Freedom, Oppression, Sacrifice: Chronicles from the Italian Lock Down (Part two)

I want to buy a car. I want my freedom back. Freeeee! The government has announced a softening of the lockdown. People can move now within their region. The radio clarifies that social distancing still needs to be maintained, it has become part of our ‘new normality’. Wear masks, keep distance, don’t hug, stand in …

We will not tolerate any form of abuse: Reconstructing disability assessments and surveillance post-Covid

This blog was written in collaboration and conversation with a friend, who would prefer to remain anonymous.  We will not tolerate any form of abuse… I started reading the sign in the waiting room of the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments. Back before the Covid-19 lockdown I was waiting with a friend for an …

Home is where the front door is: Corona homemaking in the UK

“Stay at home”, the government tells us. The message is everywhere: Spotify adverts, and messages on people’s homes, businesses’ windows, and Facebook walls. Every time I read it or hear it, there is a shooting of fear down to my stomach. As Carter, Green, and Speed point out, it is a difficult, and somewhat ironic, …

We’re back!

Good News. Disruptiveinequalities.com is back - we are relaunching our blog. Given our own mobility and involvement with other national contexts our future accounts will also involve stories of banal inequalities and everyday resistances that we find in other parts of the world. Whilst our ethnographic explorations began in London, we are excited about taking …

Voiceless Latinx. Domestic Violence, Socioeconomic Precarity and the Monolingualism of London’s Police Apparatus

This month we have a contribution from educator and thinker, Arnaldo. He currently teaches in London where he also researches and writes about the London Latinx community.  It is my first time in a London police station.  My nerves are crackling like water on hot grease, however, on the surface I am stoic.  I have the impression …

The white-guy portraits on the wall: universities are defined by social exclusion

This is a guest contribution from Kathleen Painter who is currently a MA student at UCL Institute of Education. Settling into my seat in the corner of this conference room in one of the world’s most prestigious universities, I feel the room’s densely historical ambience with its high ceilings, weighty dark wood conference table, and …

Making Happy Job Seekers – Precarity and Emotional Resilience

Don’t call them unemployed, please. The charity’s management invited me to East London to talk about their employability programmes. Don’t call them unemployed, repeats one of the managers. I have only recently taken over my position as a lecturer in London, having previously lived and worked elsewhere in Europe. I am not accustomed with the …