Thinking About Making a Difference

Bibliographic Data

ID12607296
AuthorsN Puwar (0000-0002-1652-5069, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume6
Issue1
Pages65-80
Publication date2004-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe British Journal of Politics and International Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-1481 • E-ISSN: 1467-856X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-856x.2004.00127.x
OpenAlexW2008983450
LanguageEN
Citations received63
References cited27

This article works across disciplines: politics, geography and social and cultural theory. Issues of space and body are brought to bear on how we think about the question ‘making a difference’. By considering difference in terms of the socio-spatial impact of the presence of hitherto socially excluded groups, such as women and racialised minorities, the gendered and racialised nature of the body politic and most specifically its ‘elite’ positions is brought into focus. The co-existence of women and ‘black’ and Asian MPs in Westminster demonstrates how these ‘groups’ are both historically and conceptually ‘space invaders’. This positionality underlies a series of social processes which illustrate how their very presence is a disruption as well as a continual negotiation. While accepting the agnostic perspective that there are ‘no guarantees’ that the arrival of these ‘new’ bodies will articulate a different politics, in terms of policy outcomes and political debate, this article asserts that the sociological terms of their presence deserves in-depth attention

Body politic · Elite · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Negotiation · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · Law · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts