Policy Press
Two Policy, practice and racism: social cohesion in action
Abstract
This chapter considers some questions related to policy development, as policy impacts all areas of community life. In particular, it explores the concept of social cohesion in neighbourhoods, which is currently a key policy issue. The context for this includes internal conflicts between groups competing for the same scarce resources, structural inequality, housing and environment neglect, crime, and disorder, creating segregation and a culture of ‘us and them’. Moreover, this chapter finds that arts methodology is a tool for ethnic minority women and young people to negotiate boundaries and hostile territories and to engage in policy questions on community cohesion through photography, portraits, and poetry.
Abstract
This chapter considers some questions related to policy development, as policy impacts all areas of community life. In particular, it explores the concept of social cohesion in neighbourhoods, which is currently a key policy issue. The context for this includes internal conflicts between groups competing for the same scarce resources, structural inequality, housing and environment neglect, crime, and disorder, creating segregation and a culture of ‘us and them’. Moreover, this chapter finds that arts methodology is a tool for ethnic minority women and young people to negotiate boundaries and hostile territories and to engage in policy questions on community cohesion through photography, portraits, and poetry.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xii
- Series editors’ foreword xiv
-
Introductions
- What kind of book is this? 3
- Policy, practice and racism: social cohesion in action 7
-
Community histories
- Introducing Rotherham 17
- How can historical knowledge help us to make sense of communities like Rotherham? 29
- Some poems, a song and a prose piece 33
- Who are we now? Local history, industrial decline and ethnic diversity 41
- Silk and steel 53
- History and co-production in the home: documents, artefacts and migrant identities in Rotherham 59
- Tassibee: a case study 69
- Identity 73
-
Community ways of knowing
- Methodology: an introduction 87
- Collaborative ethnography in context 91
- Safe spaces and community activism 107
- Emotions in community research 115
- What parents know: a call for realistic accounts of parenting young children 123
- Where I come from and where I’m going to: exploring identity, hopes and futures with Roma girls in Rotherham 135
- Introduction to artistic methods for understanding contested communities 151
- What can art do? Artistic approaches to community experiences 157
- Using poetry to engage the voices of women and girls in research 173
- The Tassibee ‘Skin and Spirit’ project 183
- ‘The Rotherham project’: young men represent themselves and their town 193
-
Communities going forward
- Re-imagining contested communities: implications for policy research 201
- What this book can teach us 205
- References 215
- Index 231
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xii
- Series editors’ foreword xiv
-
Introductions
- What kind of book is this? 3
- Policy, practice and racism: social cohesion in action 7
-
Community histories
- Introducing Rotherham 17
- How can historical knowledge help us to make sense of communities like Rotherham? 29
- Some poems, a song and a prose piece 33
- Who are we now? Local history, industrial decline and ethnic diversity 41
- Silk and steel 53
- History and co-production in the home: documents, artefacts and migrant identities in Rotherham 59
- Tassibee: a case study 69
- Identity 73
-
Community ways of knowing
- Methodology: an introduction 87
- Collaborative ethnography in context 91
- Safe spaces and community activism 107
- Emotions in community research 115
- What parents know: a call for realistic accounts of parenting young children 123
- Where I come from and where I’m going to: exploring identity, hopes and futures with Roma girls in Rotherham 135
- Introduction to artistic methods for understanding contested communities 151
- What can art do? Artistic approaches to community experiences 157
- Using poetry to engage the voices of women and girls in research 173
- The Tassibee ‘Skin and Spirit’ project 183
- ‘The Rotherham project’: young men represent themselves and their town 193
-
Communities going forward
- Re-imagining contested communities: implications for policy research 201
- What this book can teach us 205
- References 215
- Index 231
