Communities, Politics and Identities
Communities face a number of emerging challenges including demographic change, strained social relations and a rebalancing of the relationship between civil society and the state, compounded by constrained public finances. Such challenges are increasingly negotiated within the context of global events and narratives, shifting the boundaries of what we understand as the local and the national.
To appreciate how communities deal with such challenges and indeed opportunities, the Communities, Politics and Identities Research Group is committed to research rooted in local knowledge and the lived experience of residents. In doing so it will create an evidence base which assists communities to successfully adapt to change.
Communities may be defined by interest, commonality, or spatial units. They are viewed as sites of conflict and accommodation. The cluster critically engages concepts of community by providing space for the deconstruction of such commonly held definitions.
We employ an interdisciplinary approach to analyse themes such as trust and securitisation; democratic renewal, distribution of power and governance; coexistence and managing difference; radicalisation and extremism; embedded within established and emerging theoretical frameworks relating to gender.
THE TEAM
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Gavin Sullivan, Professor (Research group leader)Social and political psychology, collective memory and emotions |
Joel Busher, Associate ProfessorAnti-minority mobilisation, gang violence, gender |
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Hazel Barrett, ProfessorFGM and communities, human geography, health and rural development |
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Durukan Kuzu, Assistant ProfessorEthnic diversity, comparative politics, conflict resolution and multiculturalism |
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Marisa McGlinchey, Assistant ProfessorUK devolution; Basque politics: Irish republicanism: political 'dissidence' |
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Matt Qvortrup, ProfessorPolitical Science, referendums; peace and governance; terrorism |
Sahla Aroussi, Assistant Professor |
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Imogen Baylis, Research Assistant |
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Mateja Celestina, Assistant Professor |
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Catherine Harris, Assistant Professor |
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EJ Milne, Associate Professor |
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Ann-Marie Nienaber, Professor |
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Charis Rice, Assistant Professor |