The Irish ‘Down Under’: Migration Stories in an Era of Pandemic

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had a significant impact on the work of geographers engaging fieldwork and narrative methodologies in particular. To this end, the proposed chapter contributes to the literature from two perspectives. Firstly, the chapter reflects on the methodological challenges experienced while planning and recruiting project participants to explore Irish migrants’ narratives of living in Australia during a global pandemic. Secondly, the chapter draws from media accounts of migrants living in Australia during this time to consider narratives of home and belonging. The Australian migration experience is presumed homogenous; that is, whatever the destination in Australia, the resulting experience is similar. This paper unpacks this presumption, examining (diverse) narratives of belonging across multiple Australian destinations, providing new insight to contemporary migration experiences. As a result, the focus of this paper remains on narratives of identity and belonging, with these concepts framed by and through the lens of the pandemic.