Identity politics and the hostile environment | SSAHE

Are lefty anti-racists the ‘new elite’, forcing their politics onto the oppressed masses? Is racism against Travellers just like the prejudice redheads experience? Is it true that Conservative anti-migrant policies can’t be racist because they have so many BAME frontbenchers?

In this webinar we will explore the effects of different kinds of identity politics on political solidarity and resistance to policies of the hostile environment as well as fragmentations of such resistance movements. Our speakers will discuss how a focus on identity can serve to erase structural oppressions, but may also be the starting point for a deeper analysis of, and resistance to, these oppressions. The relations between inter- and intra- group dynamics in the constructions of such identity politics will also be explored. We examine changes in government narratives on multiculturalism and diversity as well as contested narratives of racialisation and anti-racism and how these relate to different constructions of identity politics.

The speakers in the webinar will be:

Rima Saini | Post-racial politics and the ‘Brown Tory’
Ben Gidley | Culture wars and authoritarian populism
Nira Yuval-Davis | Identity politics, intersectionality and solidarity

Chairs: Floya Anthias and Gwyneth Lonergen