My research expertise lies in the areas of environment/society relations, human/animal relations and gender, where I am particularly interested in questions of intersectionality and the persistence of complex inequalities considered at various levels from grounded empirical studies, to global patterns and international relations theory. My empirical research has sought to examine the different and similar patterns which may be found in examining both cultural forms and material practices/institutions.

My teaching at UEL over the years has involved an extended reflection on the nature of political power and the relationship between different kinds of state and publics. I have been interested in feminist engagements with the state and the impact of various kinds of social movements on state structure and policy making. To what extent the ‘nation state’ is a dynamic and shifting set of relationships and institutions is one of my current concerns. I have taught state theory to upper and lower level undergraduates and have always enjoyed students engaging with and challenging current orthodoxies. I very much enjoy teaching international politics and sociology here at UEL and I do think, given the diversity and engagement of students and staff, this is a lively and interesting place for studying and talking politics.

Programme Leader MSc International Relations

• Environmental politics
• Political ecologism
• Human relations with non-human animals
• Feminist theory
• Complexity approaches in the Social Sciences
• Citizenship and social justice

• BA International Politics
• BA Sociology
• MSc International Relations (Programme Leader)

Undergraduate Modules:

•  AI1302 Politics, State and Society
• A12309 Social Movements in the Radical Twentieth Century
• IS2202 Social Theory and the Industrial Age
• AI3303 Warfare, Welfare and Citizenship
• AI3304 Women, Power and Politics
• AI3000 International Politics Research Methods and Thesis/Project

Postgraduate Modules:

• AIM414 Global Environmental Politics

MPhil/PhD supervision:

• Mary Lodato ‘Institutional abuse in Ireland: survival, redress and recovery’
• Maxine Newlands ‘Environmental direct action and the politics of representation’
• Dayjour Sefre ‘Experiences of refugee children and communities in East London schools’     

Interests

I have four clusters of research interests. First, social and political theory, particularly conceptions of social domination, applications of systems theory and complexity approaches. My long-term interest has been with possible interconnections between gender and nature and I have used complexity analytics in considering the relation between systems of social domination and multiplicitous difference in my monograph Developing Ecofeminist Theory: the Complexity of Difference (Palgrave, 2005).

My second and well established concern is with environmental social science. I am interested here in what studying ‘nature’ implies for the social sciences and what the study of social natures from a position that is not ‘human exceptionalist’, might look like. Some of these questions are considered in Environment and Society (Routledge 2003). Empirically, I am interested in contemporary formations of species relations. I have three foci here – first, the consumption cultures of food and eating, second, the social embedding of intra-species violence, particularly involving ‘food animals’, lastly, companion species. My current empirical project in this area is a study of companion animal relations.  I want to develop the concept of ‘dwelling in mixed communities’ and subject the notion of ‘posthumanism’ to empirical interrogation. Some of my work on non-human animals is brought together in Social Lives with Other Animals: tales of Sex, Death and Love (Palgrave, 2011).

A long term teaching interest has been political sociology, which led, with UEL colleagues Tim Hall and John McGovern, to the writing of The Modern State: Theories and Ideologies (2007) where I contributed material on the new right, elite theory, anarchism, feminisms and globalisation. Recently, with my colleague Steve Hobden, I have been writing about the challenges of ecologism for the traditional agendas of states and state-centric analysis. We have developed what we call ‘complex ecologism’ - synthesizing various elements of political ecologism with concepts from complex systems theory and applying it to international politics. We have published a series of papers which are brought together in Posthuman International Relations: the Politics of Complex Ecologism (forthcoming, Zed 2011).

A newer interest is in the area of inclusion, citizenship and education. I have looked at the disadvantages for children from Gypsy traveller communities in East London schools in research exploring the interface between educational practice and organization, and a context of marketisation and continued social exclusion. I have also considered the ways citizenship education has been deployed as part of a strategy to tackle marginalisation and democratic ‘disengagement’, and am interested in the possibilities of engaging undergraduates as citizens of their Universities and the communities of which they are a part, through curriculum initiatives and student inclusive research projects.

Current research

Books

• (2011) Posthuman International Relations: Complexity, Ecologism and Global Politics, (with Steve Hobden).
• (2011) Social Lives with Other Animals: tales of Sex, Death and Love, Palgrave.

Articles

• (forthcoming 2011) ‘Climate change, industrial animal agriculture and complex inequalities’ The International Journal of Science in Society.
• (2011) ‘Walking the Dog: Explorations and Negotiations of Species Difference’ Philosophy, Activism, Nature, 8:
• (2011) ‘Beyond Environmental Security: Complex Systems, Multiple Inequalities and Environmental Risks’, (with S.C. Hobden) Environmental Politics, 20, 1: 42-59.
• (2010) ‘Foundations of Complexity, and the Complexity of Foundations: Beyond the Foundation/Anti-Foundational Debate’ (with S.C. Hobden) Philosophy of Social Sciences, 41, 4.
• (2010) ‘Anarchy and Anarchism: Towards a Theory of Complex International Systems’ (with S.C. Hobden) Millennium: Journal of International Studies, ‘Anarchism and International Politics’ special edition, 39, 2: 399-416.
• (2010) “The Recipe for Love’? Continuities and Changes in the Sexual Politics of Meat’ The Journal for Critical Animal Studies, 8, 4: 78-99.
• (2009) ‘The Politics of Arts and Events: Social Capital and “Community Cohesion” in East London’, (with J. Burnett) Rising East Online: The Journal of East London Studies 9a, 15.
• (2009) ‘Complexity Theory in the Social Sciences’, (with S.C. Hobden) The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 4, 4: 59-69.

Chapters in Books

• (2011) “Most farmers prefer Blondes’ – entanglements of gender and nature in animals’ becoming-meat’, in R. Carter and N. Charles (eds) Human and Other Animals: Critical Perspectives. Palgrave.
• (2010) ‘Complexity, ‘nature’ and social domination: towards a sociology of species relations’, in J. Burnett, S. Jeffers and G. Thomas (eds) New Social Connections: Sociology’s Subjects and Objects. Palgrave.
• (2010) ‘Educating the outcast: policy and practice in the education of Gypsy Traveller children’, (with D. Cudworth) in L. Ang, J. Trushell and P. Walker (eds.) Learning and Teaching in a Metropolis. Rodolpi.
• (2009) ‘Environmental Insecurity’, (with S.C. Hobden) in H. Fagan, and R. Munck (eds.) The Encyclopedia of Globalization and Security: Volume One- Economic and Political Aspects. Praeger.
• (2009) ‘Nature, culture, technology: myths and inequalities in the posthuman zoo’ in J. Burnett, P. Senker and K. Walker (eds.) The Myths of Technology: Innovation and Inequality. Peter Lang.

Conference papers

• Invited speaker ‘Complexity, Ecologism and Posthumanist Politics’ (with S.C. Hobden) at the ‘Is Complexity the New Framework for the Study of Global Life’ workshop sponsored by the Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 11th-12th February, 2011.
• Invited speaker ‘Foundations of Complexity, and the Complexity of Foundations: Beyond the Foundation/Anti-Foundational Debate in International Relations’ (with S.C. Hobden) at the ‘Is Complexity the New Framework for the Study of Global Life’ workshop sponsored by the Academy for the Social Sciences in Australia and the Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy, University of Western Sydney, Australia, 19th-20th January, 2011.
• ‘Technology and Complex Inequalities: industrial animal agriculture, food insecurity and the environment’, presented as part of the Science, Technology and Inequality colloquium at the International Conference on Science in Society, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 11th-13th November 2010.
• ‘Securing what for whom? Multiple complex inequalities and the politics of environmental security in Europe’ (with S.C. Hobden) presented at the European Consortium for Political Research 5th Pan European Conference on the EU, Universidad Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal, 24th-26th June 2010.
• ‘Anarchy and Anarchism: Towards a Theory of Complex International Systems’ (with S.C. Hobden), presented at ‘Rethinking Anarchy: Anarchism and World Politics’, University of Bristol, 17th -18th June 2010.
• ‘Tracks and trails in everyday lives: love, space and community between the species’, presented at Animal Movements-Moving Animals symposium, University of Uppsala, Sweden, May 27th-28th 2010.
• ‘Foundations of Complexity, and the Complexity of Foundations: Beyond the Foundation/Anti-Foundational Debate’ (with S.C. Hobden) presented at the Political Studies Association Annual Conference, Edinburgh University, 29th March-1st April 2010.
• Foundations of Complexity, and the Complexity of Foundations: Beyond the Foundation/Anti-Foundational Debate’ (with S.C. Hobden) presented at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, USA 16th-20th February 2010.
• Walking the dog: explorations with species in spaces’ presented at the Minding Animals conference, Newcastle, Australia, July 13th-18th 2009.
• “Most farmers prefer Blondes’ – intersections of capital, gender and nature in animals-becoming-meat’ presented at the Minding Animals conference, Newcastle, Australia, July 13th-18th 2009.
• ‘Complexity theory in the social sciences’ (with S.C. Hobden) presented at the Fourth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, University of Athens, Greece, 4th-7th July 2009.
• ‘Animal passions: gender and species relations in the life of a woman artist’ (with M. Tamboukou) presented at the Meat Animal Meet conference, University of Uppsala, Sweden, May 21st-23rd 2009.

Publications

Books

• (2007) The Modern State: Theories and Ideologies, (with Tim Hall and John McGovern) Edinburgh University Press.
• (2005) Developing Ecofeminist Theory: The Complexity of Difference, Palgrave.
• (2003) Environment and Society, Routledge.

Articles

• (2008) ‘Archipelagic Nations: Situating Citizenship in Education’, (with J. Burnett) The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 3, 4: 145-154.
• (2008) “Most Farmers Prefer Blondes’ – Dynamics of Anthroparchy in Animals’ Becoming Meat’, The Journal for Critical Animal Studies, 6, 1: 32-45.
• (2008) ‘The Good Citizen: problematising citizenship in the social sciences curriculum’, (with J. Burnett) Learning and Teaching: the International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences Winter 2008 1, 3: 67-88.
• (2007) ‘Complexity theory and the sociology of natures’, The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 2, 3: 351-358.
• (1999) ‘Structural and Poststructural Approaches to Gender Relations: A Critical Comparison’, Social Politics, No.5, UEL.
• (1999) ‘The Structure/Agency Debate in Environmental Sociology’, Social Politics No.4, UEL.

Chapters in books

•  (2008) ‘Seeing and believing: gender and species hierarchy in contemporary cultures of animal food’ in D. Grummett and R. Meurs (eds.) Eating and Believing: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vegetarianism and Theology. Continuum/T&T Clark.
• (2004) ‘Women on derive: autobiographical explorations of lived spaces’ (with J. Burnett and M. Tamboukou) in Women in Geography Study Group (eds.) Feminism and Geography Reconsidered. WGSG.

Book reviews

• (2009) ‘Humans spared by a whisker’ review of Marion Nestle ‘Pet Food Politics: the Chihuahua in the coal mine’, Times Higher Education, 22 January: 42.
• (2005) Carol Adams ‘The Sexual Pornography of Meat’, Feminist Theory 6, 1: 99-101.

Reports

• Stitching it Together – Engaging with Communities and Employment: an evaluation of International Women’s Week in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. (with J. Burnett) August 2008, London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
• Bands, Fairs and Fetes: an evaluation of community events in fostering Community Cohesion in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. (with J. Burnett) February 2008, London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Selected conference papers

• ‘Beyond environmental security: complex systems, environmental risks and social intersectionality’, (with S. C. Hobden) paper presented on the Environmental Security panel at The British International Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Exeter, 15th-17th December 2008.
• ‘The cat and her woman: gendered interpolations of species relations’ (with M. Tamboukou) paper presented to Women’s Worlds 2008, Complutense Universidad Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 4th-8th July 2008.
• ‘Situating citizenship in education: archipelagic nations in a cosmopolitan city’ (with J. Burnett) paper presented to the 38th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 26th June-1st July 2008.
• “Most farmers prefer Blondes’ – entanglements of gender and nature in animals’ becoming-meat’ paper given at The British Sociological Association Annual Conference, Social Worlds, Natural Worlds, University of Warwick, 28th-30th March 2008.
• ‘Fleshy desires: tales of sex and gender in the representation of meat’ paper given at Feast! Representations of food in text and image conference at National Institute for Excellence in the Creative Industries, University of Wales, Bangor 24th-25th November 2007.
• Complexity theory and the sociology of natures’, paper given at The Second International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, University of Grenada, Spain 10th-13th July 2007.
• Burnett, J., Clark, W., Cudworth, E., Gifford, C., Koster, S., and Watt, P. ‘The active citizenship project: defamiliarising and contesting the social’, panel session at The British Sociological Association Annual Conference, Social Connections, Identities, Technologies, Relationships, University of East London 12th-14th April 2007.
• ‘Theorizing social natures: complexity theory and social domination’ paper given at The British Sociological Association Annual Conference, Social Connections, Identities, Technologies, Relationships, University of East London 12th-14th April 2007.
• ‘Invisible animals: gender, difference and absence in the cultural texts of meat’, paper given at the Food and History: Health, Culture, Tourism and Identity conference, University of Central Lancashire, 29th June-1st July 2006.
•  ‘Working with schools: active citizenship for undergraduate students’, symposium (with J. Burnett, C. Gifford and P. Watt) at Civic Engagement and Understanding: Citizenship and Placement Education in the University conference, Crucible (Centre for education, human rights and citizenship) Roehampton, University of London 8th June 2006.
• ‘Hybridity beyond the cyborg: towards an embodied posthumanism’, paper given to the session Technonatures III: environments, spaces and places in the Twenty First Century at the 37th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology, Stockholm, 6-9th July 2005.
• ‘Women on derive: autobiographical explorations of lived spaces’ (with J. Burnett and M. Tamboukou) paper given to the session Wear in the Word: (Re) Materialising Gendered and Sexualized Geographies, of the Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference, London, 3rd-5th September 2003.