AbstractsSociology

My research is concerned with the flux of cultural transition, emergent identities, and pluralism within a community. It explores a changing point of view beyond traditions and is informed by the ontology of “becoming rather than being”, to paraphrase William H. Hastie. This research is a response to the phenomenon of recent immigration to the town of Dungannon in Northern Ireland as a consequence of globalization and postmodern politics. Biographical narrative enquiry is the primary research methodology used as I draw upon my life experience to reflect on the condition of being an immigrant. This research project aims to initiate a dialogue of identity generally and specifically within the community of Dungannon. The agency of immigration within a traditionally homeostatic environment informs this inquiry. Through a series of exhibited works this research will question the validity of cultural community borders. I focus on the arbitrary nature of the “false closures” (Hall, 1987) that form identity and delineate borders between identities, and the realization that borders are points of contact as well as points of separation. The research is practice-led and is concerned with what is beyond the border.