Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“It Still Felt Like I Was Going to the End of the Earth”: Race, Identity, and Community Formation in a Seaside Town

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Race, Place and the Seaside

  • 325 Accesses

Abstract

Through large-scale empirical fieldwork, Burdsey addresses the cultural politics underpinning minority ethnic identities and communities in a particular seaside resort. The chapter explores the diverse material, affective and emotional connections that exist for minority ethnic residents in the town, together with their myriad journeys and rationales for moving there. Through Burdsey’s notion of coastal liquidity, the chapter reveals the uneven, contextual, and multidirectional nature of migration processes and settlement at the seaside. The ontological linkages between racialised bodies and the English seaside, and the (re)production of, and challenges to, these dis/connections in minority ethnic as well as dominant popular imaginations are addressed. The chapter also uncovers the complexities and nuances characterising practices and perceptions of integration, isolation, social networks, and community formation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Agyeman, J., & Spooner, R. (1997). Ethnicity and the rural environment. In P. Cloke & J. Little (Eds.), Contested countryside cultures: Otherness, marginalisation and rurality. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anthias, F. (2007). Ethnic ties: Social capital and the question of mobilisability. Sociological Review, 55(4), 788–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Askins, K. (2015). Being together: Everyday geographies and the quiet politics of belonging. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 14(2), 470–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burrell, K. (2008). Materialising the border: Spaces of mobility and material culture in migration from post-socialist Poland. Mobilities, 3(3), 353–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawney, L. (2008). Racialisation of central and east European migrants in Herefordshire (Working Paper No. 53). Sussex Centre for Migration Research, University of Sussex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erel, U. (2010). Migrating cultural capital: Bourdieu in migration studies. Sociology, 44(4), 642–660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erel, U. (2011). Complex belongings: Racialization and migration in a small English city. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34(12), 2048–2068.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J., & Jones, D. (2013). Migration, everyday life and the ethnicity bias. Ethnicities, 13(4), 385–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garland, J., & Chakraborti, N. (2006). “Race”, space and place: Examining identity and cultures of exclusion in rural England. Ethnicities, 6(2), 159–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garland, J., Spalek, B., & Chakraborti, N. (2006). Hearing lost voices: Issues in researching “hidden” minority ethnic communities. British Journal of Criminology, 46(3), 423–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilroy, P. (2004). After empire: Melancholia or convivial culture? London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glick Schiller, N., & Çağlar, A. (2016). Displacement, emplacement and migrant newcomers: Rethinking urban sociabilities within multiscalar power. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 23(1), 17–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Suzanne. (2015a). Migrant urbanisms: Ordinary cities and everyday resistance. Sociology, 49(5), 853–869.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, A. (2013). Young people and everyday multiculturalism. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, P., & Kaur, R. (1999). Rural racism in the UK: Examples of community-based responses. London: Community Development Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman, M., Crowley, H., & Mai, N. (2008). Immigration and social cohesion in the UK: The rhythms and realities of everyday life. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarratt, D. (2015). Seasideness: Sense of place at a seaside resort. In S. Gammon & S. Elkington (Eds.), Landscapes of leisure: Space, place and identities. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keith, M. (2005). After the cosmopolitan? Multicultural cities and the future of racism. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kesten, J., Cochrane, A., Mohan, G., & Neal, S. (2011). Multiculture and community in new city spaces. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32(2), 133–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez-Rodriguez, M. (2010). Migration and the quest for normalcy: Polish migrant mothers and the quest for meritocratic opportunities in the UK. Social Identities, 16(3), 339–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKittrick, K. (2006). Demonic grounds: Black women and the cartographies of struggle. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahtani, M. (2014). Toxic geographies: Absences in critical race thought and practice in social and cultural geography. Social and Cultural Geography, 15(4), 359–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millington, G. (2005). Meaning, materials and melancholia: Understanding the Palace Hotel. Social and Cultural Geography, 6(4), 531–549.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neal, S., & Agyeman, J. (2006a). Afterword. In S. Neal & J. Agyeman (Eds.), op cit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neal, S., Bennett, K., Cochrane, A., & Mohan, G. (2013). Living multiculture: Understanding the new spatial and social relations of ethnicity and multiculture in England. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 31(2), 308–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neal, S., Bennett, K., Jones, H., Cochrane, A., & Mohan, G. (2015). Multiculture and public parks: Researching super-diversity and attachment in public green space. Population, Space and Place, 21(5), 463–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowicka, M., & Vertovec, S. (2014). Comparing convivialities: Dreams and realities of living-with-difference. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(4), 341–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, D., Athwal, B., Robinson, D., & Harrison, M. (2014). Towards intercultural engagement: Building shared visions of neighbourhood and community in an era of new migration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(1), 42–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, P. (2013). Race and ethnicity II: Skin and other intimacies. Progress in Human Geography, 37(4), 578–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raghuram, P., Henry, L., & Bornat, J. (2010). Difference and distinction? Non-migrant and migrant networks. Sociology, 44(4), 623–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ray, L., & Reed, K. (2005). Community, mobility and racism in a semi-rural area: Comparing minority experience in East Kent. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28(2), 212–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhys-Taylor, A. (2014). Intersemiotic fruit: Mangoes, multiculture and the city. In H. Jones & E. Jackson (Eds.), op cit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, D., & Reeve, K. (2006). Neighbourhood experiences of new immigration: Reflections from the evidence base. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, L. (2011). Migrants’ social networks and weak ties: Accessing resources and constructing relationships post-migration. Sociological Review, 59(4), 707–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saldanha, A. (2007). Psychedelic white: Goa trance and the viscosity of race. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shabazz, R. (2015). Spatializing blackness: Architectures of confinement and black masculinity in Chicago. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, R. (1991). Places on the margin: Alternative geographies of modernity. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, N. (2008). Places of exclusion and inclusion: Asylum-seeker and refugee experiences of neighbourhoods in the UK. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(3), 491–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spivak, G. (1990). The post-colonial critic: Interviews, strategies, dialogue. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valentine, G. (2008). Living with difference: Reflections on geographies of encounter. Progress in Human Geography, 32(3), 323–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valentine, G., & Sadgrove, J. (2013). Biographical narratives of encounter: The significance of mobility and emplacement in shaping attitudes towards difference. Urban Studies, 51(9), 1979–1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, C. (2007). Revisiting the rural/race debates: A view from the Welsh countryside. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(5), 741–765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wise, A., & Velayutham, S. (2009). Everyday multiculturalism. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sport and Service Management, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

    Daniel Burdsey

Authors
  1. Daniel Burdsey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Burdsey, D. (2016). “It Still Felt Like I Was Going to the End of the Earth”: Race, Identity, and Community Formation in a Seaside Town. In: Race, Place and the Seaside. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45012-8_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45012-8_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-45011-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-45012-8

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation