced as hostile and restrictive, particularly by groups who are racially minoritized. Since 2012, “Hostile Environment” policies have further restricted access to residency rights and citizenship status, generating legal and financial precarity for many families. Whilst research on state bordering practices is growing, little is known about their impact on mothering. Drawing on …
Shrinking social spaces: The role of nurseries as social infrastructure and brokers of support in times of crisis
COVID‐19 produced temporary closures and changes to organisational practices in nurseries, which shrank social spaces and presented challenges in providing and accessing parental support. Limited attention has been paid in early childhood literature to the role of nurseries. We explored how one nursery mediated the impact of the pandemic on mothers. Our London case study showed that mothers valued it as social infrastructure and as a broker of su…
Movers, returners and stayers: The role of place in shaping the (im)mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns
This article focuses on the role of place in shaping the (im)mobility aspirations of young people in coastal towns. In the Global North, youth mobility has become a normalised part of the journey to higher education and ‘cosmopolitan’ adulthood. However, we argue that this is only part of the story for young people in coastal towns in England. Many of these coastal towns now face persistent socio-economic and infrastructural challenges. Against t…
Residence in coastal communities in adolescence and health in young adulthood: An 11-year follow-up of English UKHLS youth questionnaire respondents
We used the UK Household Longitudinal Study to examine whether community type (inland or coastal) in adolescence (10-15 years) was associated with five adult health outcomes assessed over 11 waves of follow-up (2009-22). When the analyses were stratified on area deprivation, four of the five health outcomes - self-rated, long-standing illness, psychological distress and mental functioning - showed worse health in increasingly more deprived commun…
Mothering in hostile environments: Migrant families negotiating the welfare and immigration regime nexus
This article examines the production, working and impact of the UK's hostile environment on migrant families with precarious legal status. Our approach is informed by two bodies of scholarly work: critical border studies and research on migrant families. We bridge these literatures to show how the hostile environment is neither a singular, neatly bounded space, nor limited to a set of interactions between immigration enforcement and a clear-cut g…
Participation for protection: New perspectives on the value of young people's involvement in research addressing sexual violence
Within our research to address sexual violence, we have developed an approach supporting collaboration between young people and academic staff called YRAP (Young Researchers Advisory Panel). YRAP exists to support young people's influence in research addressing sexual violence - both in our university and beyond. In this article, current and former YRAP members, as well as current and former academic supporting staff, reflect on our experiences a…
Mothers Experiencing Legal and Financial Precarity Post-Migration: Solidarity Practices, Everyday Resistance and the Role of Social Infrastructure
Restrictive immigration policies across Europe intersect with socio-economic structures, increasing the risks of precarity, exploitation and abuse faced by many women and mothers. This can be understood as 'structural' or 'slow' violence, and in the UK particularly affects racially minoritised mothers with insecure immigration statuses experiencing financial hardship. Drawing on my ethnographic research in London, UK, this article explores how pr…
Mothers Doing Friendship in a Hostile Environment: Navigating Dialectical Tensions and Sharing Support
Increasingly hostile immigration policies in the UK produce insecure immigration statuses and exclusion from public services and mainstream welfare benefits. Little is known about how this precaritization affects racially minoritized mothers with insecure immigration statuses and 'no recourse to public funds'. The ethnographic study on which this article is based explored the impact of hostile policies on mothering, and found that precaritization…
Friends in precarious spaces: How enforced proximity and social infrastructure shape trust and friendship practices among migrant mothers
Women and mothers subjected to legal and financial precarity after migrating are likely to experience particular kinds of support needs, which new friendships may help to address. This article brings together two ethnographic studies: a study of mothers who, with their children, had fled war in Ukraine and were living in an emergency reception centre in Belgium; and a study of mothers from different countries living in the UK with insecure immigr…
Sociology (10 works) · Political science (8 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (4 works) · Immigration (4 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (4 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · Ethnography (3 works)