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Institute of Governance

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Office Hours

During teaching weeks only:

Wednesdays 0930-1030, room 6.27, Chrystal Macmillan Building, George Square.

Thursdays 0930-1030, room G3, Chisholm House, High School Yards.

 

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 Co-Director of the Institute of Governance a key hub for research on identities, nationalism and territorial politics. See our Nationalism Studies blog here.

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 the study of Public Order, Protest & Policing, focussing on the policing of 'crowd events', and in particular the inter-relation between political protest and protest policing. The research builds on the G8 Research Project.

In June 2010 I became one of the founding co-ordinators of RASEN, the University of Edinburgh's Religion & Society Edinburgh Network. See our blog here.

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.

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 published in July 2010.

A more recent research project focusses on localised identities in Caithness; the generosity of the Carnegie Trust and the Institute of Governance allowed me initial field trips in the summers of 2010 and 2011 - I hope there will be many more.

Postgraduate Supervision

Current and recent Doctoral supervisions include postgraduate research on: media and national identity in Scotland; asylum seekers, media and belonging; football and national identity in South Africa; youth, education and citizenship; the work of an anti-racism organisation in Scotland; military service and national identity; conservative Protestantism in rural Scotland; communities, borders and storytelling in Northumberland; Dutch national identity and the crises of multiculturalism; everyday nationalism and ethnicity in Turkey; museums and identities in Turkey; comparative experiences of secularisation in Sweden and Scotland; exploring recent student protests; Gaelic Catholicism in the Hebrides; household recycling practices; the Muslim communities of Edinburgh; police surveillance of political protest.

Current and recent Masters level supervisions include student research on football and national identity in west Africa; youth, education and 'values'; 'A8' migrants in contemporary Scotland; African diaspora identities and belonging; sacrifice and Irish nationalism; comparisons of nationalism in Iceland and Ireland; baseball and identity in Japan and the USA; understanding nationalism in Malta; the 'far-right' in contemporary Scotland; cultural nationalism in Wales; Thatcherism and Scotland; Zionism and the End of Exile.

Selected Publications

(----) '“Areas cannot be selective”: Caithness and the Gaelic Road-Sign Saga', Scottish Affairs (forthcoming)

(----) 'Who Are You? National Identity and Contemporary Return Migrants in Scotland' in Mario Varricchio (ed), Back to Caledonia: Scottish Return Migration from the Sixteenth Century to the Present, Edinburgh: John Donald (forthcoming)

(2011) 'King Mob: Perceptions, Prescriptions and Presumptions About the Policing of England's Riots' (with Hugo Gorringe), Sociological Research Online, 16 (4) Abstract

(2011) 'It's Grim Down South: A Scottish Take On The "English Riots"' (with Hugo Gorringe), Scottish Affairs, 77

(2011) 'Facilitating Ineffective Protest? The Policing of the 2009 Edinburgh NATO protests' (with Hugo Gorringe, David Waddington & Margarita Kominou), Policing & Society, forthcoming. Abstract

(2011) 'Aye Right? Scotland's Far Right Parties in 2011', Scottish Affairs, 76

(2011) ‘Who Are the Nationalists? A Profile of Scottish National Party Supporters’ (with Ross Bond), in Trevor Harrison & Slobodan Drakulic (eds.), Beyond Orthodoxy: New Directions in the Study of Nationalism, University of British Columbia Press. Publisher's Note

(2011) 'Religion, Family Values and Family Law' (with Fran Wasoff), in Jane Mair & Esin Örücü (eds) , The Place of Religion in Family Law: A Comparative Search, Intersentia. Publisher's Note

(2010) 'HMIC Goes to Millbank: Public order policing following student disorder' (with Hugo Gorringe & Clifford Stott), Police Professional, 232, November, pp14-17. Available online

(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). (Available here)

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

PhD in Sociology