Jimmy's Archive

Authors

Keywords:

Urbanization, gentrification, aging, domestic artefacts and collections, UK 1970s culture

Abstract

‘50 years ago today they landed on the moon... and I'm still waiting for that future’.

Jimmy's Archive provides an intimate portrait of home, place and aging in a rapidly changing urban landscape. It also contributes to practices of multi-modal anthropology in which collaborative media production actively involves interlocutors in shaping the direction and products of research. While the editing in the film was done by Robert Deakin (interspersed by collaborative screenings and feedback sessions), the ‘on set’ direction saw Jimmy improvising on camera and Robert filming with minimal intervention. As Jimmy delves into his collections of memorabilia, the film’s narrative unfolds through a combination of agency and serendipity.




Author Biographies

Robert Deakin, Loughborough University

Robert Deakin’s research explores people’s experiences and responses to urban and environmental change in contexts of structural inequality. Within this, he pursues collaborative research working across multiple media. His PhD in Anthropology (Goldsmiths, University of London) examined the entanglements of urban regeneration, heritage, race and class in Poplar, east London’s former docklands. He has published articles from this project in Critique of Anthropology and Roadsides. His postdoctoral work, as a Research Associate in Sociology at Loughborough University, explores the cultural politics and social impacts of UK pub closures. He is currently co-authoring a book entitled After Last Orders: The Story of Britain’s Disappearing Pubs (Bloomsbury Academic), which draws together findings from a project with Dr Thomas-Thurnell-Read. See https://after-last-orders.lboro.ac.uk for more details.

James Watters

James Watters is a largely self-educated collector of artefacts, a former London Black Cab driver and a life-long resident of Poplar, east London.




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Published

2025-12-17

How to Cite

Deakin, R., & Watters, J. (2025). Jimmy’s Archive. Journal of Anthropological Films, 9(02). Retrieved from https://boap.uib.no/index.php/jaf/article/view/4433

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 02 (2025)

Section

Films

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Robert Deakin, James Watters

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.