The superdiverse precariat of British higher education? Limpiadores revisited

Abstract

González Mitjáns’s documentary Limpiadores (2015), which has been screened widely in Europe and won both the Learning on Screen Award (2017) and the ‘Student Accolade’ of the One World Media Awards (2017), has so far been largely ignored by academic research, although – or perhaps because – it fundamentally questions the neoliberal basis of that research. This study explores the challenges of its superdiverse protagonists – cleaners at London University – who suffer under precarious conditions. The author discusses the protagonists’ situation as example of contemporary neo-colonialism, and suggests potential ways forward.