This panel centres around the work of the Rural Racism Project. Alongside popular depictions of rural life as idyllic and the epitome of Englishness, the presence of racism in English society is largely framed through an urban-centric lens. Despite a handful of news stories that have exposed the racist abuse experienced by those visiting and living in rural areas (BBC, 2021; Brown, 2020; Mistlin, 2021), this issue is still largely ignored, whilst previous research on rural racism took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Chakraborti and Garland, 2004; Holloway, 2003; Cloke, 1997).

Through three distinct research streams, this panel seeks to re-story the countryside whilst reflecting the significant social, political, economic, and demographical changes that have shaped rural lives and places today. By highlighting the experiences of global majority communities in rural spaces, we first identify that the process of engaging in discussions about race and rural spaces tends to provoke a ‘backlash’ from various sections of society. Consequently, this project will be the first of its kind to empirically record and analyse the targeted abuse that comes from challenging the dominant constructions of rural life. Second, by assessing the ways in which rural environments can include and exclude minoritised ethnic groups and their heritage, we seek to capture the nature, extent and regional variety of racism and the impacts that this has on individuals and communities. Thus, this panel seeks to build on our knowledge of ‘backlash’ to further exemplify racism and exclusionary attitudes within the rural context. By identifying hostile attitudes and the underpinning factors that trigger hostility and exclusion, this panel will set the scene for more nuanced and inclusive debates about rural spaces and challenge researchers in various fields spanning humanities and social sciences to wrestle with new critical questions on racism and rurality.

Whilst not formally recognised as one of the monitored strands of hate crime, homeless people are subjected to various forms of mistreatment, hostility and abuse on the basis of their perceived homeless identity. The doctoral research underpinning this paper has explored this occurrence, unpacking the natures, contexts and locations of incidents, how different presentations of homelessness and intersectional minoritised identities influence the acts perpetrated, and how this impacts the primary victim and the wider homeless community.

This paper will begin by discussing how the nature and impact of incidents can be effectively examined through a hate studies lens. This discussion unpacks how incidents directed towards homeless people and their impacts share many similarities with broader hate crime victims. However, crucially, significant differences and the impact of not formally holding a ‘hate crime victim’ status are considered.

Next, in thinking about how and why homeless narratives have scarcely appeared within hate studies discourse, research, analysis and policy, this paper will explore alternate approaches to doing research, as informed by the seldom-heard voices movement and creative research methods. In particular, the merits of non-conventional interviews and poster making sessions are reflected upon. These methodological insights provide key lessons for scholars, practitioners and policy-makers working with any marginalised group for better authentic and trauma-informed engagement.

Overall, this paper concludes that much of the victimisation that homeless people are subjected to aligns with that of recognised hate crime victims - however, often dangers and impacts can be amplified due to limited legal and physical protections. In moving forwards, using non-traditional and creative methods are suggested for including seldom-heard communities within our research, policy and decision-making spaces.

This paper examines online backlash against discussions of race and racism in the British rural context. In our previous work on rural racism and colonial histories, the research team have suffered from defamatory and hate-fuelled comments by media outlets, politicians, and the public. Such backlash is generally disregarded, yet we must be aware of how hostile reactions could undermine anti-racist endeavours, hinder the progression of collective consciousness, and contribute to the exacerbation of racial discrimination (Faulkner & Bliuc, 2016; Liu et al., 2021).

In studying race and racism, online news and social media importantly allows diverse voices to speak and be heard, share outrage, feel togetherness, and thereby facilitates the challenge of domination and injustice (Castells, 2015, p.256). Few studies have discussed backlash against/denial of racism, particularly in the British rural context. Our project aims to unpack the backlash by generating a discourse analysis of 10 case studies where individuals or organizations have experienced online hostility for engaging in the topic area. We thus hope to describe the various ‘triggers’ for backlash and the varieties of counter-narratives. Also, in alignment with the conference theme, we add to conventional conversations by reflecting on the voices of the backlash, which are often overlooked in our mainstream dialogues about race and racism.

For this paper, the case of James Wong, a British ethnobotanist and television presenter, is used to illustrate the ways discussions around race provoke backlash and allows anti anti-racist attitudes to proliferate. The analysis draws on the discourse-historical approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (Wodak & Reisigl, 2015). We propose that online commenters adopt an overarching strategy of denial, disagreeing with the stance of James Wong, and denying the relevance of racism. The discursive strategies they use, and their significance will be discussed in the broader context of the British countryside.

In criminological thought and practice, as hate crime scholars, we seek to amplify the voices and experiences of the marginalised and unheard. Meanwhile, criminology, wider social practice, and indeed, society is built upon hierarchical structures which allocate particular identities as inferior.

Drawing from empirical research, The Rural Racism Project: Towards an Inclusive Countryside, seeks to decolonise knowledge production and access to green spaces though re-storying and centring the voices and experiences of people of colour living in and visiting rural spaces in England. Comprised of up to 100 conversations, this paper demonstrates that the topic of rural racism has been largely peripheral to academic studies and yet remains a relevant and under-acknowledged reality within the English countryside. The findings presented will develop insights into how racism is experienced in rural settings, what form it takes, where it occurs, and its range of physical, emotional, and behavioural impacts on individual victims, their families, and wider communities. This will shape our frameworks for conceptualising ‘difference’ and racist victimisation in more nuanced terms.

By utilising a co-produced methodological approach, the project seeks to create inclusive, legitimate, and empowering research which demands that the academic team relinquish a certain level of control within the research process as a way of enabling the voices of participants and co-researchers to be heard. At a time when national conversations about race and national identity are again fraught with tension and division, this project provides a compelling evidence-base to underpin an informed public discussion which will be enriched through the centring of minority ethnic voices.

Despite evidence of racism in the English countryside, the idea of the “rural idyll” remains a durable trope. For example, in 1993, the former Conservative PM John Major romantically opined: ‘Fifty years from now, Britain will still be a country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs [and] dog lovers…’ Today, these beguiling depictions of country life remain intact. It is not that such images are false, rather are partial representations. They shroud a more difficult and sinister reality for populations of colour, living and visiting the countryside. The RRP highlights the historic, cultural, and symbolic representations of racism that are conveniently forgotten and the ways in which colonialism, empire, slavery and indentureship are embedded in our grand stately homes, statues, memorials, family, place, and street names in rural spaces.

Black criminologist Martin Glynn compellingly argued that history is the conduit between the sociological, criminological, and Black criminological imaginations. To achieve a more racially just society we must have a reckoning with our racist history whose legacies haunt everyday culture and society. Guided by Critical Race Studies, Black Feminism and the Black Arts Movement I will share empirical insights from our community research partners, participants and research team, highlighting how co-produced, arts-informed, archival, narrative and ethnographic/auto-ethnographic methodological approaches help us develop an anti-racist praxis - powerfully and imaginatively speaking back to a racist society. Moreover, through the affects, discourses and materialities this Project discloses, referring to the multiplicity of difficult/debilitating feelings racism engenders; the circulation of racism through words, stories, and images; and the structuring of racism through spatial, social, and economic forces, I will demonstrate how vital engagement with the historic, cultural and symbolic realms are. Thus, I aim to re-emphasise how important the de-construction of ideas around race are for criminological thought and practice.