Love, Jayne (2025) Exploring European narratives of belonging in a city landscape: place-making in Southampton, UK. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 444pp.
Abstract
My project investigates how EU nationals in Southampton construct a sense of belonging, examining their identification to the city as a place, the reasons driving their belonging, and how this is expressed through their narratives. This 18-month in-depth study seeks to contribute to the field of linguistic ethnography, and collected data via a participant-produced creation about how they came to be in Southampton, followed by online ethnographic video interviews, participant journalling, and a WhatsApp focus group. My work is particularly timely, set against the backdrop of heightened hostility towards those originating from outside of the UK and a significant pro-Leave sentiment in Southampton.
The results provide insights into how 10 female lifestyle migrants use English as a Lingua Franca to navigate through their daily lives in Southampton as well as through the specific challenges of Brexit and COVID-19. A sense of belonging goes beyond the notion of a group or speech community to a more complex understanding that incorporates both physical and virtual spaces, extending geographically much further than just Southampton, and changing over time too. It acknowledges the complexities of individual experiences and highlights the role of English language as a tool for communication, identity formation, and social practice in a dynamic and changing sociopolitical landscape.
The adaptation of my research to the online sphere in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has questioned the need for solely using traditional face-to-face participant observation and has opened up opportunities for more ethnographic research to take place remotely. A significant aspect of the study revealed everyday accent discrimination, leaving participants grappling with perceptions of not fitting in. Their narratives challenge media-driven generalisations, emphasising their valuable contributions to society and defying preconceived notions about their place within it. Further, I put forward the notion of ordinary belonging, which underscores the significance of pragmatic, everyday actions in fostering connection and integration within society, which is often overlooked.
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