Hall, S. M. (2009). A mile of mixed blessings: an ethnography of boundaries and belonging on a south London street. Department of Sociology. London, London School of Economics. PhD.
This thesis explores lived experiences of ethnic and cultural diversity on the Walworth Road, a multi-ethnic street in south London. This is an example of a methodologically fine-grained approach to studying community which focuses on the ordinary spaces of small independent shops on a single road, and the relationships between proprietors and customers. The methodology draws on a mixture of official, archival, visual and ethnographic data to contrast how individuals transgress or re-inscribe social and spatial boundaries, with how systems of power authorise boundaries between people and places. Some methodological innovations include formulations of spatial methodology, involving juxtapositions, collage and layering, mixing methods of small shop surveys, photography and classification of shop fronts, mapping of ethnic origins of shop owners, and detailed architectural drawings by the author of the two ethnographic field sites on the street, a local caff and a bespoke tailor, at different times of day. The thesis emphasises the social and political significance of small independent shops as ordinary spaces, as well as the importance of informal memberships that emerge out of everyday contact in neither overtly public nor private space. Other studies which focus on single streets, with different perspectives and foci, are Attlee* and Miller*.