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Dr Eric Taylor Woods

Senior Lecturer in Sociology

Social Sciences

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Sociology and Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Sociology.

    Dr Eric Taylor Woods is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology. In addition to teaching, Eric maintains a highly active research agenda. In his research, Eric is interested in the role of culture in politics. He focuses particularly on nationalism, colonialism, and historical justice. Eric welcomes PhD students on any of these topics.

    Eric’s current research project, which is funded by a grant from the Social Science Research Council of Canada, is a collaborative project on the resurgence of ethnonationalism in the West, focusing on how political leaders use Twitter to convey their nationalist messaging.

    In addition to his roles at UEL, Eric is a Faculty Fellow of the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University, and a member of the editorial boards of the journals Nations and Nationalism and Cultural Sociology. He is also a founding editor of the State of Nationalism: An International Review.



    Overview

    In his research, Eric is interested in the role of culture in politics. He focuses particularly on nationalism, colonialism, and historical justice. Eric’s current research project, which is funded by a grant from the Social Science Research Council of Canada, is a collaborative project on the resurgence of ethnonationalism in the West, focusing on how political leaders use Twitter to convey their nationalist messaging. The project compares the cases of the United States, France, and the United Kingdom.

    Eric most recent book, entitled A Cultural Sociology of Anglican Mission and the Indian Residential Schools in Canada: The Long Road to Apology (Palgrave, 2016), investigates the cultural processes by which a community takes collective responsibility for perpetrating injustice. The book focuses on the case of the residential schools in Canada – a former boarding school system designed to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children into the working classes of Euro-Canadian culture, and within which criminal abuse was widespread.

    Eric also has an abiding interest in how Britain’s imperial legacy continues to inform debates over national identity in the UK. He recently published an article on this topic in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology, entitled: ‘The Anatomy of Memory Politics: Tate Britain’s Artist and Empire and the Struggle over Britain’s Imperial Past’ (2019).


    Collaborators

    Research

    Conclusion: Ron Eyerman and the Study of Cultural Trauma. in R. Eyerman, Memory, Trauma, and Identity.

    Woods. 2019. Palgrave..

    Cultural Trauma: Ron Eyerman and the Founding of a New Research Paradigm. American Journal of Cultural Sociology.

    Woods. 2019. 7(2): 260-74..

    The Anatomy of Memory Politics: A Formalist Analysis of Tate Britain’s Artist and Empire and the Struggle over Britain’s Imperial Past. 

    Woods. 2019. American Journal of Cultural Sociology.

    On the Making of a National Tragedy: The Transformation of the Indian Residential Schools in Canada.  B-Y. Capitaine & K. Vanthuyne (Eds.) Power Through Testimony: Reframing Residential Schools in the Age of Reconciliation. University of British Columbia Press.

    Woods. 2017.

    On the Making of a National Tragedy: the Transformation of the Indian Residential Schools in Canada’ in B-Y. Capitaine & K. Vanthuyne (Eds) Power through Testimony: Reframing Residential Schools at the Age of Reconciliation.

    Woods, E.T. 2016. University of British Columbia Press.

    Cultural Nationalism’, in J.C. Alexander & D. Inglis (Eds.) Cultural Sociology: A Reader

    Woods. E.T. 2016. London: Palgrave.

    A Cultural Sociology of Anglican Mission and the Indian Residential Schools in Canada: The Long Road to Apology

    Woods, E.T.. 2016. Palgrave MacMillan.

    Cultural Nationalism: a Review and Annotated Bibliography. Studies on National Movements

    Woods. 2015.

    ‘Ritual and performance: a proposal for new direction in the study of nations and nationalism’, in Tsang, R and Woods, E.T. Forging the Nation: Ritual and Performance in the Production of Nations

    Woods. E.T. & Tsang, R.. 2014. Routledge.

     The Cultural Politics of Nationalism and Nation-Building: Ritual and Performance in the Forging of Nations. Routledge.

    Tsang, R. & Woods. 2014. Routledge..

    Cultural Nationalism: a Review and Annotated Bibliography’, Studies on National Movements, 2

    Woods, E.T. . 2013.

    Towards a Cultural Sociology of Nationalism Studies, Nations and Nationalism 

    2013.

    A Cultural Approach to a Canadian Tragedy: The Indian Residential Schools as a Sacred Enterprise’, International Journal of Politics, Society and Culture

    Woods, E.T. 2013.

    ‘Themed Section on Cultural Sociology and Nationalism Studies’, Nations and Nationalism

    Woods, E.T. & Debs, M (Eds.) . 2013.

    The Cultural Politics of Nations and Nationalism: Ritual and Performance in the Production of Nations.

    Tsang, R & Woods, E.T. (Eds.). 2013. Routledge.

    Nationalism and Conflict Management.

    Woods, E.T., Schertzer, R. & Kaufmann, E. (Eds.). 2012. Routledge.

    Beyond Multinational Federalism: reflections on nations and nationalism in Canada’, Ethnicities

    Woods, E.T. 2012. 12(3): 270-92.

    Special Issue on Nationalism and Conflict Management’, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics [Reprinted as Woods et al., Nationalism and Conflict Management]

    Woods, E.T., Schertzer, R. & Kaufmann, E. (Eds.). 2011. 49(2).

    Ethno-national Conflict and its Management, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

    Woods, E.T. & Schertzer, R. 2011. 49(2): 153-161.

    Beyond Multinational Canada’, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

    Schertzer, R & Woods, E.T.. 2011. 49(2): 196-222.

    Publications

    • 2019-2021. Co-Investigator (with Robert Schertzer), ‘Understanding Ethno-Nationalist Populism,’ Insight Development Grant, SSHRC. Total Funds: $66,000 (CAD).
    • 2014-2022. Principal Investigator (with Robert Schertzer), ‘The State of Nationalism’. Project Grant, NISE. Total Funds: £78,000. 
    • 2013. Principal Investigator, ‘Perpetrator Trauma, Anglican Mission, and Indigenous Communities’, Research Accelerator Grant, UEL. Total Funds: £5,000.
    • 2010. Co-Investigator (with Robert Schertzer), ‘Ritual and Performance in the Forging of Nations’, Conference Support Fund, British Academy. Total funds: £4,000.
    • 2010. Co-Investigator, (with Robert Schertzer) ‘Ritual and Performance in the Forging of Nations’, Department of Government, LSE. Total Funds £4,000
    • 2010. Principal Investigator, Canadian Centennial Doctoral Scholarship. Total funds: £7,000.
    • 2009. Co-Applicant (with Robert Schertzer), ‘Seminar Series on Nationalism and Conflict Management’, Department of Government, LSE. Total funds: £4,000.
    • 2009. Principal Investigator, Small Research Grant, Central Research Fund, University of London. Total funds: £2,500.

    Funding

    Nationalism

    Imperialism

    Colonialism

    Politics of Memory

    Collective Trauma

    Collective Identity



    Interests

    Portfolio

    Undergraduate

    Thinking Sociologically, SC4002, Module Leader
    The New Cultural Sociology: Taking Culture Seriously, SC6020, Module Leader

    Postgraduate

    Theorising Modernity, SC7004, Module Leader

    Teaching