I am a UCL social science researcher in the field of Applied and Socio-linguistics, focusing on how experiences and claims of people seeking asylum in the UK and Europe as stateless people of Kuwait (i.e., Bidoon Kuwaitis) are communicated and disputed. My research is (in)formed by my training in refugee and forced migration studies at the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre and my lived experiences as a Bidoon Kuwaiti person going through the UK asylum system and eventually being recognised as a refugee following a successful appeal in which I was found to be a witness of truth.
I have relevant academic and professional experience:
- Postgraduate researcher, UCL Institute of Education (2019-present)
- Movement-building consultant, Institute on Statelessness & Inclusion (Jun 2023-May 2024)
- Volunteer interpreter (2019-present)
I participated in and co-organised conferences, workshops and talks involving the stateless Bidoon people of Kuwait, including:
- The World Conference on Statelessness, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Feb/Mar. 2024)
- Childhood Statelessness & Education Awareness Month, London (Nov. 2023)
- Oxford Sanctuary Fair, University of Oxford (May 2023)
- Mental health among Kuwaiti Bidoons in the UK, University of Oxford (Feb. 2023)
- Becoming a Kuwaiti Bidoon refugee in the UK, Oxfordshire and Reading Sanctuary Hosting (2021).
I have been a member of:
- UCL student-led Culture, Communication & Media PhD seminars group
- UCL Institute of Education’s Sociolinguistics Lab research network
- UCL student-led South West Asia & North Africa (S.W.A.N.A.) Forum for Social Justice
- The European Network on Statelessness
Northern Arabia’s Surviving Indigeneity (NASI) social enterprise (Co-founder)
1 (in drafting stage)
Benswait, A. (2024). Statelessness through the lens of time [Blog post]. Available at https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/resources/critical-statelessness-studies-blog/statelessness-through-the-lens-of-time
Benswait, A. (2021). Language and statelessness: The impact of political discourses on the Bidoon community in Kuwait. In Bloom, T. & Kingston, N. L. (eds). (2021). Statelessness governance, and the problem of citizenship. Manchester University Press. https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526156426/9781526156426.00015.xml
Benswait, A. (2021). Critical sociolinguistic ethnography as a lens to statelessness: a case from the Bidoon community in Kuwait [Blog post]. https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/critical-statelessness-studies-blog/critical-sociolinguistic-ethnography-as-a-lens-to-statelessness-a-case-from-the-bidoon-community-in-kuwait
English
Islamic Constitutional Movement
Kuwaiti Progressive Movement
Civil Conservative Party
Islamic Salafi Alliance
Sunnis