Surviving Society Productions

Marcus Garvey, Rastafarianism and the United Negro Improvement Association: in the first of our conversations at the British Sociological Association (BSA) Annual Conference in Glasgow, we talk to the wonderful Shey Fyffe about her research on histories of Black thought. Special thanks to Aaron Winter, Nasar Meer and the BSA for the support and funding that made our trip to Glasgow possible!

In this bonus episode we are joined by Jason Arday to relay our experiences of growing up Black in the 1990s, our relationships with popular culture and contemplate whether much has changed in terms of racialisation and racism in the UK. We share some cultural analysis through music, raving, gigging and finish with a little bit of academic fashion tips!

What are the links between ecological crisis, capitalism and racism? How has racism in the UK changed since the '70s? And why do celebrities suddenly feel they need to come out as TERFs*? Chantelle and Saskia revel in a bit of Marxism with Gargi Bhattacharyya, who talks to us about her new book Rethinking Racial Capitalism, and we have a think about why the idea of racial capitalism offers more qu...

We talk to Adam Elliott-Cooper about why we should abolish the police, the long history of criminalising Black music, and why we may as well vote Labour. Ranting, swearing and laughter abound.

Welcome to Season 3 of Surviving Society! This week we talk about what we've been reading; how our sociological imagination has changed since beginning the podcast and we discuss how we are individually coming to terms/coping with the current political mess. Expect the usual laughter and swearing throughout.

In this episode we are lucky enough to be talking to Professor Ben Rogaly, human geographer at the University of Sussex, activist, and one of Saskia's PhD supervisors. Ben tells us about his work with residents of Peterborough, what 'gangmastering' is, and why Peterborough is an important place when it comes to thinking about Englishness, migration and racisms. As well as talking about whiteness i...

This week we are back with an Alternative to Woman's Hour featuring actor and activist Rebecca Scroggs! Rebecca shares her experiences in the acting world as a mixed-race Black woman, we talk #MeToo, #TimesUp and #ShutUp (disclaimer: not a real movement…yet), and we have a think about how complicated social class can be. The chair of a housing cooperative, we also talk to Rebecca about the current...

This week we travel to Sussex to speak to Dr Joe Kennedy of the University of Gothenburg about his new book Authentocrats and as per we get SUPER POLITICAL. Discussing the policies and legacies of centre-ground political parties, Joe explains how he wants to show that Labour is just as guilty as the Tories and UKIP when it comes to using the 'authentic' views of stereotypical small-town voters as...

What's with all these BME/BAME acronyms, and are they actually useful? Is white genocide a thing? And how can the government claim austerity is over if they aren't increasing public spending? In this episode we grapple with how to talk about people who are racialised, far-right ideals of racial purity, and the deceptions of our government, with a little help from our friends Avtar Brah and Kalwant...

This week we are super excited to be joined by one of our favourite sociologists and teachers Professor Les Back to talk about his latest book, Migrant City, which he has co-written with Dr Shamser Sinha. After an introduction from Les and Charlynne Bryan, who contributed to Migrant City, Les tells us about the ten-year project in which he and Shamser have followed the lives of 30 migrants, some o...

When Saskia started her PhD in the Geography Department at Royal Holloway, one of the first things she noticed was the absence of people of colour in her research group. Given the numbers of students of colour at undergraduate level in the UK, why are the academic staff and PhD students she works with almost all white? Along with special guest Dom Jackson-Cole from the University of East London, C...

Welcome to another *live* episode of Surviving Society! In our third and final collaboration with The Sociological Review, our #1 fan Dr Michaela Benson interviews Saskia, Chantelle and Tissot about podcasting, public sociology, and how we've helped each other to survive our PhDs. With our lovely audience of fellow PhD students and early career researchers, we discuss why we see sociology as an ac...

What do people mean when they talk about the 'smart city', and can the smart city ever be inclusive? In our second episode recorded in collaboration with The Sociological Review, Chantelle, Tissot and Saskia talk to Dr Ayona Datta about her work on urban transformations in Indian cities. Ayona argues that we need to be skeptical about whether smart cities can really address deep-rooted inequalitie...

In the first of our collaborations with The Sociological Review, Professor Satnam Virdee talks to Tissot, Chantelle and Saskia about the importance of ‘race’ when it comes to understanding class and capitalism. Satnam argues that, looking at the last three centuries of capitalism in Britain and its empire, we can see that ‘‘race’ and nation, when it comes to thinking about Britain, run hand in han...

Why does culture matter when it comes to racism? Does having people of colour on TV make a difference to people’s lives? This week, we talk to Goldsmiths’ very own Dr Anamik Saha about his book, Race and the Cultural Industries, which deals with these very questions and much more. Anamik gives us his theory on the representation of people of colour in pop culture, we discuss what we all thought of...

As we celebrate one year of Surviving Society, we treat you to a bonus episode in which Tissot reflects on Europe’s post-Brexit shift to the right, Saskia gets to grips with being a person of colour, and Chantelle reminds us of austerity’s death toll. The political picture hasn’t improved much since we started last September, but by thinking and raging and taking action together, we can have some...

We’re back! In our first episode of the academic year and third Alternative to Woman’s Hour, Chantelle discusses her experiences of partial privilege whilst her partner was receiving cancer treatment in private hospitals, Saskia shares some questionable fashion finds during her trip to Paris, and we end with a good old rant about the state of UK TV dramas and their obsession with white middle-clas...

What does it mean to be a Black woman in the English education system? Special guest April-Louise Pennant talks about why she is researching the educational experiences of Black women, how those women have negotiated racism and sexism in schools and universities, and why it is important that those experiences are heard. Chantelle tells us about her activist work on getting more Black students to d...

In the lead-up to the World Cup, Chantelle is pissed off with the constant stream of racism directed at Raheem Sterling, and Tissot talks about the white supremacist Tommy Robinson, and why locking him up could turn him into a martyr for the far-right. Fresh from her holiday in Finland, Saskia tells us about her experiences of the country, perceptions of Brexit from the Eastern border of Europe, a...

In this very special episode, Chantelle and Tissot chat to Dr Priyamvada Gopal, English lecturer at the University of Cambridge and brilliant anti-racist activist. Between the three of us, we pull apart racism and representation in universities, colonialism and its collaborators and the abuse that comes with anti-racist activism. There might be a few swear words in there, but mainly it's an essent...

How middle class are middle class people of colour? This week we’re joined by Rima Saini, a PhD student who is researching South Asian middle classes in the UK. She unpacks how complicated being middle class can be for people of South Asian origin due to the racisms they face on a daily basis, and how they manage the clash between privilege and prejudice. We also talk about whether Meghan Markle c...

In our second Surviving Society Alternative to Woman's hour we are breaking down intersectionality! Special guest Brenda talks us through her role as a children's counsellor, arguing that women and children who have been victims of domestic abuse suffer further violence at the hands of the state due to cuts to vital services, Saskia discusses one of the ultimate feminist conundrums of body image,...

In Saskia's talk from a Royal Geographical Society conference in April (her first time speaking at an academic conference!), she looks at how Englishness, 'race' and class have played out in debates around Brexit. Taking David Goodhart's book 'The Road to Somewhere' as an influential example, she discusses how the division the British media has made between the Northern 'white working-class' and t...

This week Chantelle is pissed off with the homogenisation of black people and people of colour in Britain. Drawing on the media depictions of knife crime in London and how different 'communities' 'need' to respond, Chantelle is urging for Sociology to dispel myths and to look more critically at the role of racism and whiteness. Tissot talks us through his developing PhD, focusing on the role of te...

Surviving Society is proud to present our first ever live podcast! Recorded at our #USSStrikes teachout at Goldsmiths College on 15 March 2018, we look at the government’s obsession with ‘value for money’ in higher education and the part racism plays in university life. Expect the usual ranting, laughing and swearing, but this time with a live audience!