Black and Asians occupy an increasingly prominent position within British society today and London is considered central to the multicultural imagination of Britain. This thesis leans away from the established Londoncentric discourses and shifts spotlight specifically to the Midlands, which occupies an equivalent, if differently significant status, in terms of its multicultural status. Hegemonic notions of the dominant status of London are thus contested through the peripheral focus. The project analyses some of the regional expressions of ‘Britishness’ by women in this region as articulated in literature, film and performing arts. Interdisciplinarity is at the core of this project as it not only engages in a fusion of various disciplines within the Arts, but also invokes disciplinary boundary crossing by forging links with the Social Sciences, Anthropology in particular. In the thesis, I have introduced the concept of the ‘Liminal Briton’, using the anthropological concept of ‘liminality’ to characterise the positioning of new generation multi-ethnic Britons in contemporary British society. I argue that the postcolonial critic Homi Bhabha’s much celebrated notion of ‘hybridity’ is not adequate in capturing the heterogeneity of new generation multi-ethnic Britons. I therefore propose a perspectival shift to ‘liminality’ as a more encompassing term to define the condition of these new generation black and Asian individuals, specifically women writers and artists in the Midlands. Informed by a discussion of migration into the Midlands and analysis of some of the dominant critical discourses in post 1980s Britain in the Introduction, each of the three main chapters focus on a specific genre. Chapter 1 explores how Asian women’s agency has been represented in literature and construction of the British Asian subject is manifested in the novels of Ravinder Randhawa and Meera Syal. The ‘liminal’ spectrum has been used to identify the multiple positioning of the women protagonists in the chosen novels. The focus of Chapter 2 is the genre of short stories where a selection of short stories are analysed from the anthologies Whispers in the Walls and Her Majesty. All of these stories are literary expressions of new generation black and Asian women in the Midlands and the landscape of the region features strongly in the stories. The chapter also involves a discussion of the crucial role played by regional presses with particular emphasis on Tindal Street Press, an independent regional publisher based in the Midlands. Chapter 3 entails an exploration of artistic expressions of women, focusing on film and performing arts. In this chapter I trace the development of black British film-making in the post 1980s before moving on to a discussion of Gurinder Chadha’s film Bhaji on the Beach where ‘liminal’ Britons recognize their ‘liminality’. The ‘liminal’ space of the theatre is also examined in this chapter along with the development black and Asian women’s theatre movements in Britain. The politics of regional artistic productions is investigated through the role of regional playhouses along with the debate on the furore surrounding the staging of Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s play Behzti. The important and enduring outcome of this regional production is highlighted in this section. The final section of this thesis is the Conclusion which draws together and reinforces the key arguments.

Since 2000, Glasgow has received thousands of asylum seekers, forcibly dispersed to the city through the implementation of the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act. Over the years, many of those individuals have organised into what have gone on to become formally constituted voluntary associations. This thesis explores the social meanings and lived realities of association life, and the nature of associational practices, as they emerge and develop over time amongst dispersed African asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow. Based upon fieldwork undertaken over a twenty-six month period involving participant-observation, the thesis locates members’ micro-level understandings, experiences, and definitions of associational life within the wider macro context of broader political, social and cultural change. In so doing, the thesis analyses the complex and differentiated ways in which associational lives are experienced, and explores their intersection with a wide range of collective and individual identities beyond those connected to migrant status and ‘refugeeness’. The thesis thus seeks to challenge dominant definitions of associational forms as ‘refugee community organisations’, arguing that these contribute to constraining groups within fixed boundaries, and to perpetuating their position as an ‘unsettled’ population. Moreover, it is argued that the focus on ‘refugeeness’ fails to attend to the combination of internal and external factors affecting association emergence and continuity. Combining perspectives from social theory on migrant and minority associations and social movements with an anthropological approach that integrates internal processes with external forces, the thesis presents nuanced accounts of solidarity and struggle within groups. In contrast to representations that construct asylum seeker and refugee-led associations as fixed in time and space and defined by migrant status, this thesis argues for an understanding of group life that is sensitive to the fluidity of social relations in multiple social contexts which change and evolve over time. This requires an analysis of both the conditions that encourage the founding of groups and of the factors which support or inhibit their continued existence, and is crucial to ‘moving beyond refugeeness’.

A conceptual framework, 'accountable bureaucratic capacity' is utilised to investigate the ability of local government to institutionalise collaborative urban upgrading measures in partnership with civil society organisations. The main argument is that the latter cannot contribute to sustainable development, democratisation or to protect citizens' rights in low-income neighbourhood without accountable representation from their side, a reciprocal and active representation from the citizens concerned, and an accountable public sector. The capacity of urban governance and the extent to which participatory initiatives can exploit the potential within existing structures and systems are examined. This examination allows an evaluation of how far a participatory project rated as 'good-practice' can enhance citizens' awareness of opportunities, political participation and local government performance, while building collaborative and institutionalised planning capacity. The research concludes that the sustainability of urban upgrading depends on the form of citizens' participation and the management styles of cities. Successful participation during an upgrading project may have 'transformative' potential to encourage citizens' political participation. If the citizens are not active, even though they reject the government's development agenda, or have to depend on 'informal' networks to provide their needs, they may be characterised as 'free-riders', who withdraw from urban governance and its collaborative decision-making processes. Legal recognition of squatter settlements is the first step required to institutionalise upgrading policies, particularly for indigenous or customary groups trying to survive in a world characterised by increasing interdependence and escalating threats to local ties. However, although this recognition strengthens a group's ability to negotiate and interact with non-group members, it may also have detrimental effects if it is not supported by additional legislation. Local government needs institutional reform and a strategic capacity-building programme to forge partnerships and the joint responsibility of the public and private sectors, as well as of civil society.

The Social Geography of Britain's 19th century towns and cities has tended to find its focus, with a few notable exceptions, in the larger English industrial towns. Residential differentiation and population mobility have been favourite them In contrast, this study is a broad based one highlighting smaller Scottish settlements over the 1861 to 1891 period. Residential differentiation and population mobility, at the mezo - rather than the micro-scale, are considered but so are the Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven were chosen as subjects, being spatially close and yet historically and industrially very different. Dumbarton, a Royal Burgh since 1222, industrialized very rapidly in the period considered here, in the second an The main primary source for this study has been the census enumerators books for the years 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891. The total sample consisting of 3,800 census families (400 from Dumbarton, 400 from the Vale of Leven for 1861; 500 from either After a consideration of previous work on 19th century towns, particularly that on residential differentiation and on migration (Chapters 2 and 3) local context is provided through use of the printed census reports for Dumbarton and the Vale of L Industrial and occupational structures are the subjects of Chapters 8, 9 and 10. A major contrast being the differing role of the sexes in the employed sector of each community. The changing social structure, through time and at either locationn In the industrializing West of Scotland population was very mobile. Migration was vital to the growth of industrial towns and it is a major theme here. Net inflows and outflows of `local' and `non-local' born adults are discussed in paral The Irish were the most distinct ethnic group from outwith the study area and its regional setting. Their reception, assimilation, migrational trends and their occupational and social structures are contrasted with those of the `nearby Scot Finally Chapters 16 and 17 examine residential differentiation by occupation, social status and ethnic group. Both within these chapters and in the concluding chapter (Chapter 18) attempts are made to separate the particular from the general

This study explores the contexts and learning experiences of a group of minority ethnic group learners as higher education students in the University of Dundee. The research serves a scoping purpose, aiming to examine the influences, values, attitudes, behaviours and policies that affect the learning experiences of these bilingual minority ethnic group students in the monocultural and monolingual Scottish educational system. An initial exploration of these factors lays the foundation for the further aim of appraising the ways in which ethnicity, cultural values and bilingualism contribute to the learning profile of such students. Quantitative data were obtained from public domain statistical records, and qualitative data from a pilot postal questionnaire, focus group meetings and single or paired interviews. Research literature underpinning and informing the study draws from various fields including anthropology, bilingual education, demography, cognitive psychology, education, language acquisition, linguistics and sociology. The voices of the students combine to provide a powerful commentary of their experiences and this gives rise to the emergence of several themes in this research. A key theme, the importance of identity, is one that is woven through this work. Changing emphases can be observed in the developing Ethnic, Academic and Global modes of Self as these mutate in response to tensions that arise for the students as they straddle the dichotomy of heritage and educational cultures. The difference that distinguishes resident bilinguals from dominant ethnic group students can be seen in their differing language profiles. Problematic aspects of learning at university can apply to all learners, but such difficulties seem to be accentuated in the case of resident bilinguals. The acquisition of academic literacies is one such problematic area and, while both resident bilingual and dominant ethnic group students can be challenged in these areas, this can be in subtly different ways.

In this interdisciplinary thesis I will be arguing that new configurations of state discrimination have outrun the vocabularies of liberal multiculturalism and secularism. These `majoritarianisms' are parasitic on the creeping foreclosure of secular spaces and identities from which emergent antiracist and antifascist struggles can be mounted. State multiculturalism in Britain and India has been instrumental in fertilising the sectarian soil in which the secular has decomposed. They have patronised cultural separateness only to make capital from the isolation of ethnic blocs from mainstream society by expressing exasperation at the reluctance of minorities to `integrate'. The faith and ethnic communities consolidated under the multiculturalist `management' of diversity have grown bereft of a political culture with which to interrogate the racist state. The privileging of cultural consciousness has been at the expense of political consciousness and an understanding of how discrimination cuts across cultural lines. The crisis of the secular is therefore simultaneously also a crisis of citizenship. The thesis opens with chapters that draw on sociological research and political commentary to assess the differing forms of majoritarianism and crises of citizenship in Britain and India respectively. In the third chapter I approach these issues through the prism of postcolonial theory using Gayatri Spivak's rehabilitation of responsibility as a collective right (2003) to arrive at a contemporary expression of political education. In the final two chapters I apply these principles to bring the multicultural and the secular into `productive crisis' in Indian and British contexts by circumventing the orthodox divisions that characterise intellectual approaches to anti-racism and antifascism. I argue that there is a role for a modified understanding of multiculturalism in the recovery of the secular. I conclude therefore that renewing secular culture is predicated on the Left's ability to reaffirm the reciprocity between political consciousness, citizenship and struggles for racial, ethnic and religious equality.

The key theoretical concern of this doctoral research is to trace the way in which Marx discovered and developed the determinations of the revolutionary subjectivity of the working class. In order to achieve this, a critical reading of Marx's 'early writings' from the perspective of his later works was carried out in the first part of the thesis. Specifically, the analysis attempted to find in both the insights and limitations of the former and clues towards the direction that Marx's later development would take. One of the original results of my reassessment of Marx's early work is to uncover the methodological significance of those texts for Marx's re-appropriation of Hegel's dialectical method and the consequent determination of social science as practical criticism. The second part of my investigation consists in a critical analysis of the ways in which these early insights crystallised in the writing of Capital. The aim of this critical reading of Marx's most important work is to provide a reconstruction which goes beyond traditional Marxist theories and their unresolved tension between the forms of objectivity and the forms of subjectivity of capitalist society. In particular, my thesis is that most readings of Marx tend to see revolutionary subjectivity as abstractly free and as the opposite of the subjectivity alienated in capital. My own investigation of Marx's critical theory aims to show that, for him, emancipatory subjectivity itself is a social form of the alienated subjectivity of the modern individual. I show that the genesis of that emancipatory subject can be found in the transformations in the materiality of social life brought about by the real subsumption of humanity to capital. Finally, the investigation attempts to thematise the intrinsic connection between these questions of subjectivity and Marx's dialectical method.

It was long assumed that both multiculturalism and feminism are connected to progressive movements and hence have comparable and compatible goals. However, both in academia and in popular media the critique on multiculturalism has grown and is often accompanied with arguments related to gender equality and/or feminism. According to political scientist Susan Moller Okin for example there are fundamental conflicts between our commitment to gender equality and the desire to respect the customs of minority cultures or religions. If we agree that women should not be disadvantaged because of their sex, she argues, we should not accept group rights that permit oppressive practices. Okin’s claims led to a complex and highly important debate both in academia and in public debates. The main aim of this thesis is to explore in depth the different discourses about multiculturalism and feminism and develop a more inclusive and nuanced redefinition of the relationship between multiculturalism and feminism. The focus of the analysis will be on the Netherlands, where the debate has been intense and paradigmatic of similar debates in most countries. The first part of the thesis explores the literature on multiculturalism and feminism, and discusses the importance of for instance intersectionality, the politics of location and situated knowledges for a better understanding of the debates. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to fieldwork. A preliminary media analysis is undertaken to analyse the main aspects of the public debate as they appear in the feminist magazine Opzij. On the basis of this analysis, a series of focus groups with women belonging to organisations that are considered stakeholders in the debate (e.g. feminist, religious, cultural or sub-cultural) is organised. The thesis provides a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between the concepts of multiculturalism and feminism. It argues that gender equality is often misused in islamophobic and anti-migration discussions, which also harms the position of minority women. Furthermore, it demonstrates that a more nuanced and inclusive interpretation of multiculturalism and feminism acknowledges the multiple layers of this debate, starts from intersectionality and includes critical accounts of secularism and religion, colonial history and subjectivity.

The UK 2008 Climate Change Act transferred a global policy issue into national legislation, establishing unprecedented targets for reducing emissions justified by scientific evidence. The Act prompted a question: could such stretching targets be achieved? This question is addressed through an embedded case study within the East Midlands region between 2010-2011. The research makes an original contribution to knowledge, taking an interpretive, decentred approach to subnational climate policy implementation, focusing on the policy meanings created and acted upon during the introduction of the Cameron Government’s austerity and localism agendas. These meanings are recovered using a mix of conversational interviews and meeting observations with policy actors. Subnational climate policy met significant challenges in being translated into action, being seen as peripheral to local policy concerns. Managers attempted to ‘embed’ climate policy within local authority practice, but were met with resistance and passivity stemming from climate policy’s diverse meanings amongst policy actors. Performance management was important in symbolising rational policy-making, rather than for its instrumental effectiveness. This briefly raised the priority of climate policy, but where locally compelling political arguments for implementation were absent, programmes became vulnerable to budget cuts. With stronger local arguments focusing on kindred policy areas such as fuel poverty and reducing local authorities’ own energy use, vulnerability was reduced. Localism brought such arguments into focus, as regional partnerships weakened and the National Indicators performance management framework was removed. Responses to these developments highlighted how perceptions of the location and flow of power contributed to meaning construction. The shift to kindred policy aims brings into question the plausibility of climate change targets predicated on scientific evidence rather than local policy meanings. The endurance of local climate policy is explained as a policy myth, enabling short term continuity with the promise of longer term change.

China is experiencing a dramatically increasing process of rural-urban migration, which is almost parallel with the phenomenal economic growth and development in China in the last decades. Given the massive scale of rural-urban migration in China, the health services access and health constraints not only matter to rural-urban migrants but also have important implications for broad public health concerns. However, this issue has not been paid enough attention in academic research. This study focuses on the multifaceted reality of health constraints and health services access among migrants by originally exploring the social strata, social networks, and the understanding of health and health services among migrants. The research questions are stated as follows: What constraints and difficulties do migrants face with respect to their health and health services access? Is there a hierarchical structure in health services access and medical treatment access among migrants? When there is a shortage of financial resources, do they resort to informal social support (such as informal social networks/ guanxi) to obtain help and why? What are their understanding and experience of health and why? Furthermore, this study investigates the health constraints and health services access of rural-urban migrants in the absence of equal social protection by the government. By conducting 36 qualitative interviews in Dengcun Village, a migrant community in Beijing, China, this paper: (1) Investigates issues concerning environmental health risks of migrants, their health seeking behaviours, and the constraints they encountered in accessing health services with respect to the social strata among migrants. It argues that the main obstacles to access health services are not only the shortage of financial resources among rural-urban migrants, but also lie in the institutional blindness regarding health security provision, rural-urban dualism and the household registration system in China. (2) Highlights the key function that social networks play in health and health services access among migrants in China, which has rarely been discussed in previous studies. Examines the range of social networks among migrants, from which they can acquire support, including financial and spiritual, when they are dealing with health problems. The study argues that social networks resemble a double-edged sword to rural-urban migrants in terms of health care access. The fact that migrants lack savings may not be the sole and essential reason for their extreme vulnerability in times of illness. Some migrants, who are in financial difficulties though, may have some assistance, including financial support and emotional support from their social networks. However, on the other hand, the assistance from social networks on their health and heath care access is limited, not only because their social networks is limited, but because the social networks should not bear the responsibility to support health services access of migrants, similar to or more than the state and migrants' employers. (3) Discusses the understanding of health among migrants, and further analyses that although many migrants have not formed proper understanding of the connotation of health and have limited knowledge of health, prime responsibility should not be put on the migrants because their poor understanding of health mainly results from their rural perspective while health and health services access depend on the social-economic environment in which they live and work.