Long Read: Out of Place, Again?

In this provocative discussion paper, BLKOUTUK editor, Rob Berkeley, questions the way in which policy-makers and charitable funders use the term ‘community’. He argues that a too-simplistic definition of community as ‘place’ or neighbourhood serves to perpetuate exclusion and inequality for minority communities – including Black queer men, and suggests an alternative approach that would recognise that Black Queer Lives Matter.

… despite the conveniences of measurement and distribution that place provides, place-based approaches will always be partial.

Transformative action to address inequality and build resilience may be better served by investing in relationships where they are, whether the connections that make up that community are in walking distance, require a train journey, or depend on a fast broadband connection.