Multicultural Mayo town is focus of academic research
Ballyhaunis’ unique ethnographic make-up continues to draw international academics with a Brussels-based researcher selecting the East Mayo town as the focus of her doctoral research.
Iris Egea Qijada is currently pursuing a PhD at the Free University of Brussels titled 'Sustainable Rural Communities: Comparing the Receptivity to Migration and Territorial Regeneration in Two Rural Areas of Spain and Ireland'. She will travel to Ballyhaunis next month to conduct extensive field research.
“My research focuses on international migration in declining rural areas from the perspective of sustainable communities,” explained the academic, a native of Spain. “Specifically, it amplifies the voices of immigrants regarding their experiences of inclusion and exclusion, their reasons for mobility, their desire to stay or continue migrating, their relationships with the local population, and their participation in development and revitalisation processes.
“In this study, I also explore racial and socioeconomic inequalities that affect both immigrants and the general population, the lack of infrastructure and services in rural areas, rural regeneration, and long-term social cohesion.
“I am applying an ethnographic methodology, and I will conduct fieldwork primarily in Ballyhaunis in May 2025. My goal is to interview residents including locals, newcomers, and long-term immigrants as well as political and social actors such as municipal authorities, social services, and institutions relevant to social integration, and civil society organisations involved in migration-related issues in the region."
A 2019 conference on integration and subsequent national media attention portraying the town as Ireland’s most multicultural small town has clearly created academic interest in Ballyhaunis. Students and academics from the urban planning department at Queen’s University were in Ballyhaunis earlier this year to conduct field research for the Town Centre First initiative being driven by Mayo County Council.
