IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v38y2020i4p599-618.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Engaging political histories of urban uprisings with young people: The Liverpool riots, 1981 and 2011

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew C Benwell

    (Newcastle University, UK)

  • Andrew Davies
  • Bethan Evans

    (University of Liverpool, UK)

  • Catherine Wilkinson

    (Edge Hill University, UK)

Abstract

Based on a participatory research project which involved academics and young people at KCC Live, a community radio station in Merseyside, exploring the 1981 and 2011 riots in Liverpool, UK, this paper argues that co-produced research involving young people and radio provides an under-utilised avenue for research on historical and political geographies. Working together for a year in 2012–13, the academic and non-academic participants produced a radio documentary exploring how and why the 1981 riots in Liverpool occurred, and what we could learn from those historical events to help understand the more recent 2011 riots. Young people’s capacities to engage with past events that took place before they were born, in order to reflect on and understand the political present, are seldom explored in research. The research that this paper is based on therefore provides an original and significant contribution to debates on conducting research with young people, in particular developing approaches to thinking through how young people engage with, and make sense of, politics and political activity, especially disruptive or insurgent activities like riots/urban uprisings. As a result, the paper makes an important contribution to work being done on the political capacities of young people; collective histories and memories in young people’s understandings of politics, place, and space; and knowledges of urban uprisings. We argue that bringing children’s/youth geographies into dialogue with political and historical geographies such as those discussed here is a useful avenue for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew C Benwell & Andrew Davies & Bethan Evans & Catherine Wilkinson, 2020. "Engaging political histories of urban uprisings with young people: The Liverpool riots, 1981 and 2011," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(4), pages 599-618, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:38:y:2020:i:4:p:599-618
    DOI: 10.1177/2399654419897916
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2399654419897916
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2399654419897916?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karim Murji & Sarah Neal, 2011. "Riot: Race and Politics in the 2011 Disorders," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 216-220, December.
    2. Alice Mah, 2014. "Port Cities and Global Legacies," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-28314-6, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giorgia Doná & Helen Taylor, 2015. "The ‘Peaks and Troughs’ of Societal Violence: Revisiting the Actions of Turkish and Kurdish Shopkeepers during the 2011 London Riots," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(1), pages 83-93, February.
    2. Bottalico Andrea, 2022. "Automation Processes in the Port Industry and Union Strategies: The Case of Antwerp," New Global Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 31-47, April.
    3. Andrew Wallace, 2012. "The 2011 ‘Riots’: Reflections on the Fall and Rise of Community," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 17(2), pages 1-5, May.
    4. Ali Keyvanfar & Arezou Shafaghat & Sapura Mohamad & Mu’azu Mohammed Abdullahi & Hamidah Ahmad & Nurul Hidayah Mohd Derus & Majid Khorami, 2018. "A Sustainable Historic Waterfront Revitalization Decision Support Tool for Attracting Tourists," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Pedro Janela Pinto & G. Mathias Kondolf, 2020. "The Fit of Urban Waterfront Interventions: Matters of Size, Money and Function," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Toby Roberts & Ian Williams & John Preston & Nick Clarke & Melinda Odum & Stefanie O’Gorman, 2021. "Love Thy Neighbour: Social Benefits and Port-City Relationships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-18, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:38:y:2020:i:4:p:599-618. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.