‘DAD, WHY DO THEY ALWAYS CHECK OUR PAPERS?’:DE-SILENCING EUROPE’S NON-EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS:A STUDY OF BANGLADESHI ‘MIGRANT’ AND ‘REFUGEE’EXPERIENCES IN ESTONIA

This paper explores different aspects of the life stories of the Bangladeshi refugee and migrant populations in the context of Europe's ever evolving refugee and migration politics.Assumptions about migration and refugee populations in everyday life have often been the product of political elite or national media discourses.Both are limited in scope and largely antagonistic in tone.To challenge the prevailing perception of 'refugee' and 'migrant' populations as a burden and a threat to host societies, this paper draws on a series of qualitative and in-depth interviews with Bangladeshi nationals living as 'refugees' and 'migrants' in Estonia.It contrasts these narratives with that of prevailing discourses which emerge from Estonian media representations.The importance of participants' personal agency and the diversity and heterogeneity of their broader community emerge strongly from the evidence.In this way, the paper challenges the homogenous assumptions about refugee and migrant populations coming from outside of Europe and raises important theoretical, conceptual and policy questions about who should produce narratives about refugee and migrant populations and how these narratives should be deconstructed in turn.Ultimately, the paper draws attention to the necessity of listening to 'marginalised voices' and advocates for adopting a decolonial framework to unpack the politics of refugee and migration in Europe.