The Clamour of Nationalism: Race and Nation in Twenty-First Century Britain - with Dr Sivamohan Valluvan

28th May 2021. We were pleased to welcome Sivamohan Valluvan, Assistant Professor of Sociology at The University of Warwick, to present his recent book: The Clamour of Nationalism: Race and Nation in Twenty-First Century Britain (Manchester University Press 2019). Sivamohan has written widely on debates of race and racism, nationalism and multiculture, as well as postcolonial and social theory more broadly. He is also the co-author (with James Rhodes and Stephen Ashe) of a British Academic research report titled: ‘Reframing the Left Behind: Race and Class in Post-Brexit Oldham’.

Through reference to his Clamour of Nationalism, Sivamohan Valluvan will explore how today’s English nationalism has been able to forge an ideologically promiscuous framework – ranging across a left, liberal, neoliberal and conservative spectrum – in establishing its own political pre-eminence. Attention will also be given to how this nationalist imaginary is able to draw out an increasingly potent geographic symbolism – epitomised by notions of ‘the North’, ‘the Red Wall’, and ‘the provincial town’.  The racial and classed distortions that figure in such a popular geography of purported national authenticity will be interrogated. However, the webinar will also draw out a secondary theme from the Clamour of Nationalism. Namely, that the hegemonic Right’s increased commitment to a contradictory nationalist common-sense has inadvertently allowed for new ideological openings as regards anti and post-neoliberal thinking. These being new openings that emergent leftist generations might exploit to particularly enduring effect.

Discussants:

• Paul Hayes, Wakefield District Council
• Adrian Favell, Northern Exposure, PI

Chaired by Andrew Wallace, Northern Exposure