Check out Nex X Change Episode 1: ‘Lines on a Map’ featuring our own Les Back, Nirmal Puwar and Michaela Benson…
Chapter 2: “The dream happens to him”
Al Riddell and Harriet Onyett delve into a recent exhibition responding to the seminal 1975 book, A Seventh Man, by John Berger and Jean Mohr.
The Migrating Dreams and Nightmares exhibition was curated by Goldsmiths’ Methods Lab – a pioneering group of sociologists exploring new ways of doing social research. It brought together artists and academics to respond to the book and the theme of migration through new artworks and public talks. Featuring Dr Nirmal Puwar, reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths.
Chapter 4: “Her ridged posture screamed ‘Foreigner, know your place!’”
A young man boards a plane, but he’s not travelling for business or pleasure, he’s being deported. As he fastens his seatbelt, his phone vibrates. Expecting a heartfelt parting message from friends, he instead reads a text from the UK Border Agency, wishing him farewell and a good journey.
In this story, Tyler Hill talks to sociologist Professor Les Back about his long-term project exploring how different people establish a sense of belonging in London.
Find out how technology makes us more connected and mobile than ever before, but is also implicated in increasingly sophisticated ways of separating us.
Chapter 5: “These who’re coming in now begrudge you…I dread to see what comes of it”
We’ve recently witnessed mainstream politicians in the UK using the language of biblical plagues where refugees become ‘swarms’ ready to sweep across the country from a camp in Calais known as ‘the Jungle’.
And we’ve seen the term ‘migrant’ become increasingly toxic under the burden of sensationalising headlines that the Prime Minister has been only too eager to evoke in the House of Commons.
Adela Earlington and Tom Hill collaborated with sociologist Dr Michaela Benson to explore the fundamental question ‘Who is a migrant?’ We hear from academics, students and older generations of migrants who reflect on this complex question in which their sense of self and belonging are bound.
New X Change is a new project, a collaboration between students and staff at Goldsmiths, telling the stories behind the research and practice that’s responding to some of the most urgent issues of our time
