Talking back: Social mobility, class and reflexivity in Darren McGarvey’s ‘Poverty Safari’

This article examines Darren McGarvey’s Poverty Safari as a meaningful yet underexplored contribution to the emerging field of autosociobiographies—a genre where authors intertwine personal narratives with critical reflections on the social and cultural structures that shape their lives. We argue that McGarvey disrupts dominant, idealised accounts of social mobility by interrogating the classed dynamics of the book market, offering a distinctive form of reflexivity within the genre. Through an analysis of his narrative strategies, we explore two key questions: How does Poverty Safari narrate social mobility in ways that foreground the conditions, constraints, and expectations shaping autosociobiographical storytelling? How does McGarvey’s mode of reflexivity (re-)configure the analytical potential of autosociobiography for studying social class and mobility? We demonstrate that McGarvey critiques the expectations placed on authors of autosociobiographies, revealing the power structures that both allow and limit their success. His self-reflexive approach acts as a form of ‘talking back’—an act of reclaiming the right to critically narrate one’s struggles. By situating McGarvey’s work within current debates on mobility narratives and class representation, this study highlights the genre’s potential to reframe discussions of class and education.