Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Populations: The Role of English Local Government

The role of local government has recently come under debate, in the context of state retrenchment, public sector cuts and the marketisation of welfare. Recent discussions have centred on local authorities as leaders, on enterprise and on democracy, but there has been little discussion of local authorities in relation to equalities issues and minority groups. This article examines the role of local government in relation to one minority grouping, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) people, drawing on empirical material gathered from 2007 to 2010 as part of a large Economic and Social Research Council research project. It describes the importance of equalities legislation and related implementation mechanisms in driving forward the LGB equalities agenda, explores aspects of welfare delivery to LGB people and addresses democratic processes. The article suggests that a collision of different forces is currently taking place: the legislation supports the protection of the LGB communities, but this support is undermined by the recession-related and ideologically driven public sector cuts. In addition, aggregate approaches to local democracy may override the interests of minority groups such as LGB people

The impact of communities of practice on masters dissertations: a small scale case Study of MSc project management students

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are known to increase knowledge sharing and personal development. In this pilot study in a UK higher education institution, we explored using CoPs with Postgraduate (Masters and PhD) students with a view to investigating the CoPs’ impact on the Masters students’ dissertation engagement and achievement. We conducted action research, forming 4 CoPs, each including 1 PhD student and approximately 3 MSc students. We analysed the 11 MSc Project Management students’ engagement, results and feedback and the 4 Project Management PhD researchers’ feedback using mixed methods from questionnaires, feedback forums and quantitative analysis of dissertation results (marks). We found four categories of outcome: (i) MSc students’ mode of communication with their CoP; (ii) MSc students’ contribution to their CoP; (iii) benefits to MSc students; and (iv) impact on MSc dissertation results. Our outcomes show that the CoP had an impact on MSc student engagement and performance, and indicate CoPs as worthy of further investigation for enhancing students’ learning experience

Geographies of stigma : post-trafficking experiences

Funding: UK Economic and Social Research Council (Grant Number(s): RES-062-23-1490).This paper explores the relationship between human trafficking and geographies of stigma. We introduce post-trafficking contexts as important settings for understanding how geographical imaginaries underpin the everyday occurrence of stigma for those who have experienced human trafficking. We show how a focus on trafficking can speak back to some of the core migration literatures in Geography, highlighting new agendas with a particular focus on the how, where and why of stigma. The paper draws on qualitative research in Nepal and interviews with 46 women who have experienced trafficking, to explain how geographies of stigma circumscribe the agency of returnees and affect their livelihoods and mobilities. It examines themes of spatial differentiation, territorialisation and scalar processes in relation to the production and navigation of stigma. It shows how post-trafficking is given meaning and expressed through spatial form and relations, which become manifest in scalar hierarchies of stigma. The argument highlights how these hierarchies are anchored through trafficking routes and destinations. It contrasts village and city settings as potential sites of return, bringing centre stage the role of the city in mediating returnee’s experiences. The analysis indicates how the categories of migrant and trafficked women are co-produced through bureaucratisation processes. The documents and identificatory practices at the heart of state and non-state interventions help produce the terms of in/visibility and social recognition for migrant women who often want to remain hidden. At the same time, they also reproduce some of the practices and mechanisms that underpin trafficking, thereby shaping the rejection, harassment and abuse that comes with geographies of stigma for returnee women.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Returning to sexual stigma : post-trafficking lives

The research for this paper was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council – ESRC Res-062-23-1490: ‘Post Trafficking in Nepal: Sexuality and Citizenship in Livelihood Strategies’. Diane Richardson would also like to acknowledge the support provided by the award of a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, ‘Transforming Citizenship: Sexuality, Gender and Citizenship Struggles’ [award MRF-2012-106].This article is concerned with returning to sexual stigma in two key respects. First, it prompts a return to the conceptual understanding of sexual stigma and makes an important contribution to critiques of the individualised frameworks that have dominated much of the literature on stigma to date, through a critical analysis of sexual stigma as a collective process at different scales and locations. Second, using empirical data from a qualitative study of post-trafficking experiences of women in Nepal as a case study to develop theoretical understandings of the production of stigma, it explores modalities of sexualized stigma encountered on return from trafficking situations. Within the trafficking literature there has been very little attention to what happens after trafficking. This article addresses this gap in focusing on lives post-trafficking and, in addition, contributes to the limited research on trafficking in Nepal.PostprintPeer reviewe

Interpreting for Vocational Rehabilitation Consumers: An Emerging Specialty

This article discusses the role of an interpreter working with vocational rehabilitation consumers in an occupational context with or without a job coach. It describes the necessity of being flexible to the needs of the deaf person and the demands of the work environment. In this situation, the interpreter who takes into consideration the roles of other involved professionals will provide the most effective services to the consumer

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equalities Initiatives: The Case of UK Local Government

In the UK, the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equalities work is currently undergoing a period of rapid change. Developments are fuelled by the introduction of a range of new legislation as well as ongoing local government modernisation. Whilst LGBT work is taking place in a range of local authorities, in areas such as human resources, social services, leisure services, and education, this work is quite differentiated across type and size of authority as well as locality. The changes concerning LGBT equalities work are taking place in the context of a broader drive towards equality concerning age and faith, as well as areas of equalities work which are more established. The development of these different strands of work highlights tensions as well as areas of confluence. Several key processes can be seen to play out in relation to LGBT qualities work in local government, including those of normalisation and assimilation, organisational resistance and compliance, and issues concerning democracy. This paper discusses these processes in relation to findings from a large study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equalities initiatives in local government. The study uses innovative action research, as well as more traditional qualitative methods, in conducting a cross-cultural exploration of equalities work in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Post-trafficking bordering practices : perverse co-production, marking and stretching borders

The research for this paper was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council – ESRC Res-062-23-1490: ‘Post Trafficking in Nepal: Sexuality and Citizenship in Livelihood Strategies’.This paper highlights the significance of post-trafficking scenarios for understanding bordering practices in political geography. In so doing, it addresses two significant research gaps: the lack of attention to trafficking in geography and the failure of wider interdisciplinary debates to engage with post-trafficking specifically. While extensive research in political geography has addressed the related experiences of refugees, asylum seekers and 'illegals', much of this work has centred on policies, processes and practices that aim to keep 'unwanted strangers out'. By contrast, very little research has addressed how the border is configured for and by those who are crossing-back over; those who are 'returning home', in this case from diverse trafficking situations. The paper draws on recent empirical research on post-trafficking citizenship and livelihoods in Nepal which examined how women returning from trafficking situations deal with stigma and marginalisation. Our analysis illuminates how bordering practices circumscribe and shape women's lives in powerful ways as they seek to (re)establish a sense of belonging and respect. We examine the interplay of state and non-state actors (national and transnational) in structuring mobility and anti-trafficking advocacy through a range of bordering practices and explore how the border is (co-)produced by varied actors at different border sites. This includes women returning from diverse trafficking situations, who invoke the border to argue that they are 'not as trafficked' as other women, and others who perform the border differently as agents for trafficking prevention.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe