University of Glasgow

Department Member, Geographical and Earth Sciences

Other Affiliations: Anarchist Studies Network, Anarchist Studies
Queen Mary, University of London, Geography

Honorary Research Associate

About

I am a political geographer with a particular interest in three broad and interlinked themes:

*    The politics of everyday life and the ways in which everyday processes and practices shape political subjectivities and agency. In particular, I have a specific focus on the latent and existing possibilities for radical transformations in society that are embedded within these everyday processes and practices. An emphasis on the role of relations and relationships is pivotal to my research in this area.

*    The application of anarchist and left-libertarian theory and practice to geographical research. Although anarchism has a strong tradition in geography through figures such as Petr Kropotkin and Elisee Reclus, anarchist ideas have profound implications for the way we 'do' geography in the contemporary period. In my research this has orbited approaches to topics such as research methodologies, social movements, territory, everyday life and the state.

*    Spatial strategies and political organisation. Taking inspiration from scholars in critical management studies and anthropology, much of my research has focused on the relationships between organisational form and space. This has involved on deep engagements with notions and categories such as place and territory.

During my PhD at Queen Mary, University of London, I explored these themes through a long-term ethnographic study of three anarchist and anarchist-inspired organisations seeking to mobilise through community or workplace spaces and politics. During my time at Glasgow, my research has focussed more centrally on the role of political economy in the everyday nature, trajectory and contestation of dominant social forms. Throughout, I have also published and presented on matters relating to nationalism and (neo-)fascism in the UK.

Throughout much of my research, the relationship between globalisation and place has been a pivotal empirical focus. Drawing from research interests to date, in August 2011 I am embarking on a long-term period of fieldwork and travelling, tracing the Silk Route across Central Asia and the Far East as a basis for critical research on everyday global backpacker geopolitics and political economies. In this research, I explore the ways in which backpacker cultures and practices can tell us about lived experiences of globalisation. It also explores the extent to which backpackers and 'hippie capitalist' backpacking industries mobilise or resist classed and racialised spatial and cultural imaginations.

This can be followed by visiting http://throughrootsandroutes.wordpress.com/ which contains a range of largely personal but occasionally academic reflections on the road.