Recent Events

Intersex Awareness Day Event

We were proud to organise a workshop to mark Intersex Awareness Day on 26 October 2021, titled Intersex and Variations of Sex Characteristics: A workshop about health, equality and diversity, and social work, as part of the INIA project funded by the European Commission.

Recent research shows that there are many areas for improvement in healthcare provision to intersex people and those with VSC. It also reveals the lack of development of Equality and Diversity policies for intersex people, and the dearth of policy and practice tools to support practitioners, such as Social Workers, in their work with intersex people.

The workshop brought together public sector employees from healthcare settings, the police, the fire service, and social work, as well as third sector representatives and students, in a really interesting and worthwhile session. It spurred us on to do more work in collaboration with key stakeholders to support the wellbeing of intersex people.

Past Seminars

Researcher reflexivity and subjectivity:
Exploring ethical and political issues in researching sensitive topics

Speaker Dr Jo Britton, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

Tuesday 26 February 2019

The aim of this paper is to share and critically reflect on my experience of two, related research projects. The first was a project exploring the impact of a child sexual exploitation scandal on local Muslim men in Rotherham and the second is an on-going project exploring challenges facing Muslim communities that affect the reporting of child sexual abuse and exploitation to external agencies. The projects raise a number of significant methodological and epistemological issues with respect to, for example, my position in the research, my relationships with various local partners, including Muslim men and women who have contributed to the research in different ways, and the ethics and politics of carrying out sensitive research in challenging local circumstances. The paper raises important questions about how to democratise research, challenge unequal power relations and make the production of knowledge more transparent.

This is a joint seminar with CCID and HudCRES

Kneeling with the People: Lessons from “Take a Knee” about Social Justice Pedagogy, Learning, and Movement in a Celebrity Culture

Speaker Dr Kaela Jubas University of Calgary

Thursday 7th March 2019

In this presentation, Dr Kaela Jubas explores Take a Knee as a site of social activism and adult learning about race relations. Take a Knee began in the US in August 2016 when National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt on the field for the playing of the national anthem. In tracing the development of Take a Knee, Kaela uses a model developed by Dykstra and Law (1994) to confirm that Take a Knee grew from the protest of one player against police killings of African American boys and men into a full-fledged social movement. That movement illustrates Dykstra and Law’s three “systematically interrelated” elements of “vision, critical pedagogy, and pedagogy of mobilisation” (p. 123). In the reverse, Take a Knee is used to test the ongoing utility of that model, developed some 25 years ago, but distinctive for its grounding in the field of adult education. Despite the model’s continued potential, it can be enhanced through recognition of education’s multidimensionality and the pedagogue as learner. In closing, Kaela considers how societal shifts since 1994, notably the emergence of a celebrity culture, might account for the changing role of celebrities in social movements or “movement celebrities.” The possibility of what she refers to as a “celebrity movement” is evident not only in Take a Knee, but also in the feminist Me Too/Time’s Up movements that she is studying with colleagues Christine Jarvis and Grainne McMahon, based at University of Huddersfield.

Trans Masculine Experiences and Practices of Reproduction: Gender, Bodies and Identities

Speakers: Professor Sally Hines and Dr Ruth Pearce (University of Leeds)

Tues. 19 March 2019

Drawing on initial data from an on-going qualitative research project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC): ‘Trans Masculine Pregnancy: An International Exploration of Trans Masculine Practices of Reproduction’, this paper considers the ways in which trans masculine practices of pregnancy and birth bring new meanings to the gendered nature of reproduction, and, in particular, transform dominant understandings of gendered reproductive bodies. Using case studies from in-depth interviews with trans masculine people who have become pregnant and given birth, the paper explores how issues surrounding gendered and embodied and identity are experienced and negotiated through pregnancy and birth. The paper will conclude that trans masculine practices of reproduction raise urgent questions for socio-logical theorisations of gender, identity, embodiment, family and intimacy.

Seminar: Talking Politics?: Brexit, emotion work and everyday family relationships

Katherine Davies,
18th June 2019

This paper explores how the UK's 2016 referendum on the European Union has been experienced within family relationships. Drawing upon data generated as part of a qualitative interview-based study funded by the British Academy between 2017 and 2019, the paper outlines the silences, arguments, debates and conversations that people are having in their everyday family relationships in reaction to Brexit and the political debates surrounding it. British media outlets have commonly described the UK as a nation divided by Brexit, yet we know very little about what this means for people in their everyday lives and relationships. This paper unpacks the trope of ‘divided Britain’ by considering how Brexit is lived in everyday family relationships. Interviews with both ‘remainers’ and ‘leavers’ from different generations reveal that, despite often disagreeing with their family members about Brexit, people expend a great deal of effort and skill in avoiding divisions within their family. Building on Hochschild’s (1993) concept of ‘emotion work’, alongside work on family practices and relationality, the paper demonstrates different practices of ‘talking politics’ in families, pointing to the work that goes into avoiding conflict and paying particular attention to the role of ‘biting your tongue’ when discussing Brexit with loved ones.

Intersex Day of Solidarity Event – Edinburgh

Date: 8 November 2019

Time: 9:30am - 7:00pm

Venue: Norton Park Conference Centre, Edinburgh,  EH7 5QY

Equality Network, in partnership with the University of Huddersfield, invite stakeholders and community together to hear and share knowledge, awareness and lived experience around Intersex and Variations of Sex Characteristics (I/VSC) in the UK. This gathering has a special focus on social policy, legislation and wellbeing in Scotland. 

The gathering is free and open to all. Please book here: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/3525/intersex-and-variations-of-sex-characteristics-gathering-scotland-tickets

The theme will be Intersex /VSC: Social Policy, Equality and Human Rights in the UK (with an emphasis on social policy in Scotland). The contributions will be in diverse formats from workshops and presentations, to discussions and support.

This symposium will be a stakeholder engagement event. It aims to share equality and human rights objectives and strategy and key findings - to raise awareness - aimed at interested stakeholders, policy makers, interested public and public bodies in Scotland.  This event will include contributors who are activists, policy workers, advocacy and support practitioners, researchers and individuals wishing to share lived testimony. 

 Please note: We have some funding to cover the costs of some attendees. Due to the nature of this event and our work, we will prioritise UK and Scotland based activists, advocacy and support workers, equality/ human rights practitioners and intersex individuals in Scotland. If you require any assistance with financial costs in order to attend, please do get in touch: rebecca@equality-network.org

 Please join us! 

We hope that you will be able to join us. Please do get in touch if you have any questions. We would be very happy to hear from you. 

The event will be followed by a networking reception. 

ESRC Festival of Social Science event - Challenging Single Parent Stereotypes

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has awarded funding for an event for single parents based on University of Huddersfield Research as part of its Festival of Social Science.

Date: 7 November 2019

Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm

Venue: Yorkshire Children's Centre, Huddersfield, HD1 5JP

The workshop, Challenging Single Parent Stereotypes, is inspired by research involving single parents, which was conducted by Dr Nicola Carroll during her PhD. Single parents who took part in qualitative interviews commonly reported feeling a sense of isolation and stigmatisation and expressed frustration that negative stereotypes in society and the media fail to reflect the reality of their family lives. The half-day event, which takes place at Yorkshire Children’s Centre on 7^th November, will bring single parents together to challenge these unhelpful stereotypes.

Parents who come along will hear how attitudes and policies affecting single parents have changed over time, and be equipped with the facts, figures and tools to help them understand the sociology of stigma and deconstruct stereotypes. The workshop will include studies from the University of Huddersfield-funded study, which involved lone mothers in diverse situations from two locations in the North of England, to provide stimulus for discussion. It will culminate in academics and attendees working together to create a video about the realities of single parenthood in 21st century Britain. 

The event will feature brief presentations and interactive groupwork facilitated by Dr Carroll and colleagues from the University of Huddersfield. Dr Tray Yeadon-Lee, senior lecturer in sociology supervised the doctoral study. Dr Berenice Golding, senior lecturer in social sciences, has extensive expertise in public engagement and first-hand experience of being a single parent. Dr Farzana Ali has a background in community development and group facilitation.

A staffed crèche will be available and refreshments will be provided.

The ESRC Festival of Social Science is a celebration of the social sciences aimed at policymakers, business, the public and young people.

For further information on the workshop or the research, please email: n.carroll@hud.ac.uk

Contact Dr Carroll to book a free place or visit: https://bit.ly/2lZXmiI

 Challenging Gendered Islamophobia

Date: 4 November 2019

Time: 1:00pm – 3:30pm

Venue: Brian Jackson House, 2 New North Parade, Huddersfield, HD1 5JP.

Event Details: Islamophobia is an increasingly challenging issue in the UK, particularly for visibly Muslim women who wear the headscarf. Women are more likely than men to be the victims of street-based Islamophobic hate crime, and this demonstrates the need to understand and foreground women’s experiences when devising strategies to challenge faith-based hate crime.

Welcoming Muslim women, third-sector anti-racist and community cohesion practitioners, activists and academics, this ESRC Festival of Social Sciences free event will begin informally with refreshments and an exhibition of visual material created from interviews with young Muslim women in Yorkshire. This will be followed by a brief talk by academics and a facilitated workshop in which participants will discuss strategies for responding to and challenging various manifestations of gendered Islamophobia in Huddersfield and the wider area.

Programme

• 1pm: Refreshments and exhibition
• 1.30pm: Talk by Leonie Jackson and Berenice Golding; Young Muslim Women’s Experiences of Gendered Islamophobia
• 2pm: Discussion and workshop

URL Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/esrc-festival-of-social-sciences-challenging-gendered-islamophobia-tickets-73096851651

CCID Seminar series 2018 / 19

To reserve your place, please contact S.McDaid@hud.ac.uk

Researcher reflexivity and subjectivity:

Exploring ethical and political issues in researching sensitive topics

Speaker Dr Jo Britton, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

Tuesday 26 February 2019

The aim of this paper is to share and critically reflect on my experience of two, related research projects. The first was a project exploring the impact of a child sexual exploitation scandal on local Muslim men in Rotherham and the second is an on-going project exploring challenges facing Muslim communities that affect the reporting of child sexual abuse and exploitation to external agencies. The projects raise a number of significant methodological and epistemological issues with respect to, for example, my position in the research, my relationships with various local partners, including Muslim men and women who have contributed to the research in different ways, and the ethics and politics of carrying out sensitive research in challenging local circumstances. The paper raises important questions about how to democratise research, challenge unequal power relations and make the production of knowledge more transparent.

This is a joint seminar with CCID and HudCRES

Kneeling with the People: Lessons from “Take a Knee” about Social Justice Pedagogy, Learning, and Movement in a Celebrity Culture

Speaker Dr Kaela Jubas University of Calgary

Thursday 7^th March 2019

In this presentation, Dr Kaela Jubas explores Take a Knee as a site of social activism and adult learning about race relations. Take a Knee began in the US in August 2016 when National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt on the field for the playing of the national anthem. In tracing the development of Take a Knee, Kaela uses a model developed by Dykstra and Law (1994) to confirm that Take a Knee grew from the protest of one player against police killings of African American boys and men into a full-fledged social movement. That movement illustrates Dykstra and Law’s three “systematically interrelated” elements of “vision, critical pedagogy, and pedagogy of mobilisation” (p. 123). In the reverse, Take a Knee is used to test the ongoing utility of that model, developed some 25 years ago, but distinctive for its grounding in the field of adult education. Despite the model’s continued potential, it can be enhanced through recognition of education’s multidimensionality and the pedagogue as learner. In closing, Kaela considers how societal shifts since 1994, notably the emergence of a celebrity culture, might account for the changing role of celebrities in social movements or “movement celebrities.” The possibility of what she refers to as a “celebrity movement” is evident not only in Take a Knee, but also in the feminist Me Too/Time’s Up movements that she is studying with colleagues Christine Jarvis and Grainne McMahon, based at University of Huddersfield.

Trans Masculine Experiences and Practices of Reproduction: Gender, Bodies and Identities

Speakers: Professor Sally Hines and Dr Ruth Pearce (University of Leeds)

9 March 2019

Drawing on initial data from an on-going qualitative research project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC): ‘Trans Masculine Pregnancy: An International Exploration of Trans Masculine Practices of Reproduction’, this paper considers the ways in which trans masculine practices of pregnancy and birth bring new meanings to the gendered nature of reproduction, and, in particular, transform dominant understandings of gendered reproductive bodies. Using case studies from in-depth interviews with trans masculine people who have become pregnant and given birth, the paper explores how issues surrounding gendered and embodied and identity are experienced and negotiated through pregnancy and birth. The paper will conclude that trans masculine practices of reproduction raise urgent questions for socio-logical theorisations of gender, identity, embodiment, family and intimacy.

A headphone verbatim rollercoaster. Let's talk about sex education

Critical Contributions to Social and Political Sciences: CCID book launch

The Centre for Citizenship, Conflict, Identity and Diversity is hosting a book launch to present cutting-edge scholarship by members of the centre.  Taking a range of critical perspectives, the books that will future in the event are written and/or edited by members of CCID and address highly topical issues, such as Islamophobia and revenge pornography. We use a range of applied and conceptually relevant approaches, including intersectionality theory, materialist sociology, and narrative methodologies. By presenting a selection of recently published books together, we hope to encourage exciting ‘conversations’ between them, pulling out cross-cutting themes and generating new debates.

Venue: Oastler Building level 4 room 01 (OA4/01)

Programme Wednesday, 28th November, 2018, 13:00 to 17:00

1PM: Registration and refreshments

1.30 to 3.00: Panel 1: Critical approaches to diversity

• Shefer, T., Hearn, J., Ratele, K. and Boonzaier, F. (eds) (2018). Engaging youth in activism, research and pedagogical praxis: Transnational and Intersectional Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Jackson, L. (2018). Islamophobia in Britain: The Making of a Muslim Enemy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• McGlynn, C. and McDaid, S. (forthcoming). Radicalisation and Counter-Radicalisation in Higher Ed-ucation. Bingley: Emerald.

3.00 to 3.30: Coffee/ tea and biscuits

3.30 to 5.00: Panel 2: Sex and Gender

• Hall, M. and Hearn, J. (2018). Revenge Pornography: Gender, Sexuality and Motivations. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Matebeni, Z., Monro, S. and Reddy, V. (2018). Queer in Africa: LGBTQI Identities, Citizenship, and Activism. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Woodiwiss, J., Smith, K. and Lockwood, K. (eds) (2017). Feminist Narrative Research: Opportunities and Challenges. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

5.00 to 6.00: wine reception

For information and to book a place via Eventbrite: http://ccid-book-launch-2018.eventbrite.co.uk

Intersex Social Sciences: Activism, Human Rights, and Citizenship

4-5 June 2018, University of Bologna, Italy.

This 2-day conference provides a multi-disciplinary forum for the further development of social science approaches to Intersex and Variations of Sex Characteristics. Sociological, anthropological, political science, philosophical, psychological and other approaches are all crucial for developing knowledge that centres the experiences and insights of Intersex people and those with Variations of Sex Characteristics. A commitment to fostering positive Intersex activist and academic alliances lies at the heart of this conference.

Find out more

ESRC Festival of Social Science event explores support for young LGBT people

YOUNG people who are LGBT might appreciate help and support but they must NOT be treated as having mental health issues, states a University of Huddersfield lecturer who has embarked on an international research project that investigates the issue.

Read more

Devolution revolution? Assessing central-local relationships in England’s devolution

Speaker: Dr Mark Sandford, Senior Research Analyst at the House of Commons Library

28 November 2017

Much recent debate about devolution in England has been generated by the priorities of the newly-elected metro-mayors and their implications for the sub-national governance of England. This seminar considered these reforms and assess if they will lead to longer-term change in relationships between central and local government. Discussant was Dr Arianna Giovannini (De Montfort University, Leicester), a widely-published expert on regional devolution in England.

Public Lecture and Debate at the Centre for Citizenship, Conflict, Identity and Diversity

University of Huddersfield, UK, 10 November 2017 organised by Chris Möller.

North American anti-hunger campaigner, Andrew Fisher talked about his new book, "Big Hunger - The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups" at the University of Huddersfield on 10th November. After he talked about his book and shared his grassroots experience, there was a discussion between Andy, Chris Möller and Maddy Power about his vision for economic democracy and social justice which seeks "to end hunger, not just manage it".

Fisher has worked in the anti-hunger field in the US for twenty-five years and has led successful efforts which resulted in the passage of multiple pieces of federal food and nutrition legislation. In his new book, he argues that anti-hunger advocates and established food charities are missing an essential element of the problem: economic inequality driven by low wages. Reliant on corporate donations of food and money, anti-hunger organisations have failed to hold business accountable for moving jobs offshore, cutting benefits, exploiting workers and rural communities and resisting wage increases. As he puts it, they have become part of a powerful “hunger industrial complex”: In the United States, food banks and food pantries proliferated after the economic recession of the early 1980s and the welfare cuts which followed. In his talk, Fisher argued that what started as an 'emergency response' has now become a highly professional industry. With parallels in the rapid expansion of food charity in the UK following years of austerity, Fisher asked what does it mean when anti-hunger initiatives are partnering with big businesses? Who profits and who is left behind?

"We have pretended that the problem is hunger and not poverty. We’ve pretended that the solution to hunger is charity, not ensuring the right to food or increasing the political power of the poor." - Andy Fisher

The session is available here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/u65AciS-J00

Andrew Fisher (2017) Big Hunger - The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press

• Chris Möller, conducting his PhD research, taking a critical look at the links between UK supermarkets and food charities in the nationwide "Neighbourhood Food Collections".
• Maddy Power is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of York working on food insecurity and food aid in multi-ethnic contexts. She previously worked at The Equality Trust, the Resolution Foundation and 38 Degrees.

Suspicious minds: Constructing good and bad Muslims through community cohesion and Prevent 

Dr Leonie Jackson, University of Huddersfield

11 May 2017

Since 2001, Muslims have been increasingly defined as both an internal and an external threat to Britain, with two state sponsored discourses, community cohesion and counterterrorism, central to these representations. Community cohesion discourse explained the 2001 Northern riots as resulting from the proliferation of self-segregating  communities who lived parallel lives without integration, while Prevent’s counterterrorism discourse responded to the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks through the withdrawal of funding and support from ‘extremist mosques‘ and the sponsorship of Islamic organisations that worked to combat radicalisation. This seminar explored the ways in which these discourses split Muslims into good and bad, exteriorising violence and articulating ‘British values’ as a solution to the problems believed to be caused by excessive Muslim cultural diversity. The seminar questioned the efficacy of the 2011 revised Prevent strategy, which broadened the scope of counterterrorism to include far-right extremism at the same time as disentangling Prevent work from community cohesion, and argued that it risks repeating earlier mistakes by reifying white working class identities and refusing to engage with those most in need of intervention. 

Dr Leonie Jackson is Lecturer in Politics at the University of Huddersfield. She is the author of Islamophobia in Britain: The Making of a Muslim Enemy, which is forthcoming with Palgrave.

Priorities for Intersex People: Medical and Human Rights aspects

28 March 2017

The seminar will address the medical treatment of Intersex traits, the rights of the child and other human rights issues, and best practices for professionals. It will also highlight the lived experiences of people with Intersex traits. The workshop will address both best practices and lived experience, providing the opportunity for participants to engage more deeply with the topic. We are delighted to present a seminar and workshop led by Joe Holliday and Holly Greenberry from Intersex UK. Joe Holliday and Holly Greenberry have been prominent intersex campaigners for many years. People born with Intersex variations (sometimes known as variations of sex characteristics) and medically referred to with the controversial term Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) are born with variations in their sex characteristics that are perceived to fall outside the socially constructed norms for the male and female body. The medical treatment of these variations has raised criticism from Intersex people themselves, as well as many UN treaty bodies. The seminar will address the medical treatment of Intersex traits, the rights of the child and other human rights issues, and best practices for professionals. It will also highlight the lived experiences of people with Intersex traits. The workshop will address both best practices and lived experience, providing the opportunity for participants to engage more deeply with the topic.

'Brexit: What Role in the World for Britain Now?'

Speaker: Dr Oliver Daddow, University of Nottingham

22 March 2017

This paper reflected on some of the main identity-based factors that seem to have prompted the vote for Brexit in 2016. The paper articulated the idea that the British have developed an 'outsider tradition' of thinking about their relationship both with 'Europe' historically and the EU in more recent years. This tradition can be seen in foreign policy narratives associated with Britain's role in the world, as well as in associated diplomatic and cultural practices of 'separation' from the continental mainland. The paper argued, ultimately, that the European element of British foreign policy thought was always hotly contested and that the Brexit vote becomes much more explicable when studied through the lenses of a battle for narratives about British identity. The emphasis on immigration, economics and sovereignty/control were all symptoms of a post-imperial identity angst long in the making.

Author biography: Dr Oliver Daddow is Assistant Professor in British Politics and Security at the University of Nottingham. 

Social movement de-radicalisation: The Irish Republican movement

Speaker: Dr Gordon Clubb (University of Leeds)

14 February 2017

There has been a renewed interest in de-radicalisation, yet it as a concept and process has been substantially under-theorised. The paper reconceptualised de-radicalisation as a social process whereby attitudes to violence are softened and reconstructed through a group’s disengagement process, subsequently presenting the next generation with a new ideological terrain in which they are conditioned. This re-conceptualisation distinguishes between disengagement framing – which are changing attitudes toward terrorism and political violence – and ideological change which occurs as a process of social change, particularly between generations. The Provisional IRA’s move away from armed struggle was characterised by the construction of a disengagement frame which did not fully de-legitimise violence, however through interaction with young people this disengagement frame has evolved into de-glamourising violence. The paper explored further ways in which the movement has de-radicalised – such as the role of former combatants in preventing violence among the next generation. The paper explored what causal role ideology plays in the concept of de-radicalisation – indeed, many of the so-called de-radicalisation programmes have very little to do with ideological change. The paper proposed a critical realist framework to conceptualising de-radicalisation in order to identify what causal role ideological change has on political violence.

Dr Gordon Clubb is Lecturer in International Security at the University of Leeds. 

Medicalizing the gendered body: Intersex/DSD and Human Rights 

Speaker: Dr Daniela Crocetti (University of Huddersfield and University of Bologna)

6 December 2016

Intersex and the controversial term DSD (Disorders/Divergence of Sex Development, coined in 2006, refer to numerous variations in the gendered body, from invisible elements such as genetic markers to facial hair. If we include all of the medically coded variations in the gendered body, one in every 2000 individuals (or more) is Intersex in some way. Since the 1800s Intersex variations have been increasingly subject to medical scrutiny, and from the 1950s many children with these physical variations have been subject to potentially damaging cosmetic surgery without full disclosure and informed consent. For the majority of this medical history, Inter-sex medical treatment has focused on social aspects of gender appearance and behaviour, while other issues that might impact the functioning of the organism appeared to be a secondary concern. In the 1990s activist groups began to protest this medical approach, attempting to bring their experience and perspectives to light. While small steps have been taken towards informing parents and patients about diagnosis and medical procedure, there is still controversy surrounding the subject. This paper examines what aspects of the gendered body are subject to medical scrutiny, how this diagnostic area has expanded, and the corresponding medical protocol. It also addresses what human rights concerns have been raised by patient associations and/or social activist groups.

Exploring Youth Political Activism in the UK: What makes Young People Politically Active in Different Organisations?

Speaker: Dr Emily Rainsford (Newcastle University)

11 October 2016

This paper challenged the current research on youth political participation by asking what makes young people active in different political organisations, instead of asking why young people are not participating in formal politics. It applied the classic civic voluntarism model (Verba et al., 1995) to explore which factors (sociodemographic, skills, attitudes, mobilisation and motivations) best distinguish between young activists in political parties’ youth factions, the British Youth Council and the 2010 National Union of Students demonstrations. The results from multinomial logistic regression shows that there are no significant differences between activists in their socio-demographic characteristics, but there are differences especially in the civic and political attitudes. This shows that different organisations attract different kinds of young people, which can be used to (re)engage young people in politics.