One year as a Chevening Scholar at Northumbria

Computer with books arrayed in front of it such as 'Dead Aid'
My desk at Northumbria

Sangita Thapa, recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship, reflects on her year at Northumbria, pursuing an MSc in International Development

Time flies. Feels like just a couple of months but one year has passed in beautiful England. I received a Chevening Scholarship 2015/16 to pursue MSc in International Development at Northumbria University in Newcastle. I am deeply honoured and proud to be the one among the 1800 future leaders globally and truly appreciate this wonderful opportunity. I have completed my course this fall and although I can’t wait to go home, I’m awash with a strange mix of emotions to leave Newcastle. I did not anticipate this odd pain. Never imagined I’d be in love with a place that was so alien, distant and merely cold, just a year back.

The MSc International Development course has enriched my understanding into the debates and discourse around the contemporary international development issues such as global poverty, inequality, sustainable development and geo-politics of development. I experienced a sea of difference in academic as well as personal development within one year. For me, this study-abroad experience is valuable not only in terms of the academic insights or the degree I earned but also in terms of the practicality to deal with and adapt to the diverse situations, circumstances and people. The experience has been deeply positive and enriching, which I’m sure, will continue shaping my perceptions, experiences and learning in future.

My knowledge and skills have definitely been refined by this intensive course. My understanding on how Northern charities function is enhanced through the volunteering experience in a local charity. At times, the demanding and rigorous academic culture would get me really weary and sick but at the other end of the spectrum, I thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating environment of learning. The benefits far outweighed any momentary discomfort. The support and encouragement of my tutors, library and the department staffs were extremely positive. Equally stunning was my experience of different people, culture and multiple ideas and experiences stemming from the multicultural and cosmopolitan environment of Northumbria where there is a vibrant community of international students. Northumbria has a learning-focused, research-intensive and intellectually nurturing environment apart from having an excellent state of the art facilities such as an extensive library collection and the finest sports centre for its students.

I absolutely love Newcastle. It is a beautiful amalgam of a vivacious city life and the serenity of a countryside with breath-taking natural settings within short distances from the centre. The city is very safe for international students. Living in Newcastle is definitely not cheap but if you are prepared to study in the UK, it is not expensive either. At the end of my journey, I’m thrilled to go home and face challenges awaiting. This one year constitutes one of the best experiences I have ever had. I am grateful to Chevening for this truly amazing experience.

Sussex University: The Education and Justice System are Failing Women

Photo of 'Feminism: Back by popular demand' demonstration in Newcastle at Grey's Monument

 

Lizi Gray, final year Sociology student and Feminist activist, examines intimate partner violence and the role of the education and justice systems:

 

So many of you will have read about the horrific situation at Sussex University where senior lecturer Dr Lee Salter was allowed to continue teaching until media inquiries began coming in about him. The inquiries were made regarding his relationship with a student and the abuse she faced from him. When I saw this I doubt I was alone in my first reaction containing liberal use of expletives; therefore, this is an edited version of my first reaction. It made me sick to my stomach. I cried with anger. I screamed in frustration. 

 

 It’s 2016, why was this allowed to happen?

 

 Salter received a six-month sentence, suspended for eight, and given the extent of her injuries it further added to the confusion I had about this case. He was in a position of power both inside and outside of the classroom, he actively made the choice to abuse this power, he actively made the choice to abuse Allison Smith. A six-month sentence that he will most likely not serve doesn’t even put a dent in justice for her. 

 

 Something else that occurred to me though, while reading about similar cases, is how prevalent a trend this is. Campaigns by police encouraging people to come forward and report domestic violence, politicians making promises that there will be help and support for victims and survivors; when cases like this make headlines – they only make up a small fraction of cases of domestic violence – it cuts through this rhetoric and exposes those promises for the lip service they are. We are angry, extremely angry, that a) in the 21st century we still have to protest the injustice victims face and b) a higher education institute, a place of learning, somewhere that is meant to be progressive and at the forefront of fighting against these issues enabled an abuser. They allowed him to teach in an environment with potentially vulnerable young people, where he has easy access to young people to manipulate and exploit. And to pour salt in the wound? They are paying nine grand a year for this.

 

The Education System

 

 By keeping him on with a violent criminal conviction they are sending a message to (mostly) women students that higher education is not a place for them. That their fees are being used to keep him there, allowing the university to say “look at what a good lecturer we have, your safety is secondary to us being able to show him off”. Myself and others who have been involved with Student Union campaigns against intimate partner violence and domestic violence, through our institutions and nationally through the NUS, are blue in the face and sick to the back teeth of shouting about this as an issue; yet normally we focus on on-campus, student-against-student violence. But violence from a lecturer against a student is a new one for many of us. It took 3,000 people signing a petition for the university to finally cave and for Salter to lose his job.

 

 Think of it this way: if they had been ‘just friends’, or ‘just student and teacher’, and he committed the acts he did against here what would the public reaction be? What would the judicial reaction be? Would he be behind bars for grievous bodily harm? Quite possibly. Would the university have kept him as a lecturer? Definitely not. He would be a risk to students. Oh wait… But because they were in an intimate relationship did that make it less serious? The old approach of ‘a private matter’, ‘a lovers’ tiff’? This is by no stretch of the imagination me placing any blame on Allison because she was in a relationship with a lecturer, this is a shocked reaction that the charge was likely a lesser one because they were intimately involved.

 

The (In)Justice System

 

 This brings me onto part two, primarily about his sentence. It also goes back to 2014 when I was assaulted by a man on the Metro, along with several others he attacked that day. The case came to court in May 2015 (swift justice anybody?). For a month spent doped up on painkillers for the shoulder injury I received, what were probably hundreds of calls to the police to see how the case was progressing, and a fear of using the Metro alone which still stands to this day, myself and the others he injured received £50 compensation each. He received a fine and probation. We received trauma and anger. He is free, more so than the lasting effects have left me feeling.

 

 In my second year of university I took a module called Gender, Crime and Justice; the content covered everything from women as victims of crime to women who commit crimes, the types of crimes, and the punishments they receive. The course was taught by Pam Davies, she’s extremely experienced in the field of gender and the criminal justice service, it was one of my favourites of the year. What left me gobsmacked was the types of crimes women tend to be prosecuted and imprisoned for. The most recent statistics reveal that women make up less than 5% of the total UK prison population (3,898 out of 85,188 in August 2016). While these figures erase Trans* and Non-Binary offenders it does show the staggering difference in prison population makeup. Fraud, theft and drug charges make up the most common types of offences committed by women in prison;only 19% of women in prison are there for violent crimes. 

 

 Could somebody please justify to me how there are over 3,000 women in prison for non-violent crimes, yet men like Lee Salter are allowed – by law – to continue having their freedom? Now some might argue that the media backlash against him, losing his job may indicate that he’s lost some of his freedom, despite not being in prison. But really? He is an abuser who is allowed to carry on roaming the streets, having the freewill and agency that he wouldn’t behind bars, and not living in fear of, well, people like himself.

 

Brexit, young people, mixed messages and making sense of the world.

George Stobbart, PhD Candidate, provides some reflections on the Brexit aftermath and its implications:

Photo of young person with EU face paint -- blue with yellow stars

Immediate conclusions provided by media analysts suggest the referendum result is a reflection of the anti-immigration views of older generation, or poor working class areas disenfranchisement with the political class. However, the reality of these post-Brexit arguments is speculative, given the lack of time and reflective space to embark on academic research. What existing evidence does find is the post-Brexit increase in the number of reported racially motivated hate crimes of ’celebratory racism’ 1.

Yougov’s analysis of the polls showed 73% of 18 – 24 year olds voted to remain in the EU2. Therefore, the notion that young people are more pro-immigration and less likely to be influenced by racist discourse is a view worthy of further investigation. However, what I seek to examine is how the mix of Brexit discourse alongside existing policy and practice adds further complexity for young people making sense of the world.

There is a powerful argument for the idea that ‘inclusive attitudes’ within our younger people are driven by two interlinking but different forces: full-on engagement with social media that has no regard for borders, and a wide choice of social media sources in which young people mostly exclude traditional news sites such as the tabloids and television news channels. Whilst political leaders seek the endorsement of Rupert Murdock, this has little relevance with young people who have a reduced exposure to the anti-immigration tabloid headlines compared to older people.

The day to day responsibility for promoting cohesion and anti-racism to young people, and challenging exclusionary attitudes, albeit in the classroom, rest’s firmly with education providers such as individual schools, colleges universities and informal education providers such as the youth service. The ethos of these providers is represented in their mission statements which are mostly underpinned by equality and diversity. I would also argue that this is driven by a profession that is firmly committed to this ethos through day to day practice.

The requirement of schools to promote British Values, reinforces an existing inclusive agenda, including values of: ‘mutual respect’ and ‘tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs’. Ironically, British Values, in the policy sense, is born out of the prevention of Muslims communities taking control of school governing bodies (The Trojan Horse effect <sup>3</sup>) a strategy that is arguably underpinned by Islamophobia. Meanwhile, the ‘Prevent Strategy’ brings tensions to education providers in which they have a duty under the Counter Terrorism and Security Act (2015) to prevent young people being drawn into terrorism, which in essence places Muslim young people under surveillance.

Outside the school gates, austerity economics and the demand to quantify unmeasurable outcomes has resulted in the near non-existent youth work provision in working class areas. Given that some working class areas rejected ‘remain’, perhaps due to disenfranchisement, anti-immigration sentiment and racism, we cannot dismiss racism exists within our young people. Nor can we dismiss family attitudes and values passed between generations, or dismiss the disenfranchisement between working class young people and the political class. The danger is that symbolic and physical racism within Brexit discourse may reinforce the concept of ‘parallel lives’ <sup>4</sup>, whereby we live beside each other but separately within the safety and values of our own diaspora, both in the physically and virtual worlds. Communities that feel under attack from outside, retreat into their own world. Self-segregation by choice.

No matter how hard the educational institutions promote inclusion and anti-racism, it is difficult to make an impact on exclusionary factors beyond education’s gates. There is a raft of literature that theorise how young people struggle to make sense of the world they live. Brexit provides further mixed and toxic messages that can only add uncertainty to young people of all races and ethnicities in an increasing self-segregated world.

About the author: “My research examines the integration of asylum seeker and refugee children and their contribution to community cohesion;  based on an interest from 30 years as a practitioner in the youth service and in schools.”

References:
1. Institute of Race Relations. http://www.irr.org.uk/news/post-brexit-racism/ accessed 8/7/16.
2. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36616028 accessed 4/07/16
3. Clark. P, (2014) Report into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from the ‘Trojan Horse’, London, The Stationary Office. http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/20549/1/Report_into_allegations_concerning_Birmingham_schools_arising_from_the_Trojan_Horse_letter-web.pdf accessed 11/07/16
4. Cantle. T (2004) The End of Parallel Lives? Final Report of the Community Cohesion Panel, London, Home Office

Why do busy people need allotments?

Dr Abigail Schoneboom and photographer Julian May launch photo exhibit at Newcastle City Library that provokes reflection on work-life boundaries.

People are working longer hours, yet many add an allotment to their busy schedule, with waiting lists of 30 years in parts of the UK. Dr Schoneboom’s research project looks at how and why allotments are intertwined with contemporary working lives. It reveals how allotments provide access to dilated, unstructured time; an opportunity to engage in physical, sensual labour; and a space to do work that is tangible, creative and self-directed: experiences that are valued and jealously guarded even in the face of extreme time scarcity. Allotments also help in the transition to retirement, providing a sense of productivity and community outside of paid employment.

Acknowledging the historic connection between allotments and working people, the study and exhibit are inspired by Humphrey Spender’s photos of Northumbrian pitmen on their allotments. Spender’s images simultaneously remind us of the harshness of mining culture and the resilient creativity it sparked.

The photographic part of the study, at two allotment sites in an affluent area of Newcastle Upon Tyne, drew on six months fieldwork at a family plot and 35 conversations on plots, which culminated in a three-day collaborative photo-shoot with photographer Julian May.  Portraits focused away from the face protect anonymity while drawing our attention to the work of the body.

Alongside the exhibition, which took place in early June, Matty Hall , Funding Officer (Newcastle Allotments Working Group) and local Historian researched information related to the 1917 – 2017 Allotments Centenary and displayed some interesting historical materials related to allotments in Newcastle, which created a useful juxtaposition between gardening past and present.

…the study and exhibit are inspired by Humphrey Spender’s photos of Northumbrian pitmen on their allotments. Spender’s images simultaneously remind us of the harshness of mining culture and the resilient creativity it sparked.

For information on the project, contact: abigail.schoneboom@northumbria.ac.uk The exhibit was made possible by Newcastle Allotments Working Group and was facilitated by Allotment Officer Mark Todd. The project was originally made possible by pump prime funding from The York Management School. The exhibit was dedicated to Peter Horrocks.

Seeing Sociologically Contest 2016

Seeing Sociologically Contest 2016

This year’s Seeing Sociologically contest produced some impressive entries from undergraduate students in the sociology programme. We asked students to use their sociological imagination to provide a photo which captures a sociological view, represents a sociological idea or a way of seeing sociologically, along with a caption that explains what the image means to them. Students responded imaginatively and creatively, applying their sociological imaginations to the world around them. The judges – Professor of Media at Northumbria University, Karen Ross and Dr Abby Schoneboom from the Department of Social Sciences – deliberated long and hard over the thought-provoking entries. They commended all of the entries but first prize was awarded to Dionne Smith for her image The Daily Grind and the runner-up was Matthew Rowan for his image Before the Beauty.

The images and text provided by the students are shown below:

Dionne Smith (1st Prize)

The Daily Grind – Shields Road in Bykersmith_shields_road_1000.jpg
Sociology for me is the hidden and obscured, whether the structures that bind agency or the hidden world and lives behind the obvious. It is the lives that lie obscured by perfect adverts of a polished world. It is the anger bubbling under the surface of the ‘everyday’; the acceptance of poverty and the ‘daily grind’ of the world obscured purposefully from the limelight.

I think most understanding of society can be found by leaving the city centre to the outlying areas and seeing people living their everyday lives in the areas that don’t get photographed as they paint a different and less appealing view of modern society.

Finally, sociology gives me an understanding of my own life and the decisions I have made. So, this photo shows my neighbourhood with shuttered failed businesses, and pawn shops preying on the poor. It shows the lives of people like me, continuing their own ‘daily grind’.

 

Mathew Rowan (Runner-up)

Before the beauty: Elmina, Ghana.Seeing SociologyWhat may at first appear as a beautiful sunset on the south coast of Ghana is actually painting a vivid picture of the reality of life within the Global South. The rocky outcrop? This is no rock; this is the means by which many unfortunate women and children must scour in order to make ends meet.  If you take a closer look you will notice that the ‘rocky outcrop’ is actually a dumping ground for commercial and industrial waste with people rummaging through to find recyclable materials to be exchanged for a mere tuppence – the harsh reality.

Catherine Goodall

goodall_paris_street.jpgThis is a picture I took when I was in Paris on a college trip in March 2015. The image shows a global brand in a street that was also filled with traditional French buildings and shops. For me this image sums up what Sociology is about because in society today there is a mixture of traditional and modern ideas being combined. Postmodern thinkers in sociology believe that individuals have the ability to choose between traditional and modern aspects of society, for example you can shop in places like Mac but there is also the opportunity to buy products from traditional market stalls. However, this change could be negative as globalisation has meant that huge global brands like Mac are becoming more significant and taking over from smaller businesses; in modern times there is a ‘consumer culture’ which is taking away the traditional aspect of people’s lives.

 

Charlotte Glendinning

Unsustainable consumptionglendinning_unsustainable_1000.jpg
Consumption has become an important aspect of society which we use to form our identity, and is seen as a route to personal happiness, social status and success. Unsustainable consumption of clothing uses a disproportionate amount of the Earth’s natural resources and is having detrimental effects upon the environment, especially with regard to water usage which is expected to exceed the supply by 30% in 15 years. The clothing industry uses an excessive amount of water as cotton alone uses 2.6% of the world’s water supply and the waste product causes poor water quality, water shortages and pollution. Despite legislation existing to tackle the environmental costs, it is flawed in its lack of understanding of the complexity of the processes involved. It is imperative climate change is tackled as the effects of a deteriorating environment will result in mass migration of people from areas which are hit hardest from climate change. While the global north is not expected to experience severe consequences due to climate change, the unsustainable consumption to gain social status has contributed to the deterioration of the Earth’s environment and means we have a social responsibility to respond to this social problem.

Charlotte Nisbet

This picture demonstrates how I see society sociologically. I wanted to capture the key nisbet_bridges.jpgdifferent elements along the Quayside and how they impact on the visual dynamic of Newcastle.

For myself the bridges show the different time periods, which have passed and how they impacted the landscape. For example the Tyne Bridge is a domineering force on the water, which can be seen from far and wide. Personally I can use this as a metaphor for society, as the large infrastructures dominate and rule this shows that people do not necessarily have the power over their own environment.

In addition as the Tyne Bridge is a symbol of cultural heritage of Newcastle, it often goes unnoticed by everyday people, I would symbolise this as that often we don’t see what is straight in front of us as it is so internalized it becomes a product of human nature.

Joe Mcintyre

Floods
mcintyre_floods_1000.jpgThe recent floods have highlighted more than simply a lack of preparation or an overly-naive government; these recent floods have illustrated the continuous struggle of the North/South divide. Though we’re led to believe that society is becoming more and more equal, as long as our government persists to deprive the North of attention society’s inequalities will continue uninterrupted. The North/South divide has featured for years in our country and illustrates a clear class divide, it would be fascinating to have seen the reaction to floods had they hit more economically affluent areas of the south; furthermore the likelihood of the government cutting funds to flood defences would be significantly lower. As long as the Conservatives remain in power the divide will continue to grow as they mirror the tyranny of Thatcher during her destructive years in power.

Dr Abigail Schoneboom