Ireland’s rapid transition from a historic site of massive emigration to a receiving country of large-scale international in-migration presents a particularly rich context for the exploratory use of innovative, research methodologies, foregrounding the lived experiences of migrants themselves. In my doctoral research project, the process of digital storytelling provides a theoretical and methodological framework in which heterogeneous participants are the central actors/producers of their migration stories. Utilising still and moving images to accompany the voice, participants produce short multi-mediated narratives, offering points of departure for critical analysis, creative self-expression, collaboration and dialogue. This process of individually selecting a story and collaboratively producing its audiovisual representation expands the frameworks of autoethnography, oral history and testimonio (Beverly, 1989; Randall, 1991; Harlow, 1991; Sommer, 1995). It further facilitates creative inquiry into the politics of representation, cultural memory and communities of practice. This project will provide a platform for dialogue within and across immigrant populations and among different constituencies in the wider Irish society. It has the potential to inform and contribute to the development of public policy serving the needs of immigrant communities, simultaneously underscoring participatory media practice as a valuable research paradigm in migration studies.

Darcy began working with Central American refugees as a Spanish-English interpreter in 1987. This experience interpreting human rights testimonies led to work coordinating solidarity delegations to El Salvador and investigating environmental and human rights issues in the region from 1989 – 1998. In 1998 Darcy moved from San Salvador to Tucson, Arizona where she worked with migrant communities as an adult educator and ethnographic researcher. While participating in diverse community-based arts initiatives as a vocalist, creative writer and dancer, Darcy has become interested in multimedia narratives and storytelling as a dynamic and generative means for sharing knowledge about experiences that often require time to articulate and a ‘community of listeners’ to receive. This interest led to training in multimedia narration with the Berkeley-based Center for Digital Storytelling and collaboration with the Forum on Migration and Communications (FOMACS) as their digital storytelling coordinator. Darcy moved to Dublin in June 2007.