Goldsmiths - University of London

Dr Ben Gidley BA MA PhD

Ben is a Research Fellow at CUCR, working mainly on projects around local communities, regeneration and new forms of democracy. In 2002, he completed a doctorate in Sociology entitled "Citizenship and Belonging: East London Jewish Radicals 1903-1918", examined by Paul Gilroy and Max Silverman.

Current academic interests

Refugees and migrants, Jewish culture, anti-racism, popular music, alternative London histories, cultures of class

Selected publications

• With Alison Rooke, "Asdatown: The intersections of classed places and identities" in Yvonne Taylor, Our Working-Class Lives: Classed Connections and Intersections, London: Ashgate (forthcoming 2009)
• "Deptford? Regeneration?" in Adnan Hadzi, ed, Deptford.TV diaries II - Pirate Strategies. London: OpenMute (2008)
• with Geraldine Blake and others, Community engagement and community cohesion, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, June 2008. ISBN 9781859356609. Full report (PDF format - 285KB). Summary Findings (PDF format - 99KB)
• with Alison Rooke. Learning from the Local: The Newtown Neighbourhood Final Report (PDF format). London: Goldsmiths: April 2008.
• with Imogen Slater. Beyond The Numbers Game (PDF format). Inclusion Through Media, December 2007.
• with Jean Anastacio, Lorraine Hart, Michael Keith and Marjorie Mayo, Reflecting Realities: Participants’ Perspectives On Integrated Communities And Sustainable Development 2000, Bristol: The Policy Press
• “Ghosts of Kishinev in the East End” in Nadia Valman and Dr Eitan Bar-Yosef, eds, The ‘Jew’ in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Culture: Between the East End and East Africa Palgrave (2008)
• “Lights, Camera, Action!: Understanding the value of participatory media” Tony Dowmunt, Mark Dunford and Nicole van Hemmert and Nick Cauldry, eds, Inclusion Through Media, Goldsmiths (2007)
• “Youth Culture and Ethnicity: Emerging Youth Multiculture in South London” Paul Hodkinson and Wolfgang Deicke, eds, Youth Cultures: Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes, Routledge Advances in Sociology series (2007)
• “Sure Start: an upstream approach to reducing health inequalities?” in Angela Scriven and Sebastian Garman, eds, Public Health: Social context and action, Open University Press (2007)
• “Historical and Archival Methods” in Clive Seale, ed, Researching Society and Culture, Second Edn 2004, London: Sage
• with Mick Gidley “Ideas of the Native American South” in The Blackwell Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American South edited by Richard Gray and Owen Robinson, 2004 (paperback 2007), Oxford: Blackwell
• “Ghetto Radicalism: The Jewish East End” in Keith Harris, editor, New Voices Volume Two October 1999, London: Limmud Publications
• with Jean Anastacio, Lorraine Hart, Michael Keith and Marjorie Mayo, Integrated Communities and Sustainable Regeneration: Building Community Perspectives into Evaluation and Training: Interim Report, 1998, London: Goldsmiths College 
• “Angels, Fragments and Ruins in London’s East End” in Stephen Dobson, ed, The Urban Pedagogy of Walter Benjamin. Lessons for the 21st Century Part III CUCR Occasional Paper [], 2002, London: Goldsmiths College
• The Proletarian Other: Charles Booth and the Politics of Representation CUCR Occasional Paper [pdf], 2000, London: Goldsmiths College
• “Social theory, the left and terror” Street Signs, Autumn issue 2007 [pdf] (pp.27-28)
• “Local knowledge for local solutions” ARVAC Bulletin 93, August 2004
• “Zygmunt Bauman’s City” (1000 words) Street Signs, Vol. 1, Issue 6, Spring 2004 [pdf] (pp.22-23)
• “Passages Through Dark Times” Street Signs, Vol. 1, Issue 5, Spring 2003 [pdf] (pp.18-19)
• “Tragedy of Middle East is nationalism in all its forms” Reuters AlertNet May 2002

Selected conference and seminar papers

• "Urban Youth Citizenship" Signs of the City: Young People’s Photographic Imaginary of the European Metropolis, Goethe Institute, London, October 2008
• with Sue Lelliot, “Reaching the Hard to Reach” ESRC/NCRM Seminar Series, Southampton University, April 2008
• with Alison Rooke, “Participatory/Action Research: Warts and All” Housing Corporation Swanley Neighbourhood Project seminar series, Goldsmiths University of London, September 2007
• with Alison Rooke, “Chavs and Pikeys: What Do Currently Circulating Racialised Images of the White Underclass Tell Us About the Reconfiguration of White Working Class Identities?” Housing Corporation Swanley Neighbourhood Project seminar series,Goldsmiths University of London, September 2007
• with Gil Tofell,  “Researching London Jewish Cinema Scenes: The Limits of Memory” Social Cinema Scenes conference, Methods Lab, Sociology Department, Goldsmiths College, June 2006
• “Regeneration in Deptford” Deptford.TV Remix Conference, Goldsmiths College, March 2006 [to be published/podcast on-line at http://watch.deptford.tv]
• “No Ball Games Here: Geographies of Play and Risk”, CUCR Seminar Series Young Urban Lives, November 2005
• “Deptford: Building Cultures”, Building Cultures conference/dérive, London Centre for Arts and Creative Enterprise, September 2005
• with Alison Rooke and Debbie Humphry, “Visual Participatory Action Research: Exploring Young People’s Geographies in South East London” Practice-based research: Inventing methodologies? conference at Goldsmiths College, June 2005
•  “Echoes of Kishinev in the East End”, paper presented at Between the East End and East Africa : "The Jew" in Edwardian Culture conference, AHRB Parkes Centre for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations in association with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, University of Southampton, July 2003
• “Dimensions of Origin: Russian Jewish Marxists in London”, Jewish Questions, Communist Answers Conference, Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture, Leipzig, Germany, November 2001
• “Dialogue With The Dead: East London’s Radicals and Narratives of Belonging, Identity and Place”, Confession, Dialogue, Narrative Conference, Lillehammer College, Norway, September 2001

Selected research projects

• From Security to Insecurity: Research project on Jewish community and British multiculturalism, funded by Rothschild Foundation Europe. (With Keith Kahn-Harris) 2007-8
• Beyond the Numbers Game: Development of qualitative evaluation strategy for media-based youth social interventions, funded by European Social Fund Inclusion Through Media programme. (With Imogen Slater, and Tony Dowmunt) 2006-7
• Solid Structures, Fluid Communities: Governance and Diversity: Qualitative study on community engagement in hyperdiverse neighbourhoods, funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation, delivered in partnership with Edge Hill College and Community Links. (With Marjorie Mayo and Kalbir Shukra) 2006-7
• Newtown Neighbourhood Project: Community cohesion and action research project in semi-rural housing estate with high settled Traveller population, funded by Housing Corporation, delivered in partnership with West Kent Extra and real strategies Ltd. (With Alison Rooke) 2006-8
• Camberwell Advocacy Project/Sceaux Gardens Life History Project: Development of a multi-disciplinary research and advocacy tool to be used in deprived micro-neighbourhoods, funded by Camberwell Neighbourhood Renewal, delivered in partnership with ATD 4th World. (With Alison Rooke, Kalbir Shukra, and Karen Wells) 2005-8
• Evaluation of Pepys Community Forum SRB: Long-term ethnographic/action research project with community-led regeneration programme in Deptford. (With Marj Mayo and Michael Keith) 2001-7
• Creative Impact: Literature review and Toolkit for demonstrating the value of arts-based social inclusion projects, funded by KnowledgeEAST HEFCE HEIF programme, delivered in partnership with Laban TRINITY. (With Alison Rooke) 2005
• Hyde Sport Inquiry: Participatory action research project involving children and their families on two social housing estates in Greenwich, by Hyde Charitable Trust. (With Alison Rooke and Kalbir Shukra) 2004
• Positive Futures Case Study Research: Ethnographic and participatory research with young people over two years. Managing three researchers, funded by the Home Office, delivered in partnership with Sheffield Hallam and Manchester Institute of Popular Culture, led by Tim Crabbe. (With Imogen Slater) 2004-2006
• Pepys Portrait Project. Life history/photographic portrait project on housing estate. (With Simon Rowe and Francesca Sanlorenzo) 2004  
• Supporting Neighbourhood Management in Lewisham: Supporting Neighbourhood Managers to research needs and priorities of their communities. Managed one researcher. 2004-2005
• Evaluation of men’s involvement in Sure Start in North Leyton: Literature review followed by interview and observation based study. (With Anan Collymore and Vic Seidler) 2004
• Local Knowledge for Local Solutions: Training local residents as researchers to identify local funding priorities. Development of research/training toolkit for neighbourhood research, delivery of qualitative research training, analysis of data, in collaboration with Gap Research and Magpie Resource Library. Funded by Southwark LSP. 2003- 2004
• Framework for Neighbourhood Renewal in Lewisham: Research and consultancy work for Lewisham council. (With Michael Keith) 2002-3
• Integrated Communities and Sustainable Regeneration: Two-year project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (With Michael Keith, Marjorie Mayo and Jean Anastacio)1998-2000

Professional activities

• Co-organiser, Antisemitism and Islamophobia: Connections/Complexities/Contrasts, Institute of Jewish Studies, University College London, June 2008
• Co-organiser, Lewisham ’77 commemorative project
• Member, Deptford/Greenwich LDA Creative Hub/City Growth Strategy Creative Cluster Action Team, 2005-
• Associate, Cacao Design, 2004- (exhibition of Pepys Portrait Project, Riverside Club, December 2004 and Deptford Design Festival at APT Gallery September 2005. Contributed to Deptford Design Festival book What’s So Great About SE8)
• Co-ordinator, Deptford Economic Development Partnership, 2004-
• Advisor, BFI Crime Scene season Archive Special, July 2004
• Academic Advisory Group, UJIA Study of Jewish Identity 2003-4