NEW: People's Pathways to Northumberland Park website
Professor Steve Jefferys and Marc Craw
Neighbourhood Management Services, Haringey Council
The Northumberland Park area of Tottenham in North London has a long history of population movement. The local housing mix and tradition of migration from within Britain and across the world has resulted in huge cultural diversity. As well as British, Jewish, Irish and Greek-origin families who have lived in the area for generations are more recent groups from Albanian, Afro-Caribbean, Franco-phone and Anglo-phone African, Turkish, Kurdish and Polish backgrounds.
This research project is aimed at developing ways of encouraging better understanding of the area and its different communities. Through interviews and photographs of different generations of people living in the area, the Working Lives Research Institute will explore why people came to Northumberland Park, how the area has changed during their lifetimes, what work they have done and how they relate to the diverse mix of ethnicities.
The project will gather existing literature and interview several key respondents in local services to gain an overview of the history and current issues in the area. The main part of the project is interviews and photographs with twenty groups of two or three people from older and younger generations. Participants from Albanian, Afro-Caribbean, Franco-phone African, Anglo-phone African, Turkish, Greek, Irish, Polish, Jewish and British backgrounds will be sought. Half of the interviewees will be women. Interpreters will be available to translate into different languages where necessary. The interviews will last roughly an hour and will be informal discussions about experiences living in Northumberland Park. They will be conducted over March in local centres, at people’s homes or wherever they feel comfortable. The participants will be recorded and photographed to provide a local resource that can be used in local schools and community centres. Whatever information people want to share with the project will be of interest and will be treated in confidence. All of the participants will be given £10 in vouchers to thank them for their time and help.
The interviews are being conducted over March 2006. An exhibition and booklet will then be prepared as a resource that can be used in schools and community centres. The photographs, recordings and other material will be deposited in the Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham.
For further information, please contact Marc Craw on 020 7320 3573 or email m.craw@londonmet.ac.uk
