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Were you involved in community-based, feminist or activist projects in New York City and/or London in the 1970s? Share your experiences, insights and reflections

  • Writer: Arielle Lawson
    Arielle Lawson
  • May 6, 2024
  • 2 min read

My name is Arielle Lawson and I’m a PhD student based at the University of Manchester. In connection to my archival research, I’m currently recruiting participants for loosely structured interviews about their personal experiences and involvement with grassroots and feminist urban activism (and connectedly forms of social movement print, media and cultural production) in NYC or London in the 1970s. Taking an expanded social movement perspective, I’m interested in exploring the everyday “lived” forms of activism during this period and, connectedly, new prefigurative or alternative types of collective spaces and practices in the city, especially as oriented around care (eg collective childcare, squatted living, women’s buildings, etc).


Key info for participating:


If you were involved in 1970s feminist or grassroots urban projects and activism in NYC or London, I’d love to hear from you! This would be an open-ended interview based on your experiences and engagement in the 1970s in NYC or London (and in relation to archival materials produced then) and also reflective about social movements and the city more generally.


  • We can meet and talk either in person or online/via the phone, depending on your convenience.

  • The length of the interview could be flexible, and as your participation is voluntary, you would be free to stop at any time.

  • These conversations would be confidential and used anonymously in my research or you could optionally also choose to be self-identified, if you prefer.


I have shared more about my research in the paragraph below and have my formal Participation Information Sheet (PIS) and Consent Form linked here as well. These outline more about the project and your potential involvement – I’m happy to answer any questions in advance of you deciding if you’d like to participate!



More about my research:


My research explores the period of contested urban, social and economic transformation in and of New York City and London in the 1970s. Drawing on social movement archives of activist and community-based form of print and media production in connection with participant interviews, my aim is to connect 1970s social movement theorizing and ideals to their everyday “lived” forms, experiences of and experiments in the city as grounded in both their changing economic, social, and urban conditions as well as their alternative political, spatial and prefigurative possibilities. From today’s vantage point, I’m interested in what often overlooked lessons and insights we can gain from this particular moment in time across both cities, especially from perspective that brought to the forefront the “the personal is political.” On a deeper theoretical and historical level, I’m seeking to conceptualize and identify a feminist spatial politics of the 1970s, particularly as related to the development of new and alternative sites, spatial practices, and strategies of collective care. 


Learn more and get in touch:



 
 
 

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