Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR)

Profile

I am a development studies specialist with a background interest in sociology and social and cultural theory.  My PhD research (2007-2011) engaged with debates about the recent “cultural turn” in development theory and practice, examining the different ways that culture has been conceptualised and become an area of contestation in international regimes of political and economic regulation from the postwar period to the present day.  This involved empirical studies of the work of UNESCO and the World Bank, the formation of international treaties on cultural diversity and indigenous rights, and the work of policymakers and civil society stakeholders in the Caribbean and the European Union.  I have further interests in the study of globalisation and neoliberal governmentality, and in theories and histories of imperialism.

I teach on the BA programme in International Development Studies here at Portsmouth.  Prior to arriving in Portsmouth in 2012, I taught courses on development studies, international political economy, colonial history and sociology at the University of Manchester, University of Leeds and Liverpool Hope University.

Qualifications

• PhD Sociology/International Studies (with no corrections), University of Manchester
• MSc Sociological Research (with Distinction), University of Manchester
• BSocSc Sociology (with First Class Honours), University of Manchester 

Research Clusters

• International Development Studies
• Francophone Studies

Discipline Areas

• International Development Studies
• International and Area Studies (Latin America and Caribbean)
• Sociology

Research CV

Current Research Projects

I am currently writing up my completed PhD thesis for publication as two articles (“Banana Wars, Culture Wars and the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement”, and “‘Cultural rights’ and ‘the right to land, tenure and place’: The politics of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”) and a book (Trade, Culture and the New Politics of Cultural Development).

Edited Books

• with S.Pavlenko; S.Shaheen & A.Wolanski (eds).  2011.  Cultural and Ethical Turns: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Culture, Politics and Ethics. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press.

Book Chapters

• “Cultural Diversity and the Search for a ‘New Universal Ethics.’”  In Garner, B.; S.Pavlenko; S.Shaheen & A.Wolanski (eds).  Cultural and Ethical Turns: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Culture, Politics and Ethics. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press.

Other Publications

• Review, in Sofia Philosophical Review, Vol V/No.II, 2011: Lin, Ching-Yu & McSweeney, John (eds). 2011. Representation and Contestation: Cultural Politics in a Political Century. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.

Conference Papers

• “Whose Caribbean culture?  Cultural cooperation in the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement.”  Whose Latin America?  Shifting Perspectives on a Diverse Region.  University of Manchester,UK, June 2010.
• “Culture, Development and the Search for a ‘New Universal Ethics.’”  Inter-Disciplinary Conference: Culture, Politics, Ethics. Salzburg,Austria, March 2010.
• Chair: “Ethics, Politics and Cultural Difference.”  Inter-Disciplinary Conference: Culture, Politics, Ethics. Salzburg, Austria, March 2010, March 2010.
• “When Neoliberalism met Postcolonialism: The New Consensus at UNESCO.”  Panel on De-Colonialising International Relations: Dividing Practices and the Study of World Politics (representing the University of Manchester’s Working Group on Poststructural Politics), British International Studies Association Annual Conference. University of Leicester,UK, December 2009.
• “The Dual Nature of Culture?  Contextualising the ‘Trade-Culture Debate.’”  Panel on Cultural Diversity and International Law.  Intersections of Law and Culture. Lugano, Switzerland, October 2009.
• “Liberalism and Empire: Reading Foucault’s ‘The Birth of Biopolitics’ in the New World Order.”  Poststructuralism and International Politics. University of Manchester, UK, June 2009.

Grants Received

• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Competition Award, 2007-2011.

Consultancy

I am available for consultancy in the following areas:

• Cultural diversity, culture & development, trade & culture
• Indigenous rights
• UNESCO
• Caribbean