Where: St. Werburghs Community Centre, Horley Road, Bristol BS2 9TJ
Time: 18:00
With: Dr Jon Fox

Summary

This public talk given by Dr Jon Fox and organised by the Dialogue Society in Bristol attracted interest from people with East European and Middle Eastern background. Dr Fox, who is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Bristol, talked briefly about the history of racism at government level in the first section of his talk and then moved on to the findings of his interviews with immigrants of East European background living in the UK. In response to his questions about their perception of immigration in the UK he encountered a notable level of hostility towards communities of non-white ethnic background. Questions covered the relationship between racist views and low levels of education, which Dr Fox suggested do not necessarily coincide, and the extent of the issue he identified.

The main take home message was that if ethnic minorities do not mix and communicate with each other they will never get to know one another. This results in hostility and in extreme cases racist violence.

Biography of Jon Fox

Jon’s main areas of research are in nationalism, ethnicity, and international migration. With each topic, he is interested in the ways in which ordinary people reproduce ethnic, national, and racialised forms of collective belonging in their everyday lives. Whilst appreciating the important role politics, culture, and the economy play in shaping social identities, Jon’s research pays special attention to the ways such identities are also the practical accomplishments of ordinary people engaging in routine activities. His research to date has examined these issues around questions of nationalism and ethnic return migration in Hungary, Romania, and the UK. He recently completed an ESRC funded project on the racialisation of East European migration to the UK entitled ‘Hungarian and Romanian migrant workers in the UK: Racism without racial difference?’. He is also leading the Hungarian portion of the research for an EU-funded project (ACCEPT) that examines tolerance in 15 European countries.

Event Photos

White and European? East European Migrant Workers in the UK

White and European? East European Migrant Workers in the UK

White and European? East European Migrant Workers in the UK

White and European? East European Migrant Workers in the UK