Dr Eric Taylor Woods

I am a cultural and political sociologist with interests in the politics of identity, particularly in relation to nationalism, ethnicity, religion, and colonialism. I also have an abiding interest in struggles over the recognition of historical atrocities, and the politics of reconciliation. I have conducted research on diverse contexts, including: settler-indigenous relations in North America; the management of nationalism in diverse states; the representation of Britain’s imperial past; and, currently, the resurgence of ethno-nationalism in the West. I welcome PhD students on any of these topics.

I completed my PhD at the London School of Economics. During my studies, I served as co-Chair of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism. Currently, I am an active member of several journals and research associations. I sit on the editorial boards of Cultural Sociology and Nations and Nationalism, and I am a founding co-editor of The State of Nationalism. I’m also a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University, and a member of the Scientific Council of National Movements and Intermediary Structures in Europe.

My current research, which is partly funded by a grant from the Social Science Research Council of Canada, is a collaborative book project with Dr Robert Schertzer on the resurgence of ethno-nationalism in the West, focusing on how political leaders use Twitter to convey their nationalist messaging. You can listen to us talk about how we apply our approach to understanding Donald Trump and the new American nationalism on the ASEN podcast.

My 2016 book, A Cultural Sociology of Anglican Mission and the Indian Residential Schools in Canada: The Long Road to Apology, develops a theory of perpetrator trauma to analyse a multigenerational struggle within Canadian Anglicanism over its role in the abuse and  forced assimilation of Indigenous children in Canada. My most recent research article, ‘The Anatomy of Memory Politics‘, puts forward a new approach to examining the politics of memory through a case study of the struggle over Britain’s imperial past.

I have also led projects that seek to shed light on how national identity is constructed by integrating approaches from cultural sociology (published as a special issue for Nations and Nationalism) and theories of ritual and performance (published as a book entitled The Cultural Politics of Nationalism and Nation-Building). In addition, I have published several articles on the management of nationalism in diverse states, including an edited book on the topic, entitled Nationalism and Conflict Management.

• 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.

Nationalism

Imperialism

Colonialism

Politics of Memory

Collective Trauma

Collective Identity

Undergraduate

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

Postgraduate

Theorising Modernity, SC7004, Module Leader