Research projects
Finding the way home: Young People, Community, Safety and Racial Danger (1996-1998)
Research Team
Les Back
Phil Cohen
Michael Keith
Background
There is currently a great deal of concern about issues of racial harassment
and public safety. The mass media frequently carry sensational stories about
street crime and violence with strong racial overtones. At the same time there
has been considerable criticism of policies designed to tackle the problem by
the police and local authorities, for their failure to win the support of the
communities most directly concerned.
In many of these scenarios, young people are portrayed as the chief victims or
perpetrators of racial violence, but they are rarely credited with having a positive
and proactive role to play in defining and implementing programmes for improving
community safety. Moreover, little is known in detail about how different groups
of young people make sense of the racialised environments in which they are growing
up, or about the effect of particular interventions designed to improve youth
and community relations.
In this project we were setting out to provide a more informed basis upon which
new initiatives in this field could be developed.
Aims and Objectives
To contribute to the general understanding of processes of identity formation amongst young adolescents growing up in multiracial areas to make a substantive analysis of issues of race and urban policy as these impact on the lived experience of young people to evaluate specific practices for dealing with young victims or perpetrators of racial violence to help develop a new proactive approach to working around issues of racial danger and safety with young people living in high risk areas to provide educationalists and race professionals with materials for in-service training.
About the Project
The study was carried out in two dockland districts of London and involved working with a targeted sample of 13 and 14 year olds. The research methods were designed as a learning process for the young people, exploring issues of race and community safety through various forms of self representation; group discussion; and exchange visits culminating in a Summer Arts Project. A separately funded study using a similar framework was simultaneously carried out by The Institute of Racism and Migration Research in Hamburg. Data from the two projects was compared in order to establish factors affecting the degree and type of racialisation of adolescent identities in the two countries.
Dissemination
The findings were made available in a variety of forms:
- a series of research papers
- seminars, workshops and an end of project conference
- an audiovisual exhibition based on material produced by young people
- a teaching pack for general educational use and in-service training
Funding and Accountability
The project was funded for two years by the Economic and Social Research Council. It was managed jointly by the New Ethnicities Unit at the University of East London and the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths, University of London.
The Project Team
The project team was supported by user groups with representatives from
schools, youth projects, and community safety schemes in the two study
areas. A series of Briefing Papers resulting from the project have now
been published and are available from CNER at the University of East London.
Phil Cohen
Centre for New Ethnicities Research
University of East London
Longbridge Road
Dagenham, Essex RM8 2AS
E-mail p.a.cohen@uel.ac.uk
Michael Keith
Centre for Urban and Community Research
Goldsmiths, University of London
E-mail m.keith (@gold.ac.uk)