Book Talk: 'Am I Less British?'

Book talk by Dr Doğuş Şimşek, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Kingston.
Discussant: Dr Maxwell Mutanda, Lecturer in Environmental and Spatial Equity and Co-Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
Chair: Dr Estella Carpi, Assistant Professor in Humanitarian Studies, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London

Providing a rich ethnography of the lives of the children, the book studies their sense of identity, belonging and their transnational experiences. It aims to understand how the children position themselves within a range of locations (London, North London and Turkey), where they face class hierarchy, racism and discrimination, and explores how they think about their sense of belonging within the contemporary political context in Britain and Turkey. De-identifying themselves from national identities and holding onto the oppressed identities appear as new forms of resistance in response to racism and exclusion.

The experiences of the young people reflect the complexity of their lives in changing political and social circumstances across the borders of nation-states, and the importance of other categories of identity, including local identities. Overall, the book argues that the intersections of local, national and transnational approaches, the political context through which the lives of young people are framed, and their sophisticated engagement with ideas of race, class, ethnicity and gender, are crucial in understanding their identity formation.

This event is supported by the UCL Middle East Research Centre.

Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Sociology at Kingston University London

My research focuses on social inequalities, migration and political sociology from an intersectional perspective. My research is concerned with the impact of everyday bordering on racialised minorities including diaspora communities, refugees and undocumented migrants particularly in the Global South from an intersectional perspective. It is anchored in critical, interdisciplinary, transnational and global approaches to migration and displacement with a particular focus on the constructions of race, ethnicity, class and gender.

More about Dr Doğuş Şimşek

Host or Publisher UCL Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS)