Islamic charitable infrastructure and giving in East London

This lecture extends research exploring progressive models of reproducing economic life in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis by reporting on research into some of the infrastructure, practices and motivations for Islamic charitable giving in London. The lecture considers the giving practices of some neglected and under-researched migrant civic actors. In so doing the lecture (i) makes visible sets of economic and social values, practices and institutions usually hidden in an otherwise widely researched international financial centre; (ii) identifies multiple, hard-to-research civic actors who are mobilising diverse financial resources to address economic hardship and development and (iii) considers how these charitable values, practices and agents contribute to contemporary thinking about progressive economic possibilities.