Preamble

Susannah G Williams

On behalf of the Anti-Racism Working Group

Preamble

This Working Paper contains some of the contributions made to the second postgraduate (PGR)- and early career researcher (ECR)-oriented conference on ‘Race’ and Socially Engaged Research held at the University of York in June 2024. The call for papers was made in Winter 2023/24, and asked those submitting proposals for presentations to focus on the theme of ‘Resistance, Joy and Community in Hostile Environments’. This developed following increasing hostility in the UK, but also the development of networks and communities we had formed in the previous year’s conference, where we found joy and resistance in these hostile and precarious times.

The conference was organised by a collective of PGRs in York, with planning starting in late 2023 and concluding in Summer 2024. Feedback from attendees emphasised the event being a vital space for knowledge exchange while building community. The reception, marking the midpoint of the two-day event, included a talk by Sarli Nana, a regional organiser for Migrants Organise in Yorkshire and the Humber. He highlighted in a 2023 interview that “People here are often isolated and demoralised, an objective of the hostile environment… I identify common causes, building people’s power to address the structural racism and injustice, and help build local coalitions”,[1] hence he was an excellent, locally-based keynote for this year’s event focused on community in hostile environments.

This is an annual event. For details of future planning or to become involved in the planning process, or to make a preliminary offer of research you’d like to share or present, please contact the group. A full report of the event is available from the group: contact antiracismworkinggroup@gmail.com.

After the conference, a call was made to those who had offered papers for them to be included in a short Working Paper, and this is the result of that call. The second edition of the Working Paper includes two posters, one poem and four papers. We hope to continue the conversation around ‘Race’ and Socially Engaged Research and provoke further engagement and in-depth discussion around the issues included in the conference and this Working Paper in future years.

Acknowledgements

The Anti-Racism Working Group would like to thank our generous funders who enabled us to put on the second annual conference in 2024, which led to this volume of the Working Paper:

Building Research and Innovation Capacity at the University of York (BRIC).
Professor Kiran Trehan: Pro-Vice Chancellor for Partnerships and Engagement at the University of York and Director of the Centre for Women’s Enterprise, Leadership, Economy and Diversity (UoY).
Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE).
Professor Matthew Reason: Director of the Institute for Social Justice (ISJ) at York St John University (YSJ).
Department of Politics at the University of York (UoY).

We are grateful for the continued guidance and support from our steering committee: Dr Daryl Martin, Dr Karisha George, Dr Joe Turner, Raj Mann, Jack Harris, Jayne Blizzard, Lucy Potter and Ayo Barley.

Thank you also to our invited roundtable speakers for the 2024 conference; Dr Patricia Hamilton

- Lecturer in Sociology (University of York), Dr Juliana Mensah – Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing (University of York), Dominique Walker - Lecturer in School of Justice (University of Liverpool), Natalie Denny – Director and CEO (Skywriters), Ayo Barley – Equality Training Consultant (Bakare Barley Consultancy), Yvie Holder – Poet and Founder (York Race Equality Network), Dr Karisha George – Lecturer in Psychology (University of York), and Professor Emily Zobel Marshall – Poet and Professor in Cultural Studies (Leeds Beckett University). Further thanks go to our three workshop facilitators; Tré Ventour-Griffiths, Black and Gold Education, and York Anti-Racist Collective (YARC). And our gratitude goes to our keynote speaker this year, Sarli Nana, regional organiser for Migrants Organise.

Lastly, thank you to everybody who came to share their research and form ‘radical friendships’ in this event intended for resistance, joy and community. We are incredibly grateful that you contributed to creating such an incredible space and invested your valuable time and energy in participating. We look forward to future conversations and collaborations!

Footnotes:

[1] Red Pepper (2023). Breaking borders: an interview with Sarli Nana, 18 June 2023, https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-spark/breaking-borders-migrants-organise-solidarity-detention-hostile-environment-interview/.