World City

Doreen Massey once wrote that “it is (or ought to be) impossible even to begin thinking about Kilburn High Road without bringing into play half the world and a considerable amount of British imperialist history.” In this episode, urban sociologist Emma Jackson joins us to unpack London’s entanglements with places elsewhere.

London’s imperialist and colonialist legacies are evident not only on the city’s streets, but also reach behind closed doors: into our classrooms, living rooms, offices, shops, and hospital wards. We speak to sociologist Yasmin Gunaratnam to discuss these lasting bonds.

In her book World City, Doreen Massey asks: what does London stand for? We’d love to hear your responses to her question. What does London mean to you? What are your experiences of the city? Please share your thoughts with us via this form.

Episode Credits

Host: Agata Lisiak
Co-host: Emma Jackson
Guest: Yasmin Gunaratnam
Also Featured: Doreen Massey
Writer and Producer: Agata Lisiak
Senior Editor: Susan Stone
Sound Producer: Reece Cox
Production Assistant: Adèle Martin
Music: Studio R
Artwork: Bose Sarmiento
Special Thanks: Serpentine Gallery
In partnership with: The Sociological Review Foundation
Funded by: Volkswagen Foundation

Find more about Spatial Delight at The Sociological Review.

Doreen Massey’s work quoted in this episode:

A Global Sense of Place, Marxism Today, 1991
World City (Wiley, 2007)
Doreen Massey interviewed at London’s Serpentine Gallery, 2006

Also mentioned:

Young Homeless People and Urban Space: Fixed in Mobility, Emma Jackson (Routledge, 2015)
Bowling Together – Emma Jackson’s research project exploring leisure practices and urban change through the site of a London bowling alley
Death and the Migrant: Bodies, Borders and Care, Yasmin Gunaratnam (Bloomsbury, 2013)
Go home? The politics of immigration controversies, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Emma Jackson, Gargi Bhattacharyya, William Davies, Sukhwant Dhaliwal, Kirsten Forkert, Hannah Jones and Roiyah Saltus (Manchester University Press, 2017)
A perverse subsidy: African trained nurses and doctors in the NHS, Maureen Mackintosh, Parvati Raghuram and Leroi Henry, Soundings 34 (2006).
The Migrant’s Paradox: Street Livelihoods and Marginal Citizenship in Britain, Suzanne M. Hall (University of Minnesota Press, 2021)
Artistic and Intellectual Hospitality, Yasmin Gunaratnam and Fataneh Farahani, Discover Society, 2020