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Staff Profile

Dr Bethan Harries

Senior Lecturer

  • Email: bethan.harries@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: 0191 208 3257
  • Address: Room 4.111
    Henry Daysh Building
    Newcastle University
    NE1 7RU
Background

I joined Newcastle Sociology in 2019 having previously worked at the University of Manchester. I worked as an immigration lawyer in Bradford for several years and as an international election observer before joining academia .

My research interests are very broadly in youth, urban citizenship, race and nationhood.  I am especially interested in how young people talk about, negotiate and resist race and racism (Talking race in young adulthood) and how austerity intersects with racism.

Current research is concerned with how devolution and the independence movements in Wales and Scotland interact with, and are affected by, shifting narratives of nationalism and understandings of citizenship and carry the potential to shape new forms of inclusion and exclusion.

I am a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an honorary fellow of the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity.  


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


Research

CURRENT PROJECTS

 

Learning from 'left behind' places: everyday hopes and fears for the future after Brexit in England, 2019-2020, funded by an ESRC Governance After Brexit Grant

This project aims to investigate the everyday hopes and fears for the future after Brexit, from the perspective of residents of four electoral wards in North Tyneside, London and Manchester. The project aims to provide more in-depth, granular information about the way in which Brexit intertwines, or not, with the everyday preoccupations of residents of urban areas that have been hard hit by post-industrial, social and economic changes, and government policies of austerity.

 

Race, nation and devolution, 2017-2020, funded by the Hallsworth fellowship scheme

This work examines how different forms of devolution contribute to and are affected by shifting narratives of nationalism and understandings of citizenship and carry the potential to shape new forms of inclusion and exclusion.

Working with anti-racist networks and community organisations, it also explores the complexities of challenging race in Wales and Scotland.

 

Older BME people’s experiences of health and social care in Greater Manchester: Lessons for practice and policy, 2018-19, funded by the Manchester Statistical Society Campion Fund

This work draws together existing census and survey data and original data gathered through a series of focus groups across Greater Manchester to explore older BME experiences of health and social care. It is driven by concerns around disparities in health, especially in later life and the absence of attention paid to this in relevant policy areas.

 

 

PREVIOUS PROJECTS

The lived experience of race over time, ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE)

This project is based on an extensive range of research in Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and Newham with residents, community organisations and members of local and national government.  For more info: www.Ethnicity.ac.uk  

 

Conversations about radicalisation

Conversations about radicalisation is a collaboration between young people, school staff, interdisciplinary researchers, and creative artists, that focuses on developing an inclusive and open discussion about how schools approach extremism that speaks to, and is led by, young people. The outputs of this project, including narrative art, video, lyrics and posters, co-produced by the participants, will challenge current approaches.

For more information: http://www.law.manchester.ac.uk/cccj/research/projects/policing-security-and-citizenship/conversations-about-radicalisation/

 

Talking race in young adulthood, funded by the ESRC

This project draws on ethnographic research with young adults in Manchester and engages with ideas of the post-racial to explore how young adults make sense of their identities, relationships and new forms of racism in a neoliberal city. It explores how and in what ways race remains a salient dimension of social experience and presents news ways of thinking about how we live with difference, by analysing the relationship between racism, generational identities and the spatial configurations of a city.

 

 

Postgraduate Supervision

I am interested in supervising research students on projects related to ethnicity, race and racism; nations and nationalism; memory and nostalgia; migration; youth identities and urban studies.

Previous PhD students:

Natalie Ann Hall. (2021) Taking back control: The online political engagement of pro-Leave non-digital-native Facebook users.

Current PhD students:

Salman Kholkar. Gendered experiences of Islamophobia against Ahmadi women in the UK. 

Harris Paraskevopoulos. Migrants at work: How legal status and regional geography affect migrant labout market experiences in the UK.



Teaching

I lead a stage 3 module, 'Racism and Society' as part of the BA UG Sociology programme.

I also supervise research projects at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Publications