Professor Erika Cudworth
Professor of feminist animal studies
Social Sciences
Erika's research interests are in critical animal studies, complexity theory, feminism and posthumanism. She teaches global environmental politics, research methods and gender politics.
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University of East London
Docklands Campus
University Way
London, E16 2RD
United Kingdom
E16 2RD - e.calvo@uel.ac.uk +44208237662
My research expertise lies in the areas of environment/society relations, global environmental politics, 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 international relations 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.
I am book reviews editor of the journal Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses
Overview
I am currently working on four projects.
First, my current empirical project in the area of animal studies is a study of companion animal relations using mobile methods (‘walk and talk’ interviewing and ethnography). I have completed data collection and am currently writing up the findings into papers. Provisional paper titles at the moment include:
‘On Muddied Living: Everyday practices in multispecies households’
‘Precarious Life: Risk, power, prejudice and companion species’
I will also be writing about using mobile methodologies with more than human subjects.
Second, I am working on a co-authored book project with Dr. Matthew Cole from the Open University and co-founder of the website www.vegatopia.org. The book, Animalizing Sociology, will revisit ‘classical’ social theory with posthumanist lenses.
Third I am working on animals and institutionalised violence at various scales, from normative everyday practices (such as killing animals for meat) to beginning a new project developing further my co-authored work with Steve Hobden here at UEL in posthuman international relations – ‘the posthuman way of war’. With Steve I am also engaged on my fourth project, a book on The Emancipatory Project of Posthumanism.
Collaborators
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Research
Publications
Funding
Interests
Portfolio
Teaching (programmes):
BA (Hons) International Relations
MSc International Relations
Teaching (modules):
AI3000 Research Project and Dissertation (International Politics)
AI3304 Women, Power and Politics
AIM415 Global Environmental Politics
AIM403 Dissertation (MSc International Relations)
Research supervision
Dr. Maxine Newlands ‘Environmental Direct Action and the Politics of Representation’ (awarded January 2013) http://jamescook.academia.edu/MaxineNewlands
Dr. Mary Lodato ‘Institutional Abuse in Ireland: Survival, Redress and Recovery’ (awarded September 2014)
http://irishpost.co.uk/my-abuse-lurked-in-the-shadows-inside-me-so-i-gave-it-light/
I am currently supervising:
- Camille Barbagallo ‘The Political Economy of Reproduction: motherhood, work and the home in neoliberal Britain’
- Jose Ignacio Dias Vazquez ‘Renegotiating Collective Self-Empowerment in LGBT Institutionalized Mental Health Provision by Developing a Recovery Community’
- John Haworth ‘Globalization, Democracy and Radical Politics: the Case of Occupy’
- Delia Langstone ‘Posthuman Surveillance: Non-human Animals as the Subjects and Objects of Surveillance’
- James Martin ‘Prospects for the Labour Party in the South East England: A Critical Exploration of the Post-New Labour Era’
- Navila Tinny ‘The Role of Microfinance in Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh’
- Alex Thompson ‘The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism: Exploring Implications for the Future in Advanced Capitalism’
- Alex Williams ‘Complexity and Hegemony: Technical Politics in an Age of Uncertainty’