Mixed-methods approaches to studying living multiculture
In a new era of global migration, diverse forms of urban mobility, migration settlement, and resettlement have contributed to the reshaping of national populations and localities, paving the way for new encounters, exchanges, and tensions (Neal et al. 2017). In this context, cities are not only the terrain on which these entangled relationships unfold, but these relationships shape them. Indeed, studies on multiculture demand a new focus on place and space because they are vital to understanding how multicultural social relations are enacted and lived.
Informed by the recent postcolonial turn in urban studies that calls for a decentralisation of urban theory (Robinson 2006) and embracing a comparative case study approach (Robinson 2016), this seminar series will bring together academics, early career researchers and practitioners in thinking and learning about mixed-methods research practices (Bennett and De Sabbata 2023) for understanding and describing heterogeneous formations of multiculture across different local contexts: Leicester (UK), Prato (Italy) and Antwerp (Belgium). We aim to explore how a range of diverse historical and material processes have led Leicester, Prato and Antwerp to variously develop the status of “the multicultural” city in their respective countries. We will explore what “multicultural” means in the three different contexts, using geo-spatial, geo-political and cultural lenses to interrogate processes taking place.
Organisers
The Towards innovative mixed-methods approaches to studying living multiculture in small cities seminar series is organised by:
- Stef De Sabbata, Associate Professor of Geographical Information Science, School of Geography Geology & The Environment, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
- Katy Bennett, Professor in Human Geography, School of Geography Geology & The Environment, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
- Matteo Dutto, Adjunct Research Fellow, Monash University European Research Foundation, Prato, Italy.
- Maarten Loopmans, Professor in HumanGgeography and Political Ecology at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium.
- Giorgia Mascaro, PhD Candidate, School of Geography Geology & The Environment, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
Acknowledgments
This workshop is supported by a Seminar Series Award from the Urban Studies Foundation, grant reference: USF-SSA-230312.
