Dr Yara Evans

Dr Yara Evans
Visiting Research Fellow

School of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Email: y.evans@qmul.ac.uk

NEW BOOK (December 2009): Global Cities at Work: New Migrant Divisions of Labour

for a 20% discount and a chance to buy this new book at just £16, please download this form and return to Pluto Press

I concluded my PhD studies in early 2004 at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth. In my doctoral research, I investigated the political dimensions of community participation in environmental planning and management, with a case study of the Serra do Mar State Park in Brazil. Employing a political ecology framework, I analysed the limits to community participation as imposed by mobilisation of material and discursive power by the more powerful social actors in the participatory arena.

I joined the Department of Geography at Queen Mary, the University of London in March 2004, working with Professor Adrian Smith to investigate the restructuring of clothing manufacturing in London. The project identified the competitive pressures faced by clothing manufacturing firms located in a metropolitan capital and within the context of a globalized economy, along with the strategies adopted to counter them.

In May 2005, I joined the research project Global Cities at Work: Migrant Labour in Low Paid Employment in London, which is funded by the ESRC and scheduled to run until mid-2007 (see webpage). This exciting project investigates the migratory, employment and living experiences of workers in low-paid work in London (more details on http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities).

Publications:

  • Journal Articles
  • Evans, Y, Wills, J, Datta, K, Herbert, J, McIlwaine, C and May, J (2007) ‘‘Subcontracting by stealth’ in London’s hotels: impacts and implications for labour organising’, Just Labour: a Canadian journal of work and society, 10: 85-97.
  • Datta, K, McIlwaine, C, Evans, Y, Herbert, J, May, J and Wills, J (2007) ‘From coping strategies to tactics: London’s low-pay economy and migrant labour’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 45(2): 404-32.
  • May, J, Wills, J, Datta, K, Evans, Y, Herbert, J and McIlwaine, C (2007) ‘Keeping London working: global cities, the British state, and London’s new migrant division of labour’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 37(2): 151-167
  • Datta, K, McIlwaine, C, Wills, J, Evans, Y, Herbert, J, and May, J (2007) ‘The new development finance or exploiting migrant labour? Remittance sending among low-paid migrant workers in London’, International Development Planning Review, 29(1): 43-67.
  • Evans, Y and Smith, A (2006) ‘Surviving at the margins? De-industrialisation, the creative industries, and upgrading in London’s garment sector’, Environment and Planning A, 28(12): 2253- 2269.

    Reports
  • Evans, Y, Wills, J, Datta, K, Herbert, J, McIlwaine, C, May, J, Araújo, J O, França, A C, França, A P (2007) Brazilians in London: a report for the Strangers into Citizens Campaign, Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London.
  • Evans, Y, Wills, J, Datta, K, Herbert, J, McIlwaine, C, May, J, Araújo, J O, França, A C, França, A P (2007) Brasileiros em Londres: relatório para a campanha De Estrangeiros a Cidadãos (Strangers into Citizens) Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London. Click here for link to TV coverage in Brazil on 12 January 2008 by the Brazilian Channel (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão), the third largest broadcaster in the country.
  • Evans, Y (2007) Participação Comunitária em Gestão Ambiental: o caso do Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London, Janeiro.
  • Evans, Y, Herbert, J, Datta, K, May, J, McIlwaine, C and Wills, J (2005) Making the City Work: low paid employment in London, Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London.
  • Smith, A and Evans, Y (2004) Globalization and Industrial Upgrading in London’s Clothing Sector, Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London.

    Book Reviews
  • Souza, J and Sinder, V (eds) Imagining Brazil (Lexington Books 2005), Journal of Latin American Studies, forthcoming.
  • Smith, D, On the margins of exclusion: changing labour markets and social exclusion in London, (Policy Press 2005), London Journal, forthcoming.
  • Child, B (ed) Parks in Transition: biodiversity, rural development and the bottom line (Earthscan 2004), Progress in Development Studies, 6 (3): 251-274.
  • (2005) Gwynne, R and Kay, C (eds) Latin America Transformed: globalization and modernity (Edward Arnold 2004), Progress in Development Studies, 5 (4): 343-353.
  • (2004) Nuijten, M, Power, Community and the State: the political anthropology of organisation in Mexico (Pluto 2003), Progress in Development Studies, 4 (4): 355-370.

    Presentations
  • ‘Labour Subcontracting in London’s Hotels: impacts and the role of the Living Wage Campaign’, CWRS Workshop Serving the New Economy: critical perspectives on Hospitality and Tourism, Toronto, Canada, 13-14 October 2006.
  • ‘Global Cities at Work: migrant workers in low paid employment in London’, EQUAL Policy Series, Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, London, 18 July 2006.
  • 'Making the city work: low paid employment in London', The Association of American Geographers, Annual Meeting, Chicago, 7-11 March 2006.