Abstract
The authors describe a community initiative begun in 2008 in their residential street in Rusholme, a multi-cultural, multi-faith inner-city neighbourhood in inner south Manchester, UK. Using a variety of techniques, including street tree planting, litter picking, community festivals and the establishment of a residents’ association, the authors outline the ‘Stories on our Street’ project which engaged the households in their street in aural history and photographic narratives bringing neighbours of different faiths, and none, together and building a strong sense of community spirit. The chapter sets out some of the results of the project and concludes with reflections on the importance of community engagement work of this kind.
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Notes
- 1.
The ‘Stories on our Street’ project seeks to respect the confidentiality of participants and residents. To this end, the authors have changed the names of the streets in this chapter.
Rusholme was in the top 31%–40% of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England, 9854 to 13,137, out of a total of 32,844 Lower Super Output Areas in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (Manchester City Council, 2015) prior to boundary changes in 2018.
- 2.
More on the history of the area is held in the Rusholme and Victoria Park Archive.
- 3.
The 1911 Census can be accessed at: https://ukcensusonline.com/search.
- 4.
For information on visiting the display see: http://www.archivesplus.org/about-archives. Accessed 8 July 2018.
- 5.
The publication is available to purchase through the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Resource Centre.
- 6.
See https://www.hlf.org.uk/looking-funding/our-grant-programmes/sharing-heritage for more details.
- 7.
For details of the radical history of Greater Manchester, see the People’s History Museum, which has an online collection at: http://www.phm.org.uk/ and the WCLM: the Working Class History Movement Library at: http://www.wcml.org.uk/. For the Asian Youth Movement, see Anandi Ramamurthy, Britain’s Asian Youth Movement (London: Pluto Press, 2013).
- 8.
Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Unit, A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal: National Strategy Action Plan (London: Crown, 2001) http://www.bris.ac.uk/poverty/downloads/keyofficialdocuments/Neighbourhood%20Renewal%20National%20Strategy%20Report.pdf. Accessed 8 July 2018.
Communities and Local Government (CLG), The Community Development Challenge Report (London: Crown, 2006) http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120920061419/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/153241.pdf.
Alison Gilchrist and Marilyn Taylor, The Short Guide to Community Development (Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2011).
- 9.
CLG, The Community Development Challenge Report.
- 10.
Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone – The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000).
- 11.
See Marilyn Taylor, Mandy Wilson, Derrick Purdue, and Pete Wilde, Changing Neighbourhoods: The Impact of Light Touch Community Development Support in 20 Communities (York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2007) https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/changing-neighbourhoods-impact-light-touch-support-20-communitiesreports.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, New Deal for Communities, the National Evaluation Annual Report, 2003/2004 (London: Crown, 2004).
ODPM, Social Exclusion Unit, Breaking the Cycle, Taking Stock of Progress and Priorities for the Future, Social Exclusion Unit Report, Summary (London: Crown, 2004).
ODPM, Social Exclusion Unit, Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Programme National Evaluation, Annual Review 2003/4 & Key Findings (London: Crown, 2004).
Communities and Local Government (CLG) ‘Learning to Change Neighbourhoods, Lessons from the Guide Neighbourhoods Programme,’ Summary Evaluation Report (London: Crown, 2007).
CLG, Place Making (London: Crown, 2008).
CLG, ‘Evaluation of the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal: Local Research Project, Executive Summary,’ ECOTEC Research and Consulting Ltd. (London: Crown, 2010).
- 12.
Goodwin, Matthew and Heath Oliver (2016) “The Brexit Vote Explained: Poverty, Low Skills and Lack of Opportunities,” York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/brexit-vote-explained-poverty-low-skills-and-lack-opportunities.
- 13.
Anne Primavesi, Gaia’s Gift: Earth, Ourselves and God after Copernicus (London: Routledge, 2003) 116.
- 14.
Anne Primavesi, Gaia and Climate Change, A Theology of Gift Events (London: Routledge, 2009) 88.
- 15.
The Forum for Religion and Ecology at Yale University gives official statements on Religion and Ecology from a wide variety of faith communities.
- 16.
Steven Lukes, Power: A Radical View, the Original Text with Two Major New Chapters, 2nd edition (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1974 & 2005).
- 17.
Thomas Merton, quoted in B. Browne, ‘Imagine Chicago: A Methodology for Cultivating Community,’ Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology (14, 2004) 394–405.
- 18.
Appreciative inquiry suggests drawing on the best in people and communities to dream and achieve hopeful futures: https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/learn/appreciative-inquiry-introduction/.
- 19.
See Adam Dinham, “What Is a ‘Faith Community’” Community Development Journal 46 (4, 2010) 526–54. See also resources on the Faith-based Regeneration Network: http://www.fbrn.org.uk/about-fbrn.
- 20.
Marilyn Mayo, Zoraida Mediwelso-Bendek, Carol Packham (eds.) Community Research for Community Development (London: Palgrave, 2013).
Susanne Martikke, Andrew Church, and Angie Heart, Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: What Works in Sustaining Community-University Partnerships (Manchester: GMCVO, 2015) https://www.gmcvo.org.uk/greater-sum-its-parts-what-works-sustaining-community-university-partnerships (accessed 9 March 2017).
- 21.
Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury ‘Preface’ in Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury (eds.) Handbook of Action Research Concise (paperback edition) (London: Sage, 2006) i–xxxi.
- 22.
Peter Reason, and Hilary Bradbury ‘Introduction: Inquiry and Participation in Search of World Worthy of Human Aspiration’ in Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury (eds.) Handbook of Action Research Concise (paperback edition) (London: Sage, 2006) 1–14.
- 23.
For further details on the two universities, see: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/facts-figures/ and https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/media/mmuacuk/content/documents/about/corporate-strategy/Manchester-Met-Corporate-Brochure-A6.pdf.
- 24.
John Goddard, Ellen Hazelkorn, Louise Kempton, and Paul Vallence (eds.) The Civic University, the Policy and Leadership Challenges (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2016).
- 25.
Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth (San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1988).
Thomas Berry, The Great Work, Our Way into the Future (New York, NY: Bell Tower, 1999).
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ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister), Social Exclusion Unit. 2004a. Breaking the Cycle, Taking Stock of Progress and Priorities for the Future, Social Exclusion Unit Report, Summary. London: Crown.
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Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks to the members of the Residents Association, for their time, participation, support and faith in the Project; to Helen Glaizner, Nicky Johnson and Harry Spooner; our local Councillors, Rabnawaz Akbar, Ahmed Ali and Jill Lovecy; the New Apostolic Church and Jackie Ould-Okojie; and Elizabeth Parish for their encouragement and support.
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Kettleborough, H.M., Barton, P., Bishop, E. (2019). Collecting Stories of a Manchester Street, Living Together as People of Multi-Faiths. In: Dunn, J., Joziasse, H., Patta, R., Duggan, J. (eds) Multiple Faiths in Postcolonial Cities. Postcolonialism and Religions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17144-5_2
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