Tag: Sociology

Podcast : Wobbles on the Cobbles: Hak Baker talks to Les Back about G Folk and East London Life

February 7, 2022

In this edition of Street Signs, Les Back talks to musician Hak Baker about the power of songs as a way of understanding city life.  There are so many songs about London.  They are often the voice of hope and the demand for something else.  And just like Hak Baker’s tales from the Isle of Dogs, these songs frequently … More Podcast : Wobbles on the Cobbles: Hak Baker talks to Les Back about G Folk and East London Life

Urban Etiquette, a research postcard, by Alex Rhys Taylor

January 11, 2022

When I first decided to look at urban etiquette as a research object in early 2019, it was largely because academics and serious public commentators hadn’t really paid urban etiquette the attention it deserved. At no point in living memory had urban etiquette been rightfully recognised as the fulcrum upon which global urbanised society rests. … More Urban Etiquette, a research postcard, by Alex Rhys Taylor

Sounds of Sirens By Elisabeth Field 

October 12, 2021

If sound shapes the mood of a city, how is our mood shaped by the sounds we hear?  Sound plays a vital role in our experiences, as we rely on aural symbols and signposts to navigate the unseen, the unusual and the unexpected. In doing so, these noises can lead us to fun, and to fear. Sound can guide us to safety without us even listening.  It can … More Sounds of Sirens By Elisabeth Field 

Time to Get Up Stand Up and Stop Taking The Knee

July 18, 2021

by Prof William Lez Henry   London July 12, 2021  You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Abraham Lincoln  So now we see the light; what you gonna do?   We gonna stand up for our rights.   Oh, you better Get … More Time to Get Up Stand Up and Stop Taking The Knee

Urban Tree Festival by Peter Coles

May 19, 2021

Peter Coles, was one of four tree-lovers who set up the first Urban Tree Festival in London In 2018.  The aim was to fill a gap left when the Mayor’s Office switched its funding from a Tree Week in May to the London National Park City venture.    Back in 2018 we managed to crowdfund a little bit of money and charged a small amount for walks and talks, with the four … More Urban Tree Festival by Peter Coles

‘You Never Step in the Same River Twice’: a conversation about the power of music, cultural exceptionalism and identity with songwriter Kris Drever by Les Back

February 26, 2021

In the last edition of Streetsigns podcast we heard about the Vox Liminis project based in Glasgow that uses creative practices and song writing to help prisoners make sense of leaving prison and coming home.    In this edition we meet the award-winning Orcadian songwriter Kris Drever who is part of the Vox Liminis project and … More ‘You Never Step in the Same River Twice’: a conversation about the power of music, cultural exceptionalism and identity with songwriter Kris Drever by Les Back

Field Notes from Self Isolation by Virginia Bertelli

February 15, 2021

Introduction : Crafting an attentiveness to the unspoken rhythms and textures of life is sociology’s most important gift to understanding cities. It’s noticing those remarkable things that often go unremarked upon and finding ways to record and honour what would otherwise be lost. As cities have emptied during the pandemic and citizens remain confined to … More Field Notes from Self Isolation by Virginia Bertelli

Field Notes: connecting with older generations at a distance during COVID-19 by Robin Skyer

February 1, 2021

Introduction : Crafting an attentiveness to the unspoken rhythms and textures of life is sociology’s most important gift to understanding cities. It’s noticing those remarkable things that often go unremarked upon and finding ways to record and honour what would otherwise be lost. As cities have emptied during the pandemic and citizens remain confined to … More Field Notes: connecting with older generations at a distance during COVID-19 by Robin Skyer

Such a Gas, Gas, Gas by Alex Rhys Taylor

July 22, 2020

It’s 6.00am on Tuesday morning in the car park of a redbrick housing estate in Tower Hamlets. An empty bay is strewn with over fifty small, metallic gas canisters along with three flaccid party balloons, an empty packet of Capri Sun and a crushed bottle of Lilt. Everything empty. Before they were emptied, each small cannister had contained 8 grams of highly pressurised nitrous oxide. Later that day, Rosie Duffield MP appeared in … More Such a Gas, Gas, Gas by Alex Rhys Taylor

“Privatising Justice: The Security Industry, War and Crime Control” A book launch with Jennifer Fleetwood.

June 26, 2020

Book launch : Privatising Justice: The Security Industry, War and Crime Control by Wendy Fitzgibbon (University of Leicester) and John Lea (Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths).   On the 28th May 2020, we celebrated the publication of ‘Privatising justice: The Security Industry, War and Crime Control’ by Wendy Fitzgibbon (University of Leicester) and John Lea (Visiting … More “Privatising Justice: The Security Industry, War and Crime Control” A book launch with Jennifer Fleetwood.