My research explores social, economic and spatial injustices in governance systems and maps its impacts on social mobility of subaltern groups, particularly ethnic minority communities and informal economy workers. My work focusses on the emergent power relations among local communities, state authorities and third sector and how these relations influence on everyday lived experiences of a community and their engagement in the urban participatory processes.
Prior to joining WISERD, I worked at the Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University on a project funded by the Canal and River Trust. The research examined the social and structure barriers to accessibility to spaces and spatial practices. The study presents a nuanced view the way people interact with their surrounding spaces and power relations underpinning the transforming patterns of in/exclusion in the public space.
Current WISERD Projects:
Patronage, elites and power relations
Aim: to explore systems of patronage within civil society and the connections between civil society, civic stratification and elite formation.
Research Team: Sally Power (Cardiff University), Jesse Heley (Aberystwyth University), Amy Sanders (Aberystwyth University), Flossie Kingsbury (Aberystwyth University), Najia Zaidi (Cardiff University)
My research interests are in the following areas:
- To investigate the limitations in the collective understanding of the role of community in social and individual wellbeing, and its effect on the ability of interventions to address the disadvantage groups. To examine how the connections within and between communities, accompanying with issues of confidence and trust and dealings with systems, structures and institutions, affect people’s wellbeing. And how demographic and economic trends influence the public sector provision in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
- To examine the socio-economic networks of Muslim women home-based workers, and the impact of cultural and religious norms that shape their participation in the labour market. And how women can balance their labour, reproductive and religious needs with their right for mobility justice and socio-economic equity.
My current research investigates the barriers to access and diversity in public spaces and draws its impacts on community wellbeing. The study examines the power differentials between institutions (state and non-state) and disadvantaged groups/ ethnic minorities with multiple cultural, religious and economic variances that are often disregarded by the institutions promoting the diversity led to social and spatial stratification. The project uses social capital analysis framework to understand the complexity of social relations, interactions (human-human, human-non-human) and flow of information between place-based communities, civil society and state actors. The project has co-produced knowledge on mechanisms that controlled the access to equitable participation and the role of the powerful groups who occupy dominant positions within social relations. Also, the research mapped the everyday navigation experiences of local communities and how it influences on their social mobility.
