Les Back BSc PhD
Sociology of racism and ethnicity, popular culture and music, urban life, community, social divisions class, social theory and sociological methods.
I joined the department in 1993. This was something of a return to Goldsmiths for me because I studied here as both postgraduate and undergraduate during the 1980s. Prior to returning to the college I taught at the University of Birmingham in the Cultural Studies department and before that had worked as a contract researcher at Birkbeck College and the Institute of Education
Teaching
Up until 2007 I was the Convenor of Postgraduate Research, and coordinated the Research seminars and Workshops and I also contribute the MA in Social Research. I now teach a second year undergraduate option called Cultural Politics and Globalisation and make contributions to the core undergraduate courses acrossed the degree programme.Areas of supervision
Race and racism, multiculturalism, urban life, social exclusion, popular culture and music, sport sociology, postcolonial theory, youth and gender, work and institutional racism, visual sociology, health and illness.
Students supervised to completion and theses titles
I have supervised twelve PhD candidates to completion, namely:- Polly Haste Tackling the 'difficult' subject: an ethnographic exploration of sexual learning in secondary schools (Full-time ESRC funded student) 2008
- Emma Nugent Building a Creative Persona, (Full-time ESRC funded student) 2004
- Yasmeen Narayan Race and Identities, (Full-time ESRC funded student) 2004
- Alison Rooke Lesbian Geographies, (Full-time ESRC funded student) 2004
- Jo Hadley Police and Institutional Racism (Full-time ESRC funded student) 2004
- Roxy Harris New Ethnicities and Language Use, 2004
- Jo Sadler – Policing and Youth Crime (Full-time ESRC funded student), 2004
- Hiroki Orasawa – Sectarianism and Football Culture in Scotland, 2003
- William Henry – Dance Reggae and the Hidden Voice of Black London, 2002 (full ESRC studentship)
- Colin King – Play the Whiteman: Black Players and the transition to management, 2002
- Philly Desai – Spaces of Identity, Cultures of Conflict: the development of New British Asian Masculinities (full-time, ESRC studentship) 2000
- Garry Robson - ‘No One Likes Us...’: Millwallism, class and masculinity in south London (full-time, ESRC Studentship) 1999
Selected publications
On-line publications
- (2008) “Beaches and graveyards”: Europe’s haunted borders, Eurozine, published 30th May, 2008 http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-05-30-back-en.html
Also, translated into German in Wespennest August 2008 and into Catlan and published in l'Espill in December 2008 - (2008) “Sociologists talking” Sociological Research Online, Volume 13, Issue 6 published 30th November, 2008. http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/6/3.html
- (2008) “An ordinary virtue”, New Jewish Thought, published 30th March, 2008 http://www.newjewishthought.org/AnOrdinaryVirtue.php
- (2007) 'Phobocity: London and the War on Terror' Eurozine
- (2002) 'Dancing and Wrestling with Scholarship: Things to do and things to avoid in a PhD Career', Sociological Research Online 7, 4
- (2002) ''God Save the Queen’: The Pistols' Jubilee', Opendemocracy , 22
- (2002) (with Michael Keith, Azra Khan, Kalbir Shukra and John Solomos) 'The Return of Assimilationism: Race, Multiculturalism and New Labour' Social Research Online 7, 2
- (2001) (with Tim Crabbe and John Solomos) The Changing Face of Football
Publications
(2009) (with Stuart Hall) "At Home and note at home", Cultural Studies, Vol 23, 4: 660-688- (2009) 'Researching Community and its Moral Projects', 21st Century Society, vol 4, 2: 2001-14
- (2009) Theories of Race and Racism second edition London: Routledge with John Solomos
- (2008) "Racism and the Empire of Fear" in Centre De Contemporãnia De Bacelona (ed.) Apartheid: The South African Mirror (CCCB: Barcelona) pp. 80-89
Also published simultaneously Spanish and Catlan translations. - (2008) "Viewpoint: Social Research and Its Futures", NCRM: Methods News, Issue 17: 1
- (2008) with Joan Anim Addo ‘Black British Literature in British Universities: A 21st Century Reality?' English Subject Centre Newsletter, 15: 10-15
- (2008) Strände und Friedhöfen. Die Gespenster der europäischen Grenzen, Wespennest, 152: 106-109 (German translation)
- (2007) The Art of Listening Oxford and New York: Berg Publishers (pbk) ISBN 978 1 84520 121 (hbk) ISBN 978 1 84520 120 3
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(2006) (with Mitch Duneier) ‘Voices from the sidewalk: ethnography and writing race’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29, 3: 543-565
- (2005) 'Sociologisk Lytten', Social Kritik, 100: 10-26 [Danish Translation]
- (2005) 'The World Cup in Japan: Football's Pageant of Identity' in T. Arimoto and H. Ogasawara Poetics and Politics of Soccer Kyoto, Japan: Jimbun Shoin [Japanese Translation]
- (2005) 'Home From Home': Youth, Belonging and Place in C. Alexander and C. Knowles Making Race Matter, Basinstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
- (2005) 'Longe dos oldhos': a músical silista e a colorização do dom in V. Ware (eds) Brandquidade Rio de Janerio: Garamond Universitaria [Portuguese translation]
- (2004) Doing Research, Writing Politics: The Dilemmas of Political Inteevention in Research in Racism in C. Seale Social Research Methods: A Reader London Routledge Student Readers
- (2004) 'Writing in and against time' in M. Bulmer and J. Solomos (eds) Researching Race and Racism London: Routledge
- (2004) 'Listening with Our eyes: portraiture as urban encounter' in C. Knowles and P. Sweetman (eds) Picturing the Social Landscape: Visual Methods and the Sociological Imagination London: Routledge
- (2003) (co-editor with Michael Bull) The Auditory Cultures Reader Oxford: Berg ISBN 1 85973 6130 (hbk) 1859736181 (pbk) 510 pages
- (2002) (co-author with Vron Ware) Out of Whiteness: Color, Politics and Culture Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press (pbk) ISBN 0 226 873420 (hbk) ISBN 0 226 873412 326 pages
- (2001) (co-author with T Crabbe and J. Solomos) The Changing Face of Football: Racism, Identity and Multicuture in the English Game Oxford: Berg ISBN 1 85973 478 2 (hbk) 1 85973 483 9 (pbk) 309 pages
- (2000) (co-editor with John Solomos) Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader London: Routledge ISBN 0-415-15671-8 (hbk) 0-415-15672-6 (pbk) 646 pages
- (1996) New Ethnicities and Urban Culture: Racisms and Multiculture in Young Lives London: UCL Press [Routledge] ISBN 1-85728-251-5 (pbk) 1-85728-252-3 (hbk) 288 pages
- (1996) (co-author with John Solomos) (1996) Racism and Society Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd ISBN 0-333-58438-4 (hbk) 0-333-58439-2 (pbk) 252 pages
- (1995) (co-author with John Solomos) Race, Politics and Social Change London & New York: Routledge ISBN 0-415-08578 (pbk) 0-415-08577 (hbk) 232 pages
- (1993) (co-editor with Anoop Nayak) Invisible Europeans?: Black people in the ‘New Europe’ ISBN 0-907127142 Birmingham: AFFOR 154 pages
Grants & awards
| Awarding body | Value | Period | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Union | €1,953,587 |
2008-2011 |
EU Margins Project explores patterns of social exclusion and inclusion within the European Union through the life stories of young adults from immigrant backgrounds in Oslo, Gothenburg, London, Genoa, Paris, Barcelona and Tallin. |
Economic and Social Research Council PTA 035250017 |
£83,800 |
2006-2008 |
Live sociology: practicing social research with new media (with Celia Lury) |
Economic and Social Research Council Grant L215252046 |
£180,000 |
2000-2002 |
Democratic Governance and Ethnic Minority Political Participation in Contemporary Britain (with Les Back, Michael Keith and Kalbir Shukra) |
Economic and Social Research Council Grant R 00023 6301 |
£138,832 |
1996-8 |
'Finding A Way Home': Young people, Urban Space and Racial danger (with Michael Keith and Phil Cohen) |
Economic and Social Research Council grant R000235639 |
£103,870 |
1995-6 |
The Cultures of Racism in Football Project (with John Solomos and Tim Crabbe) |
Economic and Social Research Council grant R000234272 |
£70,329 |
1993-4 |
The Social Basis of Racist Action Among Young People in Outer City Areas (with Roger Hewitt) |
The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, New York U.S.A. |
$51,220 |
1996-7 |
The Cultural Mechanisms of Racist Expression: a Study of Racism and Anti-Semitism in Graffiti, pamphlets, style and body symbolism (with John Solomos and Michael Keith) |
AGARI Group |
£2,500 |
1995-6 |
Evaluation of the 'Let's Kick Racism Out of Football' Campaign 1995/6 |
Goldsmiths College Internal Research Fund |
£2, 145 |
1995-6 |
'Blue-eyed Soul': Black Music, White Muscicans and the Southern Dream of Freedom |
Women's Employment in Business |
£60,000 |
2001-2002 |
Gender and Discrimination in the Manual Trades |
The Monitoring Group |
£15,000 |
2002 |
A Feasibility Study for a National Racial Harassment Helpline |
Keynote lectures
24th June 2009 "Portrayal amd Betrayal: Bourdieu, Photography and Sociological Craft", Getting a Better Picture Workshop, NCRM, Southampton
1st June, 2009 “Writing Cities: Inaugural Lecture,” Writing Cities Conference, London School of Economics, London
23rd May, 2009 “London Finished?: developing an inventory of multiculture”, Urban Encounters: Rethinking Landscape, Tate Britain – presentation and participant in plenary discussion.
18th May, 2009 “Contemporary English Racisms: Notes on Now,” Keynote Address: Contemporary English Racisms Symposium, University of Leeds
18th April, 2009 “Global Attentiveness and the Sociological Ear,” Theory Sub-plenary, British Sociological Association Annual Conference: The Challenge of Global Social Inquiry, University of Cardiff, Cardiff
3rd April, 2009 “The Death of Multiculturalism and the Moral Project of Community,” Race in the Modern World Conference, Goldsmiths, University of London
30th March, 2009 “Urban Life, Memory and Sensuous Scholarship”, Keynote Address, Living Cultures: Contemporary Ethnographies of Culture Conference, University of Leeds, Leeds.
17th March, 2009 “The Art of Listening,” Centre for New Ethnicities, University of East London
4th March, 2009 “Obama and the Politics of Hope”, Working Lives Institute, London Metropolitan University.
20th February, 2009 “The Sociology of Hope”, Sociology Lecture, University of Umea, Umea, Sweden.
11th February, 2009 Sociology as a Listener’s Art, Sociology Seminar Series, University of Strathclyde
15th January, 2009 “The Craft of Scholarship”, FORMACS, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Eire
9th January, 2009 Keynote lecture: “Hope’s Ethnographer,” Hope: A Workshop in Feminist Theory, Univeristy of Lancaster
12th December 2008 Keynote lecture: “The Moral Projects of Community”,
Questioning the European 'Crisis of Multiculturalism': An international colloquium at the National University of Ireland Maynooth
14th November 2008 “The Ethnography of Hope”, Politics of Hope Seminar, Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy, Goldsmiths
8th November 2008 “War, memory and melancholia”, Noises of the Past Conference, Guildhall, Coventry
6th November 2008 “Sociology as a Listener’s Art”, The Fuller Memorial Lecture, Department of Sociology, University of Essex
24th October 2008 keynote lecture: “Social Cohesion and the Death of Multiculturalism” Community Cohesion and Community Engagement: Promoting Solidarity in the Pursuit of Equalities and Social Justice Conference, Stephen Lawrence Centre, London
7th October 2008 “London Calling: Multiculture, Terror and racism’s nervous system” Social identities and social justice seminar, Dept of Education, Goldsmiths
11th September, 2008 Keynote lecture: “Social Research and Its Futures”, Vital Signs: Researching Real Life Conference, University of Manchester
5th September, 2008 ‘Two tone’s racial tonality”, Music an Politics Conference, University of Warwick
14th June, 2008 Keynote lecture: "Endz and Sides": Youth Gangs, Post Code Patriotism and Mapping Landscapes of Multiculture and racism, Bonds and Communities: young people and their social ties, NYRIS Conference, Lillehammer, Norway,
10th April, 2008 Keynote lecture: “Siren’s Cry: Terrorism and Cultural Politics”, Making Europe/ Making Europeans: The Ethnographic and the Everyday, University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Television and video output
2nd July, 2009 Appeared on Resonance FM 'Interesting Conversation' talking about The Art of Listening
2nd December, 2008 ‘Soul II Soul’ BBC Radio 4 , to be broadcast on 1.30pm repeated Saturday 6th December Saturday 3.30pm
30th November, 2008 guest on 'Sunday Surgery debate on Nationality,' BBC Radio 1, 10-12.00pm
19th November , 2008 ‘Credit Crunch, Polish Migrants returning home,’ Finish Broadcasting Corporation TV, Nightly news.
5th April, 2008 ‘The Are 2 Tone’, BBC Radio 4 10.30am – 11.00am (documentary about the racial politics of the Two Tone musical scene)
25th May, 2007 Interview for BBC News at 10 ‘30th Anniversary of the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen’
10th May 2005 Interview for BBC Radio 4 ‘Thinking Allowed’ with Laurie Taylor feature on 'Speaking of Remarkable Things, inaugural lecture.'
14th April 2004 Interview for BBC Radio 4 ‘Thinking Allowed’ with Laurie Taylor feature on The Auditory Cultures Reader
30th April, 2003 Interview for BBC Radio 4 ‘Thinking Allowed’ with Laurie Taylor feature on Out of Whiteness
26th April, 2002 interview for Radio 4 PM – The Plight of Asylum Seeker Children