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• School of Social and Political Studies

Institute of Governance

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Office Hours

Please note that I am on sabbatical August 2010 to July 2011. During this time I will not hold regular office hours - please e-mail to arrange an appointment.

Principal interests

Scottish society and politics; religious identity in secularised societies; nationalism, national and localised identities; media and nationalism; the politics of prejudice and 'sectarianism'.

Work in progress

Localised identities in Caithness; religious homogamy and the inter-generational 'transmission' of religious identities; national identities and mass media in post-devolution Britain; comparative analyses of national identities in the UK; militant Protestant politics in inter-war Scotland; religiosity, irreligion and ‘family values'; protests and protest policing.

I am Deputy Director of the Institute of Governance a key hub for research on identities, nationalism and territorial politics.

I am Associate Editor of Scottish Affairs, Scotland's longest running peer reviewed journal of contemporary social and political issues

Recent and ongoing activities and research includes the G8 Research Project, which investigated the 2005 Summit protests, their policing, and media coverage. In Spring 2009 I convened the SPS Migration & Citizenship seminar series focussing on 'new migrants' in Scotland.  In May 2009 I organised a conference marking Ten Years of the Scottish Parliament (details here). Over 2008-09 I co-convened the Institute of Governance's seminar series on 'Identity and Governance in England', and subsequently guest edited a Themed Section on Englishness in Nations & Nationalism (table of contents here).

A more recent research project focusses on localised identities in Caithness; the generosity of the Carnegie Trust allowed me an initial field trip in the summer of 2010 - I hope there will be many more.

PhD Supervision

I welcome proposals from prospective research students with interests in any of the above areas, but I have a more general interest in political and historical sociology, particularly as relates to identity, nationalism, religion, ethnicity, media and intolerance.

Current and recent supervisions include postgraduate research on: media and national identity; asylum seekers, media and belonging; football and national identity in Africa; youth, education and 'values'; military service and national identity; conservative Protestantism in rural Scotland; communities, borders and storytelling; 'A8' migrants in contemporary Scotland; African diaspora identities and belonging; sacrifice and Irish nationalism; Dutch national identity; comparisons of nationalism in Iceland and Ireland; baseball and identity in Japan and the USA; nationalism and ethnicity in Turkey; nationalism in Malta; the 'far-right' in contemporary Scotland; cultural nationalism in Wales; comparative experiences of secularisation in Sweden and Scotland; retention/loss of social movement membership.

Selected Publications

(2010) 'The importance of being English: national identity and nationalism in post-devolution England' (with Ross Bond & Charlie Jeffery), Nations & Nationalism, 16(3), Abstract

(2010) 'National Identities and Attitudes to Constitutional Change in Post-Devolution UK: A Four Territories Comparison' (with Ross Bond), Regional & Federal Studies, 20(1), Abstract

(2010) 'The "Scottish" Approach? The discursive construction of a national police force' (with Hugo Gorringe), Sociological Review, 58(1), Abstract

(2009) ‘What a Difference a Death Makes: Protest, Policing and the Press at the G20’ (with Hugo Gorringe), Sociological Research Online, 14 (5), Abstract

(2009) 'Drifting Apart? Media in Scotland and England after Devolution' (with Pille Petersoo), in Frank Bechhofer & David McCrone [eds], National Identity, Nationalism and Constitutional Change, Palgrave Macmillan ( publisher's note )

(2009) '"The Anarchists' World Cup": Respectable Protest and Media Panics' (with Hugo Gorringe), Social Movement Studies, 8 (1), Abstract

(2008) ‘National identities and Politics after Devolution’ (with Ross Bond), Radical Statistics, 97. (Available online)

(2008) ‘Protestant Action and the Edinburgh Irish’, in Martin Mitchell [ed], New Perspectives on the Irish in Scotland, Birlinn Press ( publisher's note ).

(2008) ‘Do You Know the Way to Auchterarder? ‘Negotiated management’ and Mismanagement at the 2005 G8 Summit’ (with Hugo Gorringe), British Journal of Sociology, 59 (2) Abstract

(2008) ‘The Polis of ‘Global’ Protest: Policing Protest at the G8 in Scotland’ (with Hugo Gorringe), Current Sociology, 56 (5) Abstract

(2007) ‘Where is the British national press?’ (with John MacInnes et al), British Journal of Sociology, 58 (2) Abstract

(2007) ‘Social Democratic Scotland?’ (with Ross Bond), in Michael Keating [ed], Scottish Social Democracy, Brussels: Presses Interuniversitaires EuropÉennes. (publisher's note)

(2006) 'Mediating Which Nation(s)?: National Identities In The 'British' Press' (with Pille Petersoo et al), Social Semiotics 16 (2) Abstract

(2006) ‘Pants to Poverty? Making Poverty History, Edinburgh 2005’ (with Hugo Gorringe), Sociological Research Online, 11 (1) Abstract

(2006)  'Routes into Scottishness', (with Ross Bond), in Catherine Bromley et al [eds], Has Devolution Delivered?, Edinburgh University Press ( Preview at Google Books ; publisher's note )

(2005)  Faith Communities and Local Government in Glasgow (with Cecelia Clegg), Scottish Executive Social Research (available online)

(2005)  ‘Religious Discrimination in Scotland', (with Steve Bruce, et al), Ethnic & Racial Studies, 28 (1) Abstract

(2004)  ‘Nation speaking unto Nation? Newspapers and National Identity in the devolved UK ', (with John MacInnes, et al), Sociological Review, 52 (4) Abstract

(2004)  The Sectarian Myth in Scotland: Of Bitter Memory and Bigotry, Palgrave MacMillan ( publisher's note and sample chapter )

(2004)  Sectarianism in Scotland (with Steve Bruce et al), Edinburgh University Press ( Preview at Google Books ; publisher's note )

(2003)  'Identity Matters: The Personal and Political Significance of Feeling Scottish' (with Ross Bond), in Catherine Bromley et al [eds], Devolution - Scottish Answers to Scottish Questions? , Edinburgh University Press  ( publisher's note )

(2002)  'Death by Committee', Theology in Scotland, IX (2) (pdf file here)

(2002)  ' National Identities in post-devolution Scotland ' (with Ross Bond), Scottish Affairs , 40 (available online).