Abstract
Scotland has long portrayed itself as a welcoming, tolerant, and progressive country which is inclusive towards migrant groups, often drawing on comparisons with other parts of the UK. This has helped to create a macro narrative of Scottish distinctiveness (Nicolson and Korkut 2022). However, this progressive narrative does not always align with the everyday experiences of migrants living in the country, who often experience racism and discrimination. This discord between narrative and lived experience takes centre stage in this qualitative study.
A narrative enquiry methodology is used to explore mundane events and everyday interactions for six young adult migrants who have settled in Glasgow over the last 10-years. Creative arts research methods were also used to generate participant artworks, including collage, which provide a fresh perspective for analysis. This approach allows for the visualisation of identities, and everyday routines. Additionally, the opinions of selected Scottish politicians have been collected to gather an additional viewpoint of political narratives surrounding identity, diversity, and immigration in Scotland.
An Ontological Security Theory (OST) theoretical framework is used to analyse how study participants seek to establish individual security through a variety of coping mechanisms (Giddens 1991). The analysis explores how young adult migrant individuals employ self-securitising measures, negotiate their identities, and, in some cases, adopt nationalist political behaviours, to avoid the experience of ontological insecurity. The study has important considerations for research on migrant identities, and in sub-state nationalist political contexts, as well as marking a return to the micro-application of OST study.