Jenni Hunt – Sharing Stories: Participation in Museums
July 4, 2019
How can museums talk about disability? More and more, museums want to talk about histories that have been concealed – revealing the lives of women, of LGBT+ people, working class people, immigrants, and disabled people. However, working out the right way to talk about these issues can be challenging. Disabled people have frequently been dehumanised, …
The 11th Enquire Conference – Call for Papers
January 25, 2019
The next ENQUIRE conference will be held on 9th March 2019. This is an annual conference which showcases postgraduate and early career research across a wide range of social science disciplines and academic institutions. Our theme this year is ‘Social Research in Uncertain Times’, and our call for abstracts is open until 28th January. Further information about the …
‘Look like they may be in a gang’: (Track)Suits, Work and London’s Grime Artists
August 1, 2018
Last month, a segment entitled ‘Knife and Gun Crime Epidemic’ aired on Good Morning Britain, which centred on the rise of the police’s tactics of stop and search. Piers Morgan waded into the debate, with an inflammatory enquiry asking ‘what is wrong with stopping and searching young black youths who look like they may be …
The Viva
May 25, 2018
I was recently asked to speak at The School of Sociology and Social Policy at The University of Nottingham on my experience of the viva. When I started planning what I might say, I tried to think about how I conceptualised the viva prior to undertaking it. The first thing that I wrote down, without …
Systemic Violence and the ‘Wanted Unwanted’: Migrant Workers in the Urban Night
April 17, 2018
Following the press coverage of a take-away owner who was murdered in my home town, a curiosity in seeking to learn more about the lifeworld of the migrant night worker has led to some initial reflections that I feel compelled to share with you as part of my doctoral research project. We all have some …
“I am Korean”: North Korean Defectors Negotiating Identity in London
April 5, 2018
In recent years, approximately 400-500 North Korean defectors have settled in New Malden, south-west London, living alongside a substantial and established community of over 10,000 South Korean immigrants.[1] A significant number of North Koreans decide to move to New Malden, London, where there is an established South Korean community, as English language barriers prevent them …
The 10th Enquire Conference: Identity, Belonging and Activism in the 21st Century
December 20, 2017
The next ENQUIRE conference will be held on Saturday 24 February 2018. This is an annual event showcasing postgraduate and early career research from a wide range of social science disciplines and academic institutions. We have a track record of providing a positive and encouraging environment for the presentation of research on a breadth of …
Being a sexual minority in contemporary China: The challenges ahead
April 1, 2017
Recent years have witnessed increasing media coverage of LGBT-related issues in China. For instance, in 2014, Qiu Bai, a student from Guangdong province, sued the Chinese ministry of education on the grounds that a number of university textbooks described homosexuality as a disorder and advised in favour of shock therapy as a possible cure. After …
The 9th Enquire Conference – A Review
March 19, 2017
The 9th Enquire conference, held on Saturday 25th February 2017, was themed around Social Inequalities and Social Research. Social inequalities manifest in multiple areas of life and can advance or inhibit an individual or group’s social status and power. Much social research is concerned with recognising and observing inequalities in action and, in so doing, …
Feeling hopeful in times of despair: The role of emotion in political engagement
March 6, 2017
2016 was a politically tumultuous and often troubling year. As we begin 2017, we are entering a future with an American President who rose to fame as a reality TV businessman (who, in reality, has failed as a businessman multiple times) who, more worryingly, ran a political campaign stoked by the fires of division and …