Sa Jeffers

Race, ethnicity and community in three localities

Abstract This article looks at patterns of interaction and exclusion across ‘racial’ and ethnic boundaries within a variety of local ‘community initiatives’ in three areas ‐Bristol, Leicester and Tower Hamlets. This article is based upon seven case studies carried out over an eighteen month period as part of a Home Office research project that was concerned to see how forms of racial and ethnic exclusion might be overcome within community initiatives. In the course of this research we observed a wide variation in the development of racial and ethnic issues within and between the different areas. We also found that ‘community initiatives’ had engaged with these issues in a variety of ways. More or less open constructions of ‘community’ cut across more or less open constructions of ‘race’ and ethnicity. These constructions have an impact at the level of local initiatives by opening or closing these to the participation and involvement of different ‘racial’ and ethnic groups.