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This article explores relationships between language support practices and community development in the context of Vietnamese Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) in London, which were formed in the 1980s to meet the needs of Vietnamese refugee communities. Drawing on interviews with practitioners working within London--based Vietnamese RCOs, the article examines the multi--faceted role of language support in contributing to refugee adaptation. It draws upon the conceptual framework of social anchoring to analyse how Vietnamese RCOs support refugees' initial adjustment and longer--term adaptation through multiple language support provisions, including interpreting and translation, English as a Second Language (ESOL) and Vietnamese language classes. A key contribution of the article is its analysis of the ways in which language--related anchoring processes have been politicised through shifting state--led approaches to integration, reductions in funding for RCOs and a growing emphasis on English language over support for minority language practices. The findings also demonstrate how social anchoring processes within RCOs have been reconfigured in response to the diverse needs of refugee communities.

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Collaboration has become an increasingly important aspect of higher education policy agendas in which impact and public engagement are regarded as crucial elements of publicly funded research. Collaborative research raises ethical issues relating to the collection, archiving and dissemination of data, but also in regard to the complex and emotional nature of relationships between participants, practitioners and academics, that are currently under‐explored. This paper examines ethical considerations raised by collaborative research with museums, drawing on doctoral research conducted in collaboration with the Geffrye Museum that examined home, work and migration among Vietnamese communities in East London. The paper examines the challenge of balancing the interests of participants with the museum's aim to document and display testimonies and images of participants’ homes. It explores the ambivalent response of participants to the archiving of their research at the museum. I examine my positionality as a researcher, reflecting on the emotions involved in collaborative research. The paper identifies contributions from museum studies that account for the multiple viewpoints involved in collaboration. In the conclusion, I suggest that the ethical issues in collaboration speak to wider challenges of reflecting critically on research relationships that are complex, emotional and underpinned by differing needs and priorities.

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