Former ISRF Fellow Joy White presents her new book, Terraformed. Part ethnography, part memoir, Terraformed contextualises the history of Newham and considers how young Black lives are affected by racism, neoliberalism and austerity.
JOY WHITE, UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE
ISRF Independent Scholar Fellow 2015-16
Main image:
still from Malikah Holder’s animation, Terraformed
Since the 1980s, neoliberalism, gentrification and structural racism have wreaked havoc on inner-city communities, widening inequality and entrenching deprivation. Nowhere in Britain is this more stark than in Newham, East London.
In a subtle study of a storied urban neighbourhood that has become a flashpoint for the problems of the rapidly changing city, Joy White gives voice to the experiences of black youth who have had it all: huge student debt, invisible homelessness, custodial sentences, electronic tagging, surveillance, arrest, ASBOs, issues with health and well-being, and of course, loss.
In the wake of controversies around UK Drill, the housing crisis, as well as the upcoming London Mayoral elections, Terraformed explores the key questions facing people living in cities today.
Terraformed: Young Black Lives in the Inner City
by Joy White
Published by Repeater Books
£10.99
Dr Joy White
Lecturer in Applied Social Studies at the University of Bedfordshire
Joy White (Twitter) is a former ISRF Independent Scholar Fellow. She is the author of Urban Music and Entrepreneurship: Beats, Rhymes and Young People’s Enterprise (Routledge, 2017).
