Guy Ward-Jackson and Hector Worsley give you a look at some of the talks and events happening around Oxford in Week 1, TT22.

Talk of the Week – Hashi Mohamed on “Social Mobility: The Challenge of Global Elites and Rising Inequality”.

One of the compelling events to look out for in week 1 is a seminar with Hashi Mohamed — a broadcaster, barrister and author — discussing ‘Social Mobility: The Challenge of Global Elites and Rising Inequality’. The seminar will be taking place on Wednesday 27th April (18:00), at the Nissan Lecture Theatre, in St Anthony’s College — which specialises in postgraduate international relations studies.

Hashi, the author of People Like Us, comes from Somalia and lived in Kenya before arriving in Britain aged nine. As a Guardian piece reports, he then “attended some of Britain’s worst schools and was raised exclusively on state benefits”. As someone who has experienced the reality of ‘social mobility’ first hand, Hashi has drawn unique insights and sophisticated conclusions about some of the most topical issues of our time: identity politics, linguistic hierarchies, migration, intersectionality, and poverty. His 2020 book People Like Us and a podcast series with the BBC under the same title explore these themes with nuance and authority. Touching on sensitive and contentious topics, Mohamed points out  that white British ‘working class’ people have more in common with first generation immigrants than middle class people of their same colour. He also posits, that one must be an ‘accent pragmatist’ in order to ‘get ahead’ if one is not born into elite circles. Therefore, Mohamed’s perspective offers not only insights into serious social issues, but also analysis of these problems both from a societal and personal angle.

Other talks and events going on in Oxford in week one include: