The Centre for Communities and Social Justice runs a programme of exciting, hybrid-accessible and interactive events, which are open to the community. These include book launches, roundtable discussions, TEDx talks, community radio shows, podcasts and animations.
Film Launch: Living with No Recourse
On 21st March 2024, Bonny Downs Community Association launched the premiere of a short film showcasing local women’s hardship in living with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).
The event was co-hosted by Sir Stephen Timms MP, Dr Sally Mann, researcher at the University of Greenwich and Nora Nyugab Linwe, one of the film participants.
Film Launch: Living with No Recourse - Bonny Downs Community Association
A new special issue of Critical Social Policy co-edited by Professor Tracey Reynolds, is out now.
Racialised Migrants Navigating the UK's Hostile Environment Policies
Abstract
This article presents personal stories from a participatory biographical arts-based study with a specific category of racialised migrants: individuals seeking asylum, in the North East of England. Responding to the important questions posed by this special issue, the article explores individual experiences of navigating the UK's hostile environment with a focus on the threefold punitive ‘threat’ of dispersal, detention, and destitution (Bloch and Schuster, 2005). Adopting an intersectional lens, the discussion highlights the impact of such policies and their compound effect of creating (un)safe and exclusionary everyday spaces, while also outlining the potential for resistance as illustrated by participants’ actions and their creative (re)actions as part of the study's arts-based approach.
Dr Elena Vacchelli has co-organised the launch of the University Alliance Migration Network with Anglia Ruskin University and Middlesex University. The first day was dedicated to planning and was not public facing while the second day saw the participation of several civil society groups as can be seen here:
One Year of Hope Street: Reflecting on the challenges and opportunities since opening our doors
Dr Madeline Petrillo was invited as a guest speaker on the Justice podcast to talk about the co-production process used to design Hope Street, a pioneering residential community for women involved in the criminal justice system and their children.
Dr Stacy Banwell was invited as a guest speaker on the Knowing Animals podcast to talk about insights from her new book The War Against Non-human Animals:
Dr Ella Simpson was invited on Teachers’ Talk Radio to speak about Teaching Writing Behind Bars.
Some recent examples of multimedia outputs, including animations and Ted Talks, are listed below:
Gendered wars and gender-based violence: Who ‘is dangerous’, who is ‘in danger’?
Gendered reproductive violence with Stacy Banwell
What if sex didn't matter? Alexandra Fanghanel
People and Dancefloors: Narratives of drug-taking (film and podcast series, radio show)
Based on a participatory action research methodology, People and Dancefloors involves knowledge co-creation with project partners and participants. Led by a team of researchers, the project crosses the boundaries between research, film and activism.
Arts, the environment and nature
Acott, Tim (2020) Valuing Arts and Arts Research
Acott, Tim (2018) WetlandLIFE, epistemological equality and a disciplinary theatre: the experiences of art approaches for valuing nature
Sociology and education
Peter Jones: ‘Some Reflections on the “Post-Pandemic” Sociology Curriculum’ (2020).
Peter Jones: ‘Reasons to be different: a “post-1992” perspective’. Compass: Journal of Learning and Teaching, vol. 11, no. 2, December 2018.
Owusu-Kwarteng, Louise (2019) ‘Keepin’ it real and Sharin’ good practice’ – Insights from the Sociology and Combined Honours Degrees: Using that Sociological Imagination in assessin’ and feedin’ back
Migrant women, gender equality
Reynolds, T (2017) Black women, Gender Equality and Universal Basic Income, Compass, January 2017
Erel, Umut, Maggie O’Neill, Tracey Reynolds, and Erene Kaptani (2017), "Crisis upon Crisis: Migrant Families with No Recourse to Public Funds", Discover Society.
Reynolds, T; Erel, U and O’Neill, M (2017), Participatory Action Research Engaging Marginalised Communities in Police and Practice, Runnymed Policy Briefing
Reynolds, T and Erel, U (2016) Migrant Mothers: creative interventions into citizenship, Open Democracy, https://www.opendemocracy.net/author/tracey-reynolds
Vacchelli, Elena (2020) Focus: Who Cares Urban Youths and the Right to the City, Discover Society
Vacchelli, Elena (2019) 'Digital storytelling with the Portuguese speaking community in Stockwell, London'
Vacchelli, Elena (2017) 'Looking at family migration through the lens of 'integration crisis': a narrative reflection' Discover Society Issue 44
Podcasts
Tracey Reynolds – Mapping the Role of the ‘Transnational Family Habiotus’ in the Lives and Identity of Black Minority Ethnic People, Birbeck Institute for Social Research, 2017
Tracey Reynolds - What have we learnt since Grenfell, Panel, Cambridge Union Online, June 2020
