Newcastle University

Introduction

My main research interests are in the areas of:

Race, Ethnicity and Migration

Youth Studies

Masculinities, Gender and Culture 

Background

Chair in Social and Cultural Geography

Roles and Responsibilities

Undergraduate Dissertation Director (Geo3099)

Qualifications

PhD Human Geography - Race, Ethnicity and Whiteness
M.Soc. Sci. Cultural Studies
BA Hons Literature and History

Previous Positions

Lecturer in Cultural and Media Studies (Liverpool John Moores University)
ESRC Research Officer (University of Birmingham)

Memberships

I am on the Editorial Boards of: Sociology; Leisure Studies; British Journal of Sociology of Education; Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power.

I am also a member of the Association of American Geographers, the British Sociological Association and a founding member of Newcastle's Postcolonial Studies Group

Research Interests

My research interests are in the fields of racism, ethnicity, migration and asylum; youth and cultural studies; masculinities, education and labour; whiteness, nationalism and new theories of social class.

Other Expertise

As a former postgraduate in Cultural Studies (University of Birmingham) I am a trained ethnographer with an interest in life-history, biography and visual methods including photography and filmic production and analysis.

Current Work 

I have recently completed a book on social theory with Alex Jeffrey entitled Geographical Thought (Pearson, 2011).  This year I have published papers focusing upon race, affect and emotions (Social and Cultural Geography; Environment and Planning A). My current research explores the politics of race, asylum and migration and the future of multiculturalism. At the moment I am working on a paper exploring race, religion and citizenship through interviews with Black and Minority Ethnic organisations in the voluntary sector.

Future Research

In April 2011 I completed a pilot-study exploring postcolonial relations in two hill stations in Northern India drawing upon visual methods, oral histories and folk memories.  This research may form the basis of a further grant application or the framework for an article.  I will be writing a second edition with Mary Jane Kehily of our book Gender, Youth and Culture: Young Masculinities and Femininities (Palgrave, 2008) over the next year. 

Research Roles

I have been Degree Programme Director for the ESRC-recognised MA in Human Geography (Research)(2002-06; 2009) and will be covering for Alastair Bonnett this academic year while he is on sabbatical (2012).  I have previously been Staff Tutor for Geography and Planning, a co-ordinator for widening participation and was the research leader for the cluster  'Territory, Culture and Politics' at the last RAE. Currently I am the Undergraduate Dissertation Director (2005-).

Postgraduate Supervision

Current:
1. Rahiela Ali - Muslim Women in Scotland (ESRC/CASE Scottish Government)(with Peter Hopkins)
2. Alex Tan - Chinese Youth, Home-spaces and Identity (ESRC)(with Peter Hopkins)

3. Michael Richardson - Irish Masculinities and Inter-generational Relations in Tyneside (ESRC) (with Peter Hopkins)

4. Rebecca Richardson - Place Branding for Urban Development: Newcastle and Gateshead in Comparative International Context (ESRC/CASE NGI) (with Andy Pike)

5. Robin Finlay ‘Living with the Other’:  Race, Religion and the Performance of Immigrant Identities in Grenada, Spain (ESRC 1+3) (with Alastair Bonnett)

6. Joanna Wiseman The Impossibility of Belonging? Young Asylum Seekers' Constructions of Identity and the Implications for Integration (ESRC/CASE Scottish Government) (with Peter Hopkins)

7. Elinor Predoti 'Boys in the Wood': Young Masculinities and their use of Woodland and Forest Areas (with Peter Hopkins)

8. M.A. Kevin Brice British Muslim Converts and the Question of Whiteness (with Peter Hopkins and Alastair Bonnett) 

Completed:
Boris Pajkovic - 'Patriots' or 'Traitors'?: Nationalism, Conflict and Tranformation in Montenegro (Overseas Research Scholarship, completed 2011)
Raksha Pande - Wedded to Tradition?: Arranged Marriage, Postcolonial Belonging and the South Asian Disapora (Faculty Bursary Award) (with Peter Phillimore, completed 2010)
Peter Thomas - Alternative Spaces in Temporal Places: Production, Consumption and Performance at Independent Music Fesitivals (ESRC, with Alex Hughes completed 2008)
Hannah MacPherson - Landscapes of Blindness and Visual Impairment: Sight, Touch and Laughter in the English Countryside (ESRC, with Alastair Bonnett & Maggie Roe completed 2007)
Andrew Law - Constructions of Englishness through Built Heritage(with Alastair Bonnett, completed)

Esteem Indicators

I have delivered keynote addresses at various academic conferences and ESRC events. In 2012 I will deliver keynotes in Limmerick, Ireland; Jena, Germany and Waikato, New Zealand. I have previously been a Visiting Scholar at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Melbourne, Australia), Monash University (Melbourne, Australia 2006) and at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada 2008). I have appeared on BBC television and websites, provided research on ethnicity for Channel 4 and regularly make statements in local and national press. 

Funded projects include: 'The Recruitment and Retension of Black and Minority Ethnic Participants in the Teaching Profession' (Government Teacher Training Agency); 'Fear of Crime and Community Safety' (Social Regenertion Bid); 'Increasing Flexibility: Young People, Education and Skilled Labour'(Learning and Skills Council); 'Race Equality in Tyne and Wear' (Tyne and Wear Local Authorities).

Undergraduate Teaching

GEO3099: Dissertation (Module leader)
GEO3065: Race, Place and Nation (Module leader)
GEO2031: Globalisation, Culture and Development (Module leader)
GEO2100: Contested Geographies of New York City
GEO2044: Advanced Study Skills
GEO2096: Geographical Research Methods
GEO1011: Geographical Imaginations

Postgraduate Teaching

I currently mentor 7 PhD students in various areas of social and cultural geography. I am happy to supervise PhD students in my specialist areas of race, racisms and ethnicities; youth and cultural studies; transformations to social class; masculinities, gender and labour. At postgraduate level I teach:
HASS804 Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences
GEO 8015 Planning Geographical Research (module leader)
GEO 8016 Philosophies in Human Geography
GEO 8017 Human Geography: Concepts in Action (module leader)
GEO 889 Research Dissertation (module leader)

• Nayak A, Jeffrey A. Geographical Thought: An Introduction to Ideas in Human Geography. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011.
• Nayak A. Geography, race and emotions: social and cultural intersections. Social & Cultural Geography 2011, 12(6), 548-562.
• Nayak A. Race, affect, and emotion: young people, racism, and graffiti in the postcolonial English suburbs. Environment and Planning A 2010, 42(10), 2370-2392.
• Nayak A. Youth, religion and multiculture. In: Montgomery, H and Kellet, M, ed. Children and Young People's Worlds: Developing Frameworks for Integrated Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press, 2009, pp.199-217.
• Nayak A. Beyond the pale: chavs, youth and social class. In: Sveinsson KP, ed. Who Cares about the White Working Class?. London: Runnymede Trust, 2009, pp.28-35.
• Nayak A. Race, ethnicity and young people. In: Montgomery, H and Kellet, M, ed. Children and Young People's Worlds: Developing Frameworks for Integrated Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press, 2009, pp.90-108.
• Nayak A. The beer and the boys: masculine traditions in a post-industrial economy. In: Martino,W; Kehler, M; Weaver-Hightower, MB, ed. The Problem with Boys' Education: Beyond the Backlash. New York: Routledge, 2009, pp.149-168.
• Kehily M, Nayak A. Global femininities: Consumption, culture and the significance of place. Discourse 2008, 29(3), 325-342.
• Nayak A. Young People’s Geographies of Racism and Anti-racism: The Case of North East England. In: Dwyer, C. and Bressey, C, ed. New Geographies of Race and Racism. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008, pp.269-282.
• Nayak A, Kehily M. Gender, Youth and Culture: Young Masculinities and Femininities. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008.
• Nayak A. Critical whiteness studies. Sociology Compass 2007, 1(2), 737-755.
• Nayak A, Kehily M. Gender undone: Subversion, regulation and embodiment in the work of Judith Butler. British Journal of Sociology of Education 2006, 27(4), 459-472.
• Nayak A. After race: Ethnography, race and post-race theory. Ethnic and Racial Studies 2006, 29(3), 411-430.
• Nayak A. Displaced masculinities: Chavs, youth and class in the post-industrial city. Sociology 2006, 40(5), 813-831.
• Nayak A. Race, Place and Globalization : Youth Cultures in a Changing World. Oxford: Berg, 2003.
• Nayak A. 'Ivory Lives': Economic Restructuring and the Making of Whiteness in a Post-industrial Youth Community. European Journal of Cultural Studies 2003, 6(3), 305-325.
• Nayak A. 'Through children's eyes': Childhood, place and the fear of crime. Geoforum 2003, 34(3), 303-315.
• Nayak A. Last of the 'Real Geordies'? White masculinities and the subcultural response to deindustrialisation. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2003, 21(1), 7-25.
• Bonnett A, Nayak A. Geographies of race and racialization: The territory of race. In: Anderson K; Domosh M; Pile S; Thrift N, ed. The Handbook of Cultural Geography. London: Sage, 2003, pp. 300-312.
• Nayak A. 'Boyz to men': Masculinities, schooling and labour transitions in de-industrial times. Educational Review 2003, 55(2), 147-159.
• Nayak A. 'Pale warriors': skinhead culture and the embodiment of white masculinities. In: Kehily MJ; Swann J, ed. Children's Cultural Worlds. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons/Open University Press, 2003.
• Nayak A. Youth Subcultures. In: Cashmore E, ed. Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic Relations. London: Routledge, 2004, pp. 456-458.