Where is 'home' for Shamima Begum?

The University of Birmingham, in conjunction with the ERC, are delighted to host Josh Baker in conversation with Laura Macdonald, a co-founder of ConnectFutures to discuss Shamima Begum’s experiences.

Shamima Begum, aged 15, left London with her friends to join the so-called Islamic State. Now 8 years later, she is held in an ISIS detention camp in Syria, and has had her citizenship revoked. She has spent the past five years seeking to overturn this decision, wanting to return home to the UK. Her case raises the question of ‘home’ for many – why did she leave home? What was home like in the terrorist state and in the detention camp? Can she ever be ‘at home’ in the UK again? Her experience and the decisions by the Home Secretary, raise a number of legal and social issues, that have ramifications for all of us – including how can Birmingham be a better home for all young Brummies?

Josh Baker is an investigative journalist who details her journey and interviews her in the second series of his podcast “I am not a Monster”. ConnectFutures is a local NGO that supports young people against extremism. It has helped equip hundreds of thousands of young people across the West Midlands against hate crime, racism, extremism and bullying.

This event is supported by the University of Birmingham and the ERC project 'Urban Terrorism in Europe (2004-19): Remembering, Imagining, and Anticipating Violence learn more about this project. 

This event is presented as part of A Place to Call Home a new public programme of exhibitions, activities and events exploring what home means to all of us. Understand diverse experiences through the eyes of people who have lived through them and find out about the latest social justice research at the University of Birmingham.