2024/06/13 by Amy Clarke, Ben Rogaly, Cath Senker · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism #Urban Planning and Governance #Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/area.12952
openalex publication_date 2024/06/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract Is it foolish to talk or write about hope in the face of widespread existential crises? Our answer is ‘no’. On the contrary, hope is more necessary the bleaker things become. In this article, we explore hope as a practice. Influenced by the abolition geography of Ruth Wilson Gilmore, we build on John Holloway's argument that such practices start from ourselves, where we are and our own capacities, and overflow that which contains us. We write as resident‐activists within three community organisations in the place we live in. Extending existing geographical literature, we show how our resident‐activism is distinct from, yet also entangled with, scholar‐activism and the struggles, contradictions and potential solidarities found in the UK's marketised universities. This way of working can itself be seen as a practice of hope. The article further explores practices of hope that emerge within the three organisations. Though emplaced, these practices are not confined in space or time, drawing rather on history as a resource and connecting with broader national and international processes. The article concludes by using Holloway's concept of rage‐joy to bring together practices of hope across the three organisations and among us as resident‐activists and participants in industrial action over pay, casualisation, workloads, equalities and pensions in UK universities. The result is a capacity to see the human in each other, a necessary step in resisting resurgent fascist politics and addressing existential crises.