Research projects
Diasporic Pathways for Aspiring Cosmopolitan Cities
Funded by: cities@manchester, Faculty of Humanities, School of Social Sciences and in kind support from the School of Languages, Linguistic and Cultures
The aim of this project is to explore the ways migrants and people of migrant background form social spaces that extend beyond borders but simultaneously create within cities opportunities and practices of openness, a rooted or situated cosmopolitanism. We also examine whether, and if so, how city developers and leaders in Manchester understand and portray Manchester as cosmopolitan. We are interested in how city developers and leaders understand the role of persons of migrant background within portrayals and branding of Manchester. In addition, the research will analyse how the cultural beliefs and practices of persons of migrant background are represented and understood within the city’s public spaces. More information.
Adi Kuntsman Digital Horizons of Humanitarianism
Funded by: Simon Research
Fellowship. Addressing mediated horizons of violence, conflict and cosmopolitan anxieties, this project maps the ways digital media can shape our affective responses to wars, dehumanisation and death and facilitate possibilities of ‘human mutuality and cosmopolitan democracy’ (Gilroy 2000:7).
Climate Justice, Science and Refugees
Funded by: Manchester Beacon
This pilot projects responds to the fact that increasing numbers of people in the UK disbelieve scientific statements that climate change has a significant anthropogenic component. In the context of a participatory video project refugees and migrants living in Manchester counter climate scepticism with their personal knowledge of the alterations in daily life in place around the world including Sri Lanka, Eritrea, and Poland because of climate change. At the same time they provide local knowledge and concern for homeland cultures they speak authoritatively about their concern for the planet and their aspirations for an equitable future for all its inhabitants. Project Partners include Virtual Migrants, the Manchester Refugee Support Network and the Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures. More details.
Claire Bullen European Everyday cosmopolitanism in Liverpool and Marseilles
Funded by: Cultural Policy Research Award
The aim of this project is to explore whether - despite distinct national policies about migrant incorporation and identity - patterns of everyday cosmopolitanism involving people of different backgrounds may be developing in neighbourhoods of Liverpool, UK and Marseilles, France.
Nina Glick Schiller Refugee Resettlement in New Hampshire: Pathways and Barriers in Building Community
Funded by: James H. Hayes and Claire Short Hayes Professorship and the University of New Hampshire Presidential Excellence Fund. More details
Gillian Evans 2013 and Beyond: the Olympic legacy in the East End of London. Full Details.