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Knowledge UnlatchedWe dedicate this book to our grandmothers -Ollie Lee Mason and Adèle Fetterly -who, through their lives, taught us what survival and resistance means. v Contents Glossary of French terms vi About the authors ix Acknowledgements x Foreword by Patricia Hill Collins xi one Taking minority women's activism seriously 1 two Theorising and resisting 'political racelessness' in Europe three Whose crisis counts? four Enterprising activism five The politics of survival six Learning across cases, learning beyond 'cases' seven Conclusion: warning signs 115 Appendix: Fieldwork and sampling strategy 123 References 129 Index 145 vi Minority women and austerity 'sensitive' urban zones ix About the authors Leah Bassel is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Leicester. Her research interests include the political sociology of gender, migration, race and citizenship and she is author of Refugee women: Beyond gender versus culture (Routledge, 2012) and The politics of listening: Possibilities and challenges for democratic life (Palgrave, 2017). She conducted an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project 'The UK Citizenship Process: Exploring Immigrants' Experiences' and is Assistant Editor of the journal Citizenship Studies. Before her academic work, Leah was an emergency outreach worker with asylum seekers in Paris and created a circus camp project for young migrants. Akwugo Emejulu is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick. Her research interests include the political sociology of race, gender and the grassroots activism of women of colour in Europe and America. Her first book, Community development as micropolitics: Comparing theories, policies and politics in America and Britain was published by Policy Press in 2015. Her work has appeared in Politics & Gender, Race & Class and the Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies. Before entering academia, Akwugo worked as a community organiser, a participatory action researcher and as a trade-union organiser in America and Britain.x Minority women and austerity
AcknowledgementsWe would first like to thank all the women in France, England and Scotland who participated in this project. You took valuable time away from your busy lives to share your experiences with us. Your honesty, courage and commitment are an example to us and we hope to have done justice to you. While we are not mentioning you here by name to preserve anonymity, please know that you are far from nameless in our minds. Second, we want to acknowledge the good fortune we have had in finding each other to work with in genuine collaboration. The sum was always greater than its parts and this book is the result ...