Surviving Society

This week Utsa joined us to discuss his PhD research on the sociology of the Indian diaspora; leisure practices and identities of Indian diasporic children. A truly fascinating discussion! Useful links- https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/utsa-mukherjee(5a723d97-c57c-4927-9b75-cda6685026c3).html

In this episode we discuss how popular science is re-inscribing race through ancestry tests, DNA and personalised diets. Useful links - https://www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/staff/profile/tinasikka.html Sikka T. Against Twenty-First-Century Race Science. Jacobin, 2019. Available at: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/06/racism-science-genetic-testing-racecraft. Sikka T. Politics of Categorization: Race and Blood. Sociology Lens, 2019. Available at: https://www.sociologylens.net/topics/race-and-ethnicity/politics-categorization-race-blood/24530.

Stephen Ashe joined us to discuss the formation of trade unions, how Thatcher attacked them and left wing racism that manifests (and persists) within work and the union movement. Useful links- https://www.ethnicity.ac.uk/research/projects/racism-at-work http://blog.policy.manchester.ac.uk/ethnicity/2016/11/racism-at-work-still-persists-time-for-urgent-action/ https://manchester.academia.edu/StephenDAshe

Providing you with a mini and weekly sociological reflection (plus our own thoughts and opinions!) during the 2019 general election campaign. In our final episode of this series Dan Renwick joined us to make sense of the General Election Result 2019. Dan Renwick is a visual creative, videographer, youth worker, contributing author to After Grenfell, producer of Failed by the State, and supporter and official videographer of Grenfell United

This week were joined by Aurelien and Aaron to discuss the themes in their forthcoming book (2020) - Reactionary Democracy: How Racism and the Populist Far Right Became Mainstream. Useful links - Aurelien Mondon and Aaron Winter. 2018. ‘Whiteness, Populism and the Racialisation of the Working Class in the United Kingdom and the United States’, Identities, Global Studies in Culture and Power, 26:5: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1070289X.2018.1552440?journalCode=gide20 Aurelien Mondon and Aaron Winter. 2017. ‘Articulations of Islamophobia: from the extreme to the mainstream?’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40:13: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2017.1312008?journalCode=rers20 Katy Brown, Aurelien Mondon and Aaron Winter. 2019. 'Populist' can be a weasel word for 'racist', Open Democracy, 16 October: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/populist-can-be-a-weasel-word-for-racist-and-thats-dangerous/ Aurelien Mondon and Aaron Winter. 2018. ‘Understanding the mainstr

Tissot and Ronda describe the East End through their lived experiences as both young people and adults. In this episode also we also attempt to carefully lay out the class and race(d) dynamics of our own working class roots and explore the tension in trying to talk about racism we have experienced whilst also trying not to demonise and exceptionalise working class (especially white) people.

Providing you with a mini and weekly sociological reflection (plus our own thoughts and opinions!) during the 2019 general election campaign.

In this episode we get very deep and discuss epistemology and social theory. Shamser encourages us to think more critically with how we engage with the production of knowledge within our methodological approach. What is knowledge?! Useful links - Les Back and Shamser Sinha (2019) Migrant City, 2nd ed, London, Routledge (ie paperback) Les Back and Shamser Sinha (2018) Migrant City, London, Routledge John Berger and Jean Mohr (1975) A Seventh Man, London, Granta P.Christensen (2004) Childen’s Participation in Ethnographic Research: Issues of Power and representation, Children and Society, 18, 165-76 Angela Y Davies (2016 ) Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Chicago, Haymarket Books Julia Donaldson and Axel.Scheffler, Snail on a Whale, London, MacMillan H.Gadamer, Truth and Method, New York, Continum Books, Sinha, Shamser and Back, Les ( 2014) Making methods sociable: dialogue, ethics and authorship in qualitative research. Journal of Qualitative Research, 14(4), pp. 473-487. ISSN 1468-7941

Providing you with a mini and weekly sociological reflection (plus our own thoughts and opinions!) during the 2019 general election campaign.

This week were joined by the Rianna who is the co-founder of Project Myopia; co-editor of the Colour of Madness and PhD researcher at Kings College London. We discuss whiteness within the academy, decolonising H.E and mental health and illness for Black and Brown people in the UK. We are particularly passionate during this episode so expect some strong language! Useful links - http://www.riannawalcott.com https://projectmyopia.com https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-colour-of-madness-anthology/samara-linton/rianna-walcott/9780992651442

Providing you with a mini and weekly sociological reflection (plus our own thoughts and opinions!) during the 2019 general election campaign.

Jenny joined Chantelle to talk through class and the sociology of working in wedding boutiques and hair and beauty salons. Expect laughter and rage as they both narrate their lived experiences of working in these spaces as working class teenagers and women. Useful links- https://www.routledge.com/The-Wedding-Spectacle-Across-Contemporary-Media-and-Culture-Something/Kay-Kennedy-Wood/p/book/9781138586239 The Sociological Review article: Disgusted subjects: the making of middle‐class identities, by Stephanie Lawler https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00560.x

Providing you with a mini and weekly sociological reflection (plus our own thoughts and opinions!) during the 2019 general election campaign.

In this special collaborative episode with Ez and Jade (The Echo Chamber podcast), we discuss the merits and shortcomings of Black History month in the British context. Purposefully released outside of October, we discuss our own reflections (and differing opinions) on the politics around the month. Useful links - https://soundcloud.com/user-628553882

Providing you with a mini and weekly sociological reflection (plus our own thoughts and opinions!) during the 2019 general election campaign.

Ibtehal joined us to discuss the activist work of Campaign Against the Arms Trade which is a UK-based organisation working to end the international arms trade. Useful links - https://www.caat.org.uk/ https://twitter.com/CAATuk/status/1169874976410755073 https://twitter.com/CAATuk/status/1169874976410755073

Providing you with a mini and weekly sociological reflection (plus our own thoughts and opinions!) during the 2019 general election campaign.

Caribbeanist anthropologist Adom joined us to discuss fatherhood, kinship, the life-course and hurricanes in the Caribbean (Dominica). Useful links- http://fathermen.blogspot.com Philogene Heron, A. (2018). Surviving Maria from Dominica: Memory, Displacement and Bittersweet Beginnings Transforming Anthropology, 26(2), 118-135. Adom Philogene Heron. (2019). Coming to Terms with Caribbean Families Suomen Antropologi, 43(4), 41-47.

Norman Riley joined us to discuss the connections between the Far right in Europe, football hooliganism and racism. We also locate some of the genealogies of racism in English football. Useful links- http://www.true-faith.co.uk/ http://www.true-faith.co.uk/sjp-charity-match-true-faith-vs-crisis/ http://www.true-faith.co.uk/opinion-songs-glorifying-tommy-robinson-dont-speak-for-newcastle-united-fans/ http://www.true-faith.co.uk/podcast-true-faith-meet-kick-it-out/

This week we visited Danny Dorling at University of Oxford to talk about the important histories that help to locate how Leave marginally won the EU referendum in 2016. Expect an extensive discussion on voting demographics/patterns; the Conservative party (and its leaders!), Empire, and racism.