Research Output
1 - 5 of 5
Publication
Working through a Recession
2011-11, Gilmartin, Mary, Migge, Bettina
This paper focuses on the experiences of migrants at work in Ireland during the ongoing recession. It draws on a broader longitudinal qualitative study of two recent migrant cohorts, and challenges dominant understandings of recent migration to Ireland as economic and temporary, showing instead the complex ways in which migrants experience and understand work in their new homes. A general discussion of migrants at work in Ireland is followed by an examination of the impact of neoliberalism on working lives. The impacts of the recession are then discussed in detail, with particular reference to (under)employment and the new limits to migrant mobility that have emerged. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the importance of this issue, both for understanding working lives and migrant lives.
Publication
Unbounding migration studies: the intersections of language, space and time
2013-11-30, Migge, Bettina, Gilmartin, Mary
Publication
Migrant mothers and the geographies of belonging
2016, Gilmartin, Mary, Migge, Bettina
Much academic research on migrant mothers focuses on mothers who are separated from their children, often through their integration into global care chains, or on mothers within the context of family migration. This paper argues that co-resident migrant mothers' experiences provide an important window on the complexities of the migration experience. Using a specific case study of Ireland, and drawing from a broader longitudinal research project that focuses on recent migrants, the paper explores migrant mothers’ understandings and experiences of belonging and not-belonging. We argue that structural obstacles and cultural understanding of care actively conspire to undermine migrant mothers' potential to develop place-belongingness. Interviewees' discussions of their status as full-time mothers were often framed through images of ideal motherhood, but equally highlighted how the absence of affordable childcare and family members isolated them and prevent them from creating a sense of belonging outside of the process of mothering and the home.
Publication
Home stories: immigrant narratives of place and identity in contemporary Ireland
2015, Gilmartin, Mary, Migge, Bettina
This paper discusses immigrant identity and place in contemporary Ireland. It draws from a longitudinal research project that involved recent immigrants to Ireland. Participants in the project came from 18 different countries, and ranged in age from 22 to 68. Their reasons for moving to Ireland were varied, and included work, adventure and personal relationships. Combining insights from socio-linguistics and human geography, the paper first considers the different ways in which immigrants to Ireland narrate place and identity, paying particular attention to content and linguistic strategies. It then provides a more detailed discussion of the relationship between immigrant identity and place through a focus on the concept of 'home', highlighting the linguistic strategies and means that immigrants used to discursively construct notions of home and identity in their interviews. The paper concludes by arguing that detailed discourse level analysis of people’s narratives of place offers new insights into the relationship between immigrant identity and place.
Publication
Teaching for better learning: a blended learning pilot project with first year geography undergraduates
2010-09-21, Moore-Cherry, Niamh, Gilmartin, Mary
Internationally, recognition is growing that the transition between post-primary and higher education is raising a number of challenges for both students and educators. Simultaneously with growing class sizes, resources have become more constrained and there is a new set of expectations from the “net generation” (Mohanna, 2007, p. 211) The use of e-learning in medical education, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 83, p. 211). Within this transforming context, modes of instruction that cater for different paces of learning and learning styles by combining traditional and electronic media have become increasingly important. This paper discusses the transformation of an introductory human geography module at University College Dublin using a blended learning approach that extends beyond the media used to incorporate all aspects of, and inputs into, the learning process. Our experience highlights how blended learning can aid the achievement of a range of objectives in relation to student engagement and the promotion of deeper learning. However, blended learning is not a quick-fix solution to all issues relating to new university students and our analysis draws out a more complex relationship than anticipated between blended learning and student retention that will require further examination.