Processes and Landscape Change: Britain in the Last 1000 Years Edited by David L. Higgitt and E. Mark Lee
Bodies, Affects, Politics
The Clash of Bodily Regimes
Steve Pile
This edition first published 2021
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data Name: Pile, Steve, 1961– author. Title: Bodies, affects, politics : the clash of bodily regimes / Steve Pile. Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2021. | Series: RGS‐IBG book series | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020038677 (print) | LCCN 2020038678 (ebook) | ISBN 9781118901984 (cloth) | ISBN 9781118901977 (paperback) | ISBN 9781118901953 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781118901946 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Human body–Social aspects. | Human body–Political aspects. | Social distance–History–21st century. | Communities–History–21st century. Classification: LCC HM636 .P48 2021 (print) | LCC HM636 (ebook) | DDC 306.4–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038677 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038678
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Cover Image: Justice for Grenfell protest (Saturday 16th June 2018) featuring Love4Grenfell logo tee‐shirt designed by Charlie Crockett and Cheshona Hart © Steve Pile
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Preface
Today, London is quieter than I have ever known it to be. The skies above are undisturbed by the noise of planes, no white vapour trails scratching the brilliant blue. The East Coast mainline normally rumbles with heavy goods trains punctuated by the shattering sound of fast inter‐city services, but not for the last two weeks. Normally, the day is interrupted by at least one low‐level fly‐over by a police helicopter, but not recently. The hum of traffic is notably subdued, as when snow falls, muffling sound, preventing vehicles from moving around the city. This quieting, however, is not a sign that the city is calmer, rested, at peace. Instead, the quiet feels more like frustration, determination and a low‐level anxiety that threatens to break cover.
As I wait patiently in the queue at my local supermarket, I am paying attention to who is – and who is not – wearing face coverings, but especially noting the facemasks. Facemasks are as sure a measure of the level of anxiety
