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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.

    I’m a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Sociology and Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Sociology. My teaching responsibilities include courses cultural sociology, social theory and nationalism. In addition to my roles at UEL, I also serve as Editor-in-Chief of The State of Nationalism: An International Review of the Study of Nationalism, and as an editor of the journals Cultural Sociology and Nations and Nationalism. I’m also a Faculty Fellow of the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology and a member of the Scientific Council of the Belgium-based research group, National Movements and Intermediary Structures in Europe.



    Overview

    My research encompasses cultural, historical and political sociology, with particular interests in nationalism, imperialism and the politics of memory. Until recently, I have tended to focus on these phenomena as they relate to Canada. Lately, I’ve become interested in former imperial states such as Britain, and the struggles over national identity that arise after the loss of empire.

    My most recent book, A Cultural Sociology of Anglican Mission and the Indian Residential Schools in Canada: The Long Road To Apology, traces a long-running struggle within Canadian Anglicanism over the meaning of its civilising mission to the indigenous peoples of Canada, and its efforts to construct a postcolonial identity and embark on a process of reconciliation.


    Collaborators

    Research

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

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

    ‘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.. 2013. Routledge.

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

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

    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.). 49(2).

    Nationalism and Conflict Management.

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

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

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

    Towards a Cultural Sociology of Nationalism Studies, Nations and Nationalism 

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

    Woods, E.T. . 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.

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

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

    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.

    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. (forthcoming spring 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.

    Publications

    • 2014-2017. State of Nationalism Project Grant, NISE [Principal Investigator] €36,000
    • 2013. Early Career Research Accelerator Grant, UEL [Principal Investigator] £5,000
    • 2010. Conference Support Fund, British Academy [co-investigator] £5,000
    • 2006. Project Grant, Partnerships for Tomorrow Program, Association of Colleges and Universities of Canada [Principal Investigator] $5,000

    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