Northern Exposure: Race, Nation and Disaffection in "Ordinary" Towns and Cities after Brexit

在关于英国退欧公投的原因和后果的辩论中，特别是在英国分裂的普遍看法中，英格兰北部发挥了核心作用。在大城市之外，人们普遍认为北方代表了“中心地带”的投票：特别是在大卫·古德哈特（David Goodhart）（2017年）的浪漫愿景中，“某个地方”的人（核心民族、扎根的工人阶级、“落后的”）反对“任何地方”的人（富裕、受过教育、国际化、大都市的精英）。与此同时，英国脱欧引发了人们对一个高水平移民的多种族社会未来的担忧。英格兰北部也被视为种族主义和仇外情绪酝酿的地方：在贫困和沮丧的后工业地区，英国白人、年长的英国少数群体和新来者（如寻求庇护者或东欧工人）相互争斗。尤其重要的是，这种紧张关系被认为是现任国会议员乔·考克斯被谋杀的原因，也是该地区种族仇恨犯罪上升的原因。《北方曝光》对这些对北方的看法进行了质疑，同时在很大程度上未被充分研究和边缘化的地方提出了日常民族主义、种族主义和种族主义的敏感问题。该项目充实并丰富了选民表达的不满，或在特定社区看到的紧张局势，与该地区的长期后工业转型有关的论点。我们必须考虑不同地区所经历的工业、人口和空间变化的不同路径。过去以阶级和职业为基础的骄傲的公民团结已经空心化。拥有辉煌历史和身份的北方城镇，已经成为无定形的城郊实体，被高速公路和大型购物中心环绕，中心挣扎，人口下降（哈瑟利2012）。一些居民发现无法搬迁或搬出。这种不断变化的地理环境及其支离破碎的多样性，使得如何管理不断变化的种族关系或实现社会融合变得更加困难。该项目将提供英格兰北部16个“普通”大城镇和小城市的详细统计资料。然后，我们对四个地方进行了密集的民族志研究——从西北到西约克郡，再到东北——这些地方捕捉了后工业北方的历史、身份变化和当代斗争的关键要素：普雷斯顿、哈利法克斯、韦克菲尔德和米德尔斯堡。通过与当地利益相关者、社区组织和社会工作从业人员的交谈，我们建立了一个清晰的愿景，即日常关注的问题会损害多样性、社区和包容的积极愿景。这导致了对来自不同出身和背景的年长长期居民的采访，收集个人口述历史以及对他们周围的城市，社会和政治变化的看法。该地区的政策制定者认为，传统的多元文化主义和反种族主义不起作用，然而，狭隘地关注社会经济解决方案将无法解决“包容性增长”的谜题，也无法解决新出现的种族冲突。我们的研究将把不常听到的声音传递到地方政策制定中。它将把居民的担忧反馈到社区警务中。我们与合作伙伴一起寻求地方干预的工具，确定导致社区崩溃或社区凝聚力的机制。我们的工作还将导致对英国脱欧后英格兰北部地区的多样性进行全面研究。一个网站、政策圆桌会议、本地演讲和一个大型的最终活动将使我们的工作公开。除了其他学术成果，我们也在拍摄我们的研究和我们遇到的人。这将产生一个简短的在线电影，描绘居民和他们今天的生活，以及一个完整长度的纪录片一般发行。

The North of England has played a central role in debates about the causes and consequences of the Brexit referendum, especially in the widespread perception of a divided Britain. There is a pervasive vision of the North outside of the bigger cities, that it represented a "heartland" vote: notably in David Goodhart's romantic vision (2017) of "somewhere" people (core national, rooted, working class, "left behind") against the "anywheres" (affluent, educated, cosmopolitan, metropolitan elites). At the same time, Brexit has raised fears about the future of a multi-racial society with high levels of immigration. The North of England is also viewed as a place of simmering racism and xenophobia: pitting White British, older British minority groups, and newer incomers such as asylum seekers or East European workers against each other in deprived and depressed post-industrial locations. Not least, these tensions are thought to have provoked the murder of a sitting MP - Jo Cox - and to lie behind rising racially motivated hate crime in the region. Northern Exposure interrogates these perceptions of the North, while broaching sensitive questions of everyday nationalism, race and racism in largely understudied and marginalised places. The project fills out and enriches the argument that the disaffection expressed by voters, or in tensions seen in particular communities, is linked to the long term post-industrial transformation of the region. We must consider the varied paths of industrial, population and spatial change experienced by different localities. There has been a hollowing out of proud old civic solidarities anchored in class and occupation. Northern towns, with their grand histories and identities, have become amorphous, peri-urban entities, ringed by motorways and large shopping malls, with struggling centres and declining populations (Hatherley 2012). Some residents find it impossible to move on or move out. This changing geography, and its fragmenting diversity, have made it ever harder to imagine how to manage shifting ethnic relations or achieve social integration. The project will offer a detailed statistical profile of 16 "ordinary" large towns and small cities in the North of England, going back in time. We then engage in intensive ethnographic work on four localities-running from the North West, through West Yorkshire, to the North East-which capture key elements of the post-industrial North in their histories, changing identities, and contemporary struggles: Preston, Halifax, Wakefield, and Middlesbrough. Talking with local stakeholders, community organisations, and social work practitioners, we build up a clear vision of the everyday concerns that damage positive visions of diversity, community and inclusion. This leads on to interviews with older long term residents from different origins and backgrounds, gathering personal oral histories and views about the urban, social and political change around them. Policy makers in the region feel that conventional multiculturalism and anti-racism are not working, yet that a narrow focus on socio-economic solutions will not solve the riddle of "inclusive growth" or address emergent ethnic conflicts. Our research will transmit voices not often heard into local policy formulation. It will feedback residents' concerns into neighbourhood policing. With our partners, we seek tools for local intervention, identifying mechanisms that lead to community breakdown or community cohesion. Our work will also lead to a comprehensive of study of the state of Northern England in all its diversity as it comes to terms with Brexit. A website, policy roundtables, local presentations, and a large final event will make our work public. Alongside other academic outputs, we are also filming our research and the people we meet. This will result in short online films which portray residents and their lives today, along with a full length documentary for general release.