Co-production · Doctors of the World / Room to Heal
Do You Hear Me? Anthology
““Do you hear me?” — anthology title”
The challenge
People seeking sanctuary were being discussed everywhere after the racist riots, but rarely heard on their own terms
The racist violence of August 2024 created fear, anger and uncertainty for people seeking sanctuary across the UK. Much of the public response was framed by politicians, journalists and organisations speaking about affected communities. We wanted to create space for people who were living through that moment to decide what they wanted to say, including responses that did not fit a policy briefing or media interview.
What we did
Creative workshops turned personal responses to racism, fear and solidarity into a collective publication
Open Routes Research worked with Doctors of the World and Room to Heal to facilitate a creative process with people seeking sanctuary. Contributors used poetry, short reflections and other forms of writing to describe what the riots and wider anti-migrant climate meant to them. The material was edited and designed as a collective anthology, retaining the emotional and creative qualities of the contributions instead of translating them into conventional research findings.
What changed
The anthology created a public record of sanctuary seekers responding to racist violence in their own voices
Do You Hear Me? became a resource that could be circulated through community, health, educational and public-engagement spaces. It provided an immediate creative response to a political moment while also documenting the longer histories of racism, fear, resistance and solidarity that sit behind a single week of headlines.
Outputs
Do You Hear Me? creative anthology; participatory creative sessions; public and educational dissemination: Do-you-hear-me-4.2.25-1.pdf