Transforming Society podcast Bristol University Press

Racial justice is never far from the headlines, but, although the ideals of the legal system such as fairness and equality seem allied to the struggle, campaigners have been all too often let down by the system. 
In this episode Jess Miles and Bharat Malkani, author of ‘Racial Justice and the Limits of the Law’, talk through cases like those of the Colston Four and Shamima Begum, to explore this paradox and establish where change is possible.
 
Bharat Malkani is Reader in Law at Cardiff University. His research connects human rights with criminal justice, with a particular focus on racism, miscarriages of justice and the death penalty. Follow him on Twitter: @bharatmalkani.
Find out more about the book: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/racial-justice-and-the-limits-of-law
 
Timestamps:
01:11 - How does the Colston Four case illustrate the relationship, and the paradox, between racial justice and the law?
04:31 - How do six concepts from critical race theory explain the ways the law is limiting when it comes to racial justice?
36:43 - What is anti-racist lawyering and is it possible within the system?
42:16 - There are structural limits everywhere, not just in law. How does EDI relate to this and what should we think about?
46:40 - If we are concluding that the law is too limited to achieve racial justice, what is there to learn and where can change be made?
 
Intro music:
Cold by yoitrax | @yoitrax
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creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
 
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In this episode, George Miller talks to the author of What are Prisons for?, prison inspector and visiting professor of law at Oxford Hindpal Singh Bhui, about why we lock so many people up.
Prison populations have increased hugely in the past fifty years and vast sums of money are spent to keep over 11.5 million people behind bars, so you might think there is overwhelming evidence that prison ‘works’.
However, hard evidence for this claim is lacking. ‘If we are to understand more about the purpose of prisons,’ Hindpal Singh Bhui argues, ‘we need to look much further and deeper than official statements and dominant narratives.’
Dr Hindpal Singh Bhui OBE is an Inspection Team Leader at HM Inspectorate of Prisons and a Visiting Law Professor at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford.
 
The full transcript of the podcast is available here: https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2024/04/10/podcast-should-we-be-aiming-to-improve-prisons-or-abolish-them/
 
Timestamps:
1:50 - What was your earliest impressions of prisons?
4:34 - What is your current role?
5:51 - What are prisons for day in and day out? 
11:43 - Who gets sent to prison and why they get sent to prison?
16:15 - Do you think that the abolitionist position helps take the debate forward? 
20:12 - How do you begin to have a mature debate about change?
24:36 - Are prisons a sort of epiphenomenon on top of deeper, wider social problems?
27:28 - Were there any things that you discovered where you came upon something surprising or enlightening?
30:10 - What is an example that you think is inspiring or points in a positive direction?
 
Intro music:
Cold by yoitrax | @yoitrax
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
 
Follow the Transforming Society blog to be told when new articles and podcasts publish: https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/follow-the-blog/

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Jessie Abrahams' new book reveals the extent of class inequality in schools in the UK.
By telling Jessie's story and that of one of the young people in her research, this episode untangles the role aspiration plays for young people in school and the significance of the different choices that are available to different pupils in different schools.
Jessie puts forward ideas for changes that we can make, despite the limitations of what is a fundamentally unequal system.
Jessie Abrahams is Lecturer in Education and Social Justice in the School of Education at the University of Bristol. Follow her on Twitter: @AbrahamsJJ.
 
The full transcript of the podcast is available here: https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2024/03/20/podcast-class-inequality-and-denied-ambition-in-our-schools/
 
Resources:
Find out more about the book: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/schooling-inequality
Read Jake's story for free: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/asset/12446/jacks-story-schooling-inequality-abrahams.pdf
Learn more about the Paired Peers project: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/projects/paired-peers
Explore the Russel Group’s Informed Choices: https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk/
Discover the facilitating subjects: https://successatschool.org/advice/subjects/what-are-facilitating-subjects/204
 
Timestamps:
01:58 – Jessie’s story and how she came to write the book
05:37 – It’s about resources given to schools, not individual teachers
08:24 – Jake’s story
22:04 – Aspiration and the surprising difference between working and middle-class children
30:39 – Blocking and the GSCE/A Level options available at different schools
40:19 – The missed chance to level the playing field during COVID
45:12 – Where can change be made?
 
Intro music:
Cold by yoitrax | @yoitrax
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
 
Follow the Transforming Society blog to be told when new articles and podcasts publish: https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/follow-the-blog/
 

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In this episode, Richard Kemp speaks with Anna Durnova, one of the guest editors for the Emotions and Society special issue on 'Emotions and the ‘Truths’ of Contentious Politics: Advances in Research on Emotions, Knowledge, and Contemporary Contentious Politics'.
They discuss the weaponisation of truth, the important difference between being told you are safe and feeling you are safe and the need to bring the harnessing of emotions back to democracy.
Read the special issue: https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/emsoc/5/3/emsoc.5.issue-3.xml
Intro music:
Cold by yoitrax | @yoitrax
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

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In this episode, Richard Kemp speaks with Nigel Thrift, author of The Pursuit of Possibility: Redesigning Research Universities, about research universities and what makes them different.
They discuss the importance of free speech at universities, the many threats research universities face and what can be done about these threats to ensure a thriving future for these essential institutions.
Find out more about the book: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-pursuit-of-possibility
Intro music:
Cold by yoitrax | @yoitrax
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

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In this episode, we talk about postracialism and colourblind narratives with Paul Warmington, Visiting Professor at Coventry University, Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths and author of ‘Permanent Racism’.
Britain’s current postracial perspectives are facile so we need to reconceptualise critical race theory from a British standpoint. This means foregrounding the concept of ‘permanent racism’ and decolonising public debate and antiracism itself.
Find out more about the book: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/permanent-racism
Intro music:
Cold by yoitrax | @yoitrax
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.