Description
This paper investigates the links between the ontological security (OS) seeking processes of young adult migrants and macro-level immigration narratives in Glasgow, UK. While OS literature has often investigated the importance of individual biographical narratives on identity negotiation, this study looks at the importance of collective narratives in guiding the everyday behaviours of migrant subjects. The study builds on in-depth narrative interviews conducted with six young adult migrants. Visual arts research methods were used to generate participant artworks, including collage, which provide stimuli for discussion and a unique frame for analysis. These allow for the visualisation of OS and everyday routine, interactions. An OS theoretical framework is used to analyse how study participants attempt to establish security through a variety of coping mechanisms. The analysis explores how migrant individuals employ self-securitising measures and, in some cases, adopt nationalist political behaviours to avoid debilitating insecurity. The study has important considerations for research on migrants and minority groups across international settings and sub-state nationalist contexts, as well as returning to the micro-application of OST study.
