Community Studies
In reflecting on the changing nature of ethnic diversity in Britain, it becomes increasingly clear that we have to move beyond binary notions of white and non-white to explain the ways in which racisms operate, identities are formed and people live out their lives. The societies in which we live are becoming more diverse and will continue to diversify as migration patterns change and the impacts of globalisation are reflected in labour markets as well as in transnational movement of capital.
In order to understand our community of communities better, we need to be alive to the needs of all ethnic communities. Monolithic approaches will not work. Community studies aim to move beyond categorisations as broad as Black, Asian and White, to recognise the diversity within and between ethnic communities.
Runnymede has conducted a collection of studies which focus on communities; their demography, links to civil society, and key political and social issues. These and future studies will provide a rich resource for understanding how diversity is lived and experienced away from the necessarily crude ethnic monitoring form, in a vital and dynamic multi-ethnic society. For more information of the methodology of the Community Studies, please click here.
If you know of a study that would be relevant to be included here or would like to contribute your own work to this site, please contact Rob Berkeley.
From Black and White to Glorious Technicolour [pdf]
The debate about segregation and integration still sees Britain in Black and White. The reality is that we live in a more complex community of communities. Integration is as much about how people of Nigerian heritage interact with people with Colombian roots, as the relationship between Black and White. Understanding and responding to the diversity between minority ethnic communities, argues Rob Berkeley, is a key step in facing up to the realities of life in a multi-ethnic Britain.
Go to the Community Studies Reports
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