Participating in Radical Visual Sociology: Supporting housing activism through gentrification and displacement research

This thesis examines whether participatory arts practices can be deployed in changing urban contexts without getting co-opted into that change and, instead, help to resist its uneven aspects. It presents a participatory arts and research project which responds to the politics and aesthetics of 21st century state-led gentrification, with a specific focus on Deptford, south-east London (UK). The project challenges dominant gentrification narratives by making visible and audible a variety of alternative perspectives that highlight the lived experiences of gentrification-induced displacement. It proposes a novel art and research methodology that, while emphasising participation and ethical practice, pays attention to the politics and aesthetics of creative research. It is underpinned by feminist participatory action research and the radical tradition of community arts and activism. Combining sociological research with a community arts project and the production, publication and launch of a book, this research offers rich understandings of the lived experiences of gentrification-induced displacement while also enacting these representations in the public sphere to support local housing activism. Therefore, my practice not only counters widespread depoliticised participatory practices that make community artists complicit in uneven urban change, it also offers a counterpoint to urban research that, while critically describing processes of change, does little in the way of actively engaging with those processes.

This research is an example of public sociology, engaging with non-academic and academic audiences. Publishing the research data on alternative media under the title Deptford is Changing to encourage public debate also challenges traditional modes of dissemination. It offers space for a multiplicity of voices and forms of representations with the aim of addressing a wide and varied audience. It is recommended to read the accompanying book of the same title alongside this thesis (The book can also be read online: tinyurl.com/deptfordischanging). The thesis argues for a creative activist sociological imagination, a Radial Visual Sociology which gets actively and creatively involved in working towards social justice.