Searle, Kevin (2007) From farms to foundries : racism, class and resistance in the life-stories of Yemeni former-steelworkers in Sheffield. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.
Abstract
From Farms to Foundries... explores the intersections o f the themes of racism, class and resistance in the life-stories o f Yemeni former-steelworkers in Sheffield. These main biographical themes are explored within the broader context o f post-war British history. The research is based upon life-story interviews with twenty-five Yemeni former-steelworkers who remained in Sheffield after the onset of the recession in the late 1970s. The study begins to break with two o f the key conventions of literary realism which prevail in much of the literature; namely the reliance on description and the dominance of the singular voice of the ethnographer. The study does not, in the vein of much of the ‘race’ and ethnic relations literature, attempt to describe ‘them’ to ‘us.’ The life-story interviews with the elderly men have been accurately transcribed and reproduced in the thesis in order that they can represent their experiences in the former steelworkers’ own unique industrial demotic. The study argues that in spite o f the complementary process of production in the steel industry where Yemenis usually worked in tandem with white workers, a racialised division of labour soon emerged between a permanent Yemeni lower class, who were consistently denied any promotion, and a relatively mobile white class, with opportunities to flee the least desirable jobs. The thesis argues that the life-stories of the former-steelworkers have consistently emphasised the interviewees’ confinement to the lowliest positions in the steel industry and in the housing market, and demonstrate the prevalence of racism in their lives, which was both overt and institutional, embedded in the structures in which they worked and lived. The migrants’ stories have also revealed the pervasiveness of the often informal acts of resistance against the various exclusionary practices that they faced throughout their lives in Sheffield.
Metadata
Awarding institution: | University of Sheffield |
---|---|
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Identification Number/EthosID: | uk.bl.ethos.837259 |
Depositing User: | EThOS Import Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Oct 2023 11:32 |
Last Modified: | 12 Oct 2023 11:32 |
Download
Final eThesis - complete (pdf)
Filename: 837259.pdf
Description: 837259.pdf
Export
Statistics
You do not need to contact us to get a copy of this thesis. Please use the 'Download' link(s) above to get a copy.
You can contact us about this thesis. If you need to make a general enquiry, please see the Contact us page.