Responding to Brexit through a Song

Abstract

As a European citizen I have enjoyed great freedom working and travelling across the European Union since I was in my early 20s. During this time I have made strong, lasting friendships with many people but not least in France, Sweden, and Portugal. Following the ‘Brexit’ referendum, many of these friends asked, ‘Why leave?’ ‘What is happening to the UK?’ I had no answers and also found it difficult to convey in words the mixture of sadness, disappointment, disillusion, anger, and frustration that I felt. Qualitative researchers are often drawn to arts-based methodologies when words fail us. Here, I draw on a song to help communicate a complex and emotional landscape which includes how a refugee crisis, an influx of asylum seekers, and immigration conflicts in 2015 seemed to create a groundswell of fear and contribute to a ‘leave’ vote being registered by 51.9% of those who completed the ballot form.